I'm still stunned by that anyone would think Maus to be a piece of anti-Semitic work. There's just no way people should think this way. Spiegelman, a Jewish man living in New York City with a wife who converted to his religion, a man whose parents barely survived the Holocaust, could not possibly be anti-Semitic. It just doesn't make sense. Sure, the epigraph at the beginning of Maus is a quote from Hitler, but the rest of the story rejects and effectively disproves that outrageous, alarming Hitler tried to make to justify his onslaught of terror. I can't even think of words to describe anything close to what the Holocaust was like and how destructive and far-reaching and inhumane it was. For Spiegelman himself to have that Nazi mentality while putting on the Jewish mask would not only make him hypocritical but also evidently make him one hell of an illusionist. If he were living a double life as a Jewish man who created one of the most moving Holocaust stories only to be covering his self-hating anti-Jewish mentality, then he must be incredibly gifted in the arts of ruse. Or, we as a group unfortunately suffer from gullibility. Are we too trusting? I think not, but I also believe we want to see the good in people. In some people, it's easier to see the good than in others. After all, Hitler, however dire the consequences, was a brilliant orator. He was able to sway the masses. Some people just have charm more disarming and more powerful than one's deep-seated beliefs. Just a few weeks ago, one of my friends mentioned how much she despises Mike Huckabee's political platform, yet hearing him speak makes it impossible to hate him. This, coming from a political science major and uber liberal, simply baffles her good sense. While it baffles me that Maus could be read as anti-Jewish material, it baffles me that I might be playing into the hands of a guy who's outcharmed my better judgment.