Calling each other Nazis, Hitler

[Luddly Neddite]

People who bring the Nazi comparisons into a political debate or any debate not actually about the Nazis are the ones who have no clue about who and what the Nazis were.

Or the horrific crimes they were guilty of.

Remember when you first saw Holocaust photos?

My father was among the Allied troops who took German citizens in open truck out to view the camps and the people who were being removed from there. Like so many vets, he wouldn't talk about it and what little I learned was from my mother.

Many of the Allied troops who witnessed the true horror of those camps never really recovered.

I think that what I know of THAT horror is part of the reason I can hardly stand to see Americans side with a Russian dictator against their own country.

Its inexcusable.

Nonetheless, the op/ed makes a good point. That tossing names around cheapens what those people endured. It also makes the crimes seem less horrendous than they really were. We need to not forget the reality of the Holocaust. We need to revere the victims, NOT the perpetrators.

 

[tinydancer]

People who bring the Nazi comparisons into a political debate or any debate not actually about the Nazis are the ones who have no clue about who and what the Nazis were.

Or the horrific crimes they were guilty of.

Remember when you first saw Holocaust photos?

My father was among the Allied troops who took German citizens in open truck out to view the camps and the people who were being removed from there. Like so many vets, he wouldn't talk about it and what little I learned was from my mother.

Many of the Allied troops who witnessed the true horror of those camps never really recovered.

I think that what I know of THAT horror is part of the reason I can hardly stand to see Americans side with a Russian dictator against their own country.

Its inexcusable.

Nonetheless, the op/ed makes a good point. That tossing names around cheapens what those people endured. It also makes the crimes seem less horrendous than they really were. We need to not forget the reality of the Holocaust. We need to revere the victims, NOT the perpetrators.

The word Nazi has a definition. That definition is separate from the vile acts of Nazis.

They are separate. Emotion be damned here.

Neither a word nor a definition should be based on "feelings about a word". That's just crazy.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

What Does It Really Mean When Politicians and Pundits Cry ?Nazi?? | Vanity Fair

It is hard to fully comprehend the magnitude of the Nazi death camps and their impact on the lives of untold millions. But, even so, there are a few things I can say for certain: the Nazis, and the Holocaust they brought were nothing like Obamacare. Or the national debt. Or political correctness. Or criticism of economic inequality. Or the Tea Party. Or the Internal Revenue Service. Or the Obama administration. Or the Bush administration. Or any of the other masses of infinitesimal flotsam spewed up in self-pitying and hysterical analogies by vulgarians with more mouth than brain.

And, damn it, how dare so many of you politicians and political commentators and entertainers spit on the ashes of the earth containing the bodies of millions of the slaughtered, by making such asinine comparisons. How dare you belittle unspeakable suffering, how dare you brush aside the emotional torment of survivors, how dare you feed into the Holocaust denialism by pretending that some difference in political opinions is just as bad as the literal torture and destruction of millions of families.

How dare you?

Ben Carson, current darling of the Republican Party whose name is touted as a potential presidential candidate: You compared your feeling of being stifled by “political correctness” to the torment and murder of 13-year-old Sochi Piaskovski and millions of other children. (The American government and its institutions are “very much like Nazi Germany. . . . We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe.”) I will assume that, after you made those comments, the Obama administration responded by descending upon you, loading you and your family onto a train, and stuffing you into a gas chamber.

No? Then shut up.

Tom Perkins, multi-millionaire venture capitalist: You compared liberal criticism of income inequality and the excesses of the überwealthy to the slaughter of Jakub Piaskovski’s entire family. (“I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘1 percent,’ namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American 1 percent, namely the ‘rich.’”) I will assume that the tortured and tormented corpses of every member of your family have been burned to ash by progressives, and that you have not had a good night’s sleep for most of your life because of the guilt you feel for surviving.

No? Then shut up.

Ted Nugent, aging rock star, gun enthusiast, conservative spokesman: You compared Obamacare to the beginnings of Nazi Germany. I will assume you mean that you are now preparing to tear out your fillings in hopes of saving a family member while you are imprisoned, starving, cold, and awaiting your death.

No? Then shut up.

Yes, all of you. Shut up, and apologize for demeaning one of history’s most unspeakable crimes. I mean you, Ted Cruz, Republican senator who proclaimed that fighting to defund Obamacare is like fighting to stop the Nazis. And you, Tim Donnelly, Republican candidate for California governor who likened Obama to Hitler because of gun control. And you, Rick Santorum, former GOP senator and presidential candidate who said that failing to fight against Obama’s reelection was like failing to fight Hitler in 1940; he later justified the statement by saying he has used the World War II metaphor “a hundred times.” And you, Bill O’Reilly, political commentator who said the Huffington Post used Nazi tactics and that liberal supporters of gun control embraced the sort of “state control” established by Hitler. And you, Stephen Schwarzman, billionaire co-founder of the Blackstone Group, who proclaimed that some of Obama’s tax proposals were a declaration of war, like “when Hitler invaded Poland.” And you, George W. Bush, whose campaign went all out with the Nazi analogy by releasing a video showing John Kerry, Al Gore, Howard Dean and other Democratic Party luminaries intercut with images of Hitler. And you, Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA who has used Nazi comparisons to keep gun owners frightened and has even raised the prospect that they may face mass execution. And you, Glenn Beck, who has compared so many people and circumstances to Nazi Germany so many times that the great comedian Lewis Black proclaimed l that Beck suffers from “Nazi Tourette’s.”

And don’t think that the political right has a monopoly on this abominable behavior. So yes, I mean you, Representative Keith Ellison, Democratic congressman who equated [then-President] Bush after 9/11 with Hitler after the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament. Or you, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who accused Republicans of using Nazi tactics during the 2004 presidential campaign. Or you, Linda Ronstadt, the singer who said in 2004 that newly elected Republicans were “a new bunch of Hitlers.” And you, Joy Behar, television personality who compared former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Hitler.

Right or left, Republican or Democrat - Can't we ALL demand that politicians, pundits and EACH OTHER stop this??

Ummm, can't say I care.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The more its used, the less it means and that it demeans the experience of the Holocaust.

That is absurd. The Holocaust is a real event, not a word. The only way to demean the Holocaust is to pretend that it was a one off thing and not something that could happen again if people are not vigilant.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

People who bring the Nazi comparisons into a political debate or any debate not actually about the Nazis are the ones who have no clue about who and what the Nazis were.

The Nazi's were a bunch of people who thought they had all the answers, knew what was best for everyone, and blamed other people for their problems.

Come to think of it, that sounds like every politician in this country.

 

[freedombecki]

We had an ant bed of Nazis in our yard once. They could cripple ya if you got too close in a pair of sandals. They were fast as Blitzkreig, too.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

People who bring the Nazi comparisons into a political debate or any debate not actually about the Nazis are the ones who have no clue about who and what the Nazis were.

Or the horrific crimes they were guilty of.

Remember when you first saw Holocaust photos?

My father was among the Allied troops who took German citizens in open truck out to view the camps and the people who were being removed from there. Like so many vets, he wouldn't talk about it and what little I learned was from my mother.

Many of the Allied troops who witnessed the true horror of those camps never really recovered.

I think that what I know of THAT horror is part of the reason I can hardly stand to see Americans side with a Russian dictator against their own country.

Its inexcusable.

Nonetheless, the op/ed makes a good point. That tossing names around cheapens what those people endured. It also makes the crimes seem less horrendous than they really were. We need to not forget the reality of the Holocaust. We need to revere the victims, NOT the perpetrators.

Some of the Holocaust photos remind me of the things I saw in the Abu Ghraib photos, how about you?

I wonder, if people, like you were less inclined to dismiss anything that doesn't meet their definition of Nazi if we might have avoided the entire torture debate altogether because the entire country would have know that it was wrong without thought.

 

[Pop23]

Once those words start flying my way, I know I've won the debate

Simple as that

 

[flacaltenn]

There ARE still Nazis today.. They hide from the term, but they celebrate the Nazi causes..
I reserve the term for them. The Nazis of Germany have no lock on being synonymous with
brutality and totalitarianism.. They are just the most well-known embodiment of that evil...

 

[Pop23]

Remember

Sticks and Stones......

Even works on the interweb

 

[Billo_Really]

The Holocaust didn't just happen overnight. They didn't start throwing jews in the ovens on day 1. You didn't just have on one day nothing going on, then the next day, death camps and gassings. There was a period of years where the hate and propaganda ramped up (and leading to) the Final Solution. It's important to know the factors that led to the Holocaust and in the context for which they played a role.

And conversely, any Nazi comparisons must be looked at the same way. It doesn't have to be "full blown Holocaust period", or no comparison at all. There are some things that are similar. As an example, how is the Nazis demonization of the jews, any different than the Israeli's demonization of the Palestinian's? Both groups are (were) trashed and used as scapegoats. Unfortunately for the jews, no one spoke out against that treatment and it eventually escalated into the Holocaust.

In todays world, if something similar is going on, you have a duty to humanity to speak out and say something. Because remaining silent, or trying to suppress others when they make a comparison, is trashing the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Making their lives to have died in vain. The best way to honor them, is to make sure this never happens again.

 

[blackhawk]

Some of the Holocaust photos remind me of the things I saw in the Abu Ghraib photos, how about you?

Not even close to compare Abu Ghraib to the Holocaust in any way is truly insulting to those who endured the Holocaust unless a person or political party is trying to commit genocide making Nazis or Holocaust comparisons is just wrong.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Some of the Holocaust photos remind me of the things I saw in the Abu Ghraib photos, how about you?

Not even close to compare Abu Ghraib to the Holocaust in any way is truly insulting to those who endured the Holocaust unless a person or political party is trying to commit genocide making Nazis or Holocaust comparisons is just wrong.

That is an awesome display of ignorance there, congratulations.

 

[Political Junky]

The Nazis went after the Jews, Socialists, Trade Unionists, Homosexuals, Gypsies, and Blacks.
Neo-Nazis are against these people, too, and even use the Swastika.
I agree with the OP link to the Vanity Fair article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party

 

[S.J.]

Some of the Holocaust photos remind me of the things I saw in the Abu Ghraib photos, how about you?

Not even close to compare Abu Ghraib to the Holocaust in any way is truly insulting to those who endured the Holocaust unless a person or political party is trying to commit genocide making Nazis or Holocaust comparisons is just wrong.

That is an awesome display of ignorance there, congratulations.

Look at the guy on the far left. He looks like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

[Disir]

What Does It Really Mean When Politicians and Pundits Cry ?Nazi?? | Vanity Fair

It is hard to fully comprehend the magnitude of the Nazi death camps and their impact on the lives of untold millions. But, even so, there are a few things I can say for certain: the Nazis, and the Holocaust they brought were nothing like Obamacare. Or the national debt. Or political correctness. Or criticism of economic inequality. Or the Tea Party. Or the Internal Revenue Service. Or the Obama administration. Or the Bush administration. Or any of the other masses of infinitesimal flotsam spewed up in self-pitying and hysterical analogies by vulgarians with more mouth than brain.

And, damn it, how dare so many of you politicians and political commentators and entertainers spit on the ashes of the earth containing the bodies of millions of the slaughtered, by making such asinine comparisons. How dare you belittle unspeakable suffering, how dare you brush aside the emotional torment of survivors, how dare you feed into the Holocaust denialism by pretending that some difference in political opinions is just as bad as the literal torture and destruction of millions of families.

How dare you?

Ben Carson, current darling of the Republican Party whose name is touted as a potential presidential candidate: You compared your feeling of being stifled by “political correctness” to the torment and murder of 13-year-old Sochi Piaskovski and millions of other children. (The American government and its institutions are “very much like Nazi Germany. . . . We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe.”) I will assume that, after you made those comments, the Obama administration responded by descending upon you, loading you and your family onto a train, and stuffing you into a gas chamber.

No? Then shut up.

Tom Perkins, multi-millionaire venture capitalist: You compared liberal criticism of income inequality and the excesses of the überwealthy to the slaughter of Jakub Piaskovski’s entire family. (“I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘1 percent,’ namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American 1 percent, namely the ‘rich.’”) I will assume that the tortured and tormented corpses of every member of your family have been burned to ash by progressives, and that you have not had a good night’s sleep for most of your life because of the guilt you feel for surviving.

No? Then shut up.

Ted Nugent, aging rock star, gun enthusiast, conservative spokesman: You compared Obamacare to the beginnings of Nazi Germany. I will assume you mean that you are now preparing to tear out your fillings in hopes of saving a family member while you are imprisoned, starving, cold, and awaiting your death.

No? Then shut up.

Yes, all of you. Shut up, and apologize for demeaning one of history’s most unspeakable crimes. I mean you, Ted Cruz, Republican senator who proclaimed that fighting to defund Obamacare is like fighting to stop the Nazis. And you, Tim Donnelly, Republican candidate for California governor who likened Obama to Hitler because of gun control. And you, Rick Santorum, former GOP senator and presidential candidate who said that failing to fight against Obama’s reelection was like failing to fight Hitler in 1940; he later justified the statement by saying he has used the World War II metaphor “a hundred times.” And you, Bill O’Reilly, political commentator who said the Huffington Post used Nazi tactics and that liberal supporters of gun control embraced the sort of “state control” established by Hitler. And you, Stephen Schwarzman, billionaire co-founder of the Blackstone Group, who proclaimed that some of Obama’s tax proposals were a declaration of war, like “when Hitler invaded Poland.” And you, George W. Bush, whose campaign went all out with the Nazi analogy by releasing a video showing John Kerry, Al Gore, Howard Dean and other Democratic Party luminaries intercut with images of Hitler. And you, Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA who has used Nazi comparisons to keep gun owners frightened and has even raised the prospect that they may face mass execution. And you, Glenn Beck, who has compared so many people and circumstances to Nazi Germany so many times that the great comedian Lewis Black proclaimed l that Beck suffers from “Nazi Tourette’s.”

And don’t think that the political right has a monopoly on this abominable behavior. So yes, I mean you, Representative Keith Ellison, Democratic congressman who equated [then-President] Bush after 9/11 with Hitler after the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament. Or you, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who accused Republicans of using Nazi tactics during the 2004 presidential campaign. Or you, Linda Ronstadt, the singer who said in 2004 that newly elected Republicans were “a new bunch of Hitlers.” And you, Joy Behar, television personality who compared former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Hitler.

Right or left, Republican or Democrat - Can't we ALL demand that politicians, pundits and EACH OTHER stop this??

This used to irritate the heck out of me. I decided that it wasn't stroke worthy. So, now, when I see this used I am actually pretty grateful. It shows that you are dealing with a sociopath. These folks know exactly what they are saying. I see it as a thanks for showing your cards.

 

[Stephanie]

The more its used, the less it means and that it demeans the experience of the Holocaust.

sort of like racist? well that didn't stop you lefties did it
you lefties/liberals famous name for Bush was, BushHitler

 

[Stephanie]

lol, that was one unbiased (not) whine by Vanity fair eh?
pfeeesh
of course the left did it with Bush, but now they want it stopped

any surprised they are wanting again to STEP ON your freedoms of speech folks?

 

[S.J.]

lol, that was one unbiased (not) whine by Vanity fair eh?
pfeeesh
of course the left did it with Bush, but now they want it stopped

any surprised they are wanting again to STEP ON your freedoms of speech folks?

Yeah, they want it stopped, because now there really IS a comparison to be made. Obama is exactly like him and they don't want to draw attention to that.

 

[Billo_Really]

sort of like racist? well that didn't stop you lefties did it
you lefties/liberals famous name for Bush was, BushHitler

That's not true!

Our famous name for him, was "the schrub!"