Who is a Nazi?
Sat Aug 25, 2007 at 11:50:38 AM PDT
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW
Elie Wiesel once famously said that he regretted his role in popularizing the term "Holocaust" to describe the Nazis' genocide against the Jews because the term has come to be used to describe other evils that pale in comparison. In so doing, the enormity of the Nazis' crimes is trivialized.
He was absolutely right.
If you enjoy eating a hamburger from time to time, you're not a Nazi and you're not engaging in genocide, regardless of what PETA says.
If you run your business in a particularly strict way, you may be a jerk, but you're not a Nazi and you're not engaging in genocide, regardless of what Seinfeld says.
If you insist that dKos users restrict themselves to using diary tags that are actually helpful, you're not a Nazi and you're not engaging in genocide, regardless of what some fool attaches to the tags.
I know there are those of you who think that Godwin's Law is passé. But insofar as it pertains to the practice of reductio ad Nazium, it's still quite relevant. And there are still far too many people who think it's somehow acceptable to engage in reckless hyperbole by describing as Nazis those who merely disagree with them on some issue or mockingly adding "Sieg Heil!" to their comments. It happens even in this particular corner of the tubes on nearly a daily basis.
Granted, I'm not exactly objective on the subject. I am the grandson of four survivors of the Holocaust. Each of my grandparents had very large families prior to the Holocaust, but three of them were the sole survivors from their families. My mother's parents met in Auschwitz shortly before liberation; my father's parents met in a DP camp not long after the war ended. Eventually, they all made their way to safety and freedom in the Milwaukee area, where they rebuilt their shattered lives. I am deeply offended by any comparison of what was done to them to the actions of meat processors, restaurateurs, dKos diarists, or anything else that falls short of genocide. Such comparisons do trivialize their suffering and the magnitude of the Nazis' crimes.
It's a matter of perspective. You want to draw a Nazi comparison? This is what happens when Nazis are around:
Do you see the difference? The Nazis committed genocide. That's not the same as giving Wal-Mart a tax break they don't need at the expense of people who do need it. It's not the same as neglecting our infrastructure in criminally negligent ways that lead to the destruction of roads, buildings, bridges, and even entire cities. It's not the same as promoting an immigration policy you don't like.
If you're going to make Nazi comparisons, do it appropriately. Apply the comparison to what the janjaweed are doing in Darfur:
Apply it to what the Turks did in Armenia:
Apply it to what the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia:
Don't apply it to this:
Note: Due to a certain troll vandalizing my tags, I feel compelled to add here that the only tags that should be attached to this diary are "Nazis" and "Recommended."
