My second diary, and I'm already diving into murky water. Unfortunately, as a New Yorker, I was conceived without Fear, and so yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to go there. I have to go there. I've been watching diaries bandy about this issue of whether or not Nazi is an appropriate term to use at all; whether or not calling this administration 'fascist' is overstepping the bounds of decency.
I should probably say here that this isn't a diary meant to chastise the users of those terms, or to take those terms off the table as inappropriate or somehow taboo. I'm sure if someone more versed in history than I would be so kind as to share in the comments (and they probably will), there are probably a lot of historical similes between pre-WWII Germany and the US of today. In my very own first diary the other day, I was referencing Sinclair Lewis all over the place. Clearly I believe it might be happening here.
That's not my problem. What is my problem?
It doesn't
matter if the US of today is like anything else, be it pre-nazi Germany or the time my friend punched my other friend's sister in the face. Wasting time trying to pinpoint some other point in time that could be/might be/is just like what's happening today is just that-
wasting time.
"But VampKiss! Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it!" Uh huh. And those who look backward while they cross the street are going to get hit by that oncoming semi.
Debating whether or not the Bush Administration is facist or like the Nazi's is a giant straw man. We can go rabid and all attack it together, and then turn on each other when there's nothing left of that, but the real crux of the matter is this:
The Bush Administration is one of (if not the, singularly) most damaging groups that have ever claimed control of our nation in over two centuries.
Call it whatever the hell you want- but don't forget that calling it names, and calling each other out for calling it names, isn't going to make it go away. The longer we spend nitpicking terminology, especially picking at each other, the more time this culture of corruption has to tighten its strangehold on what's left of our Constitution, Bill of Rights, Checks and Balances, and Separation of Church and State.
So before the Pledge of Allegiance starts sounding more like "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!", I think we should all realize that this administration by any other name would still smell like shit.
And then we should get back to doing something about it.