Invoking Hitler
Lately I've heard a lot of people invoke Hitler and the Nazis to try to punctuate their point. Yesterday, I was stumbled onto a blog that had this:
"Bush/Hitler: Same Crap. Different a--holes."
Cute. That's cute and sassy. Just what the world needs. More cute and sassy comments about Hitler.
I'm not here to be an apologist for Bush. I don't really like Bush, but he doesn't inspire any hatred in me.
What I don't like is people trying to pack a big emotional punch by comparing current situations to Hitler when it just doesn't fit. It's not the same. The Terri Schiavo case is sad and complicated, but it is not the beginning of Nazi Germany. This is not Auschwitz.
I know that some people really, really hate Bush. They think he is a real jerkstore. And, it's tempting to compare him to the biggest jerkstore they can think of, Hitler. But any comparisons just diminish the evil that was Hitler and the real tragedy of the Holocaust.
Hitler killed over six million people. He shoved them into gas chambers and killed them as rapidly as technology would allow him. You may not like Bush's policies, you may feel very strongly that Terri Schiavo has the right to life. But, calling people you don't agree with Nazis, brownshirts, and fascists simply belittles the real horrors of the 20th century.
