"This is the sort of thing they did in Nazi Germany"
or
"That's how Hitler got started"
or
"That woman has the thighs of Eva Braun"
Okay, maybe not the last one, but I think you get the picture.
The more I learn about Adolph Hitler and the National Socialist part of Germany during the 1930's and 40's, the less I think anyone resembles them. I believe that Hitler and his henchmen possessed a unique evil mentality that just doesn't come around that often, thank God.
That's why I think that people who are attempting to make a persuasive argument fall flat on their face when they compare someone or something to Hitler. When I saw protesters in Seattle carrying signs that read: Bush = Hitler, I really wondered what type of statement they were really making. Does anyone truly think that the policies of the Bush administration, however flawed, resemble those of Nazi Germany? Where are the concentration camps? Where is the blitzkrieg through Canada and Mexico? Where is the killing of his political enemies by the thousands? And lastly and obviously, where is the attempt to exterminate a single ethnic group and diminish their presence to that of a "problem"?
No one compares anyone to Stalin. There's merit to the argument that Stalin was the one true champion when it came to evil madman dictators. In Seattle though, Stalin is given a pass. A good many Seattle-ites believe that Communism would probably work well, but it just hasn't been tried by the right people. So Stalin is reduced to the "wrong leader at the wrong time" and the methodical murders of millions of his citizens is swiftly swept under the global rug. I think anyone who views Stalin like this is on the same whacko-nutjob-quotient as those who deny the holocaust ever happened.
From now on when I need to demonize someone in an argument, I compare them to Liberace.
3 comments:
As I read your opinion on the use of evil comparisons in debate, I realized that I'd heard this line of thinking elsewhere. I had to search the cobwebbed corners of my brain, but I finally figured out where I'd seen this before.
It was in the book, Mein Kampf!
Your reply was very clever and it had a very good set up that through me off-guard. I haven't seen a diversion like that since Neville Chamberlain declared "peace in our time."
A couple of years ago I went down to Las Vegas for the twentieth time or so, and realized I had run out of things to do. I mean, at some point gambling becomes pathetic and you can only watch the pirate show at Treasure Island so many times.
So I looked around to make damn sure no one was watching me, and drove over to the Liberace Museum.
First of all, Liberace was the richest entertainer in Las Vegas in his day, like Wayne Newton was later and Siegfied and Roy are now. Plus, he was here when you could buy land for fifty cents an acre or something. So, how did this place wind up in the ghetto? Did you even know that Las Vegas has a ghetto? It does. It encompasses every last inch of Las vegas that is not within five blocks of the strip. I wouldn't have parked my car there, except that it was a rental.
The museum resembles a strip mall in Federal Way, Washington. You know the kind; a tatoo parlor next to a check cashing place, a pawn shop, a gun shop and maybe a hot tub store. The museum itself is in a couple of different spaces with a restaurant inbetween, and the tickets are sold in what should be the kiosk in the parking lot where you get spare keys made.
When you go in, you see the full glory that was Liberace, the man, the legend, the flamboyant pianist whose loafers were so light, he could walk on water.
There are fabulous cars and fabulous costumes and fabulous jewelery. Yet, something is not quite right. There is a feeling of decrepitude and deception. Like the jewels might really be paste, and the peacock feathers in his tuxedo might be turkey feathers with a good paint job.
Anyway, Liberace is a great person to compare people to when you want to bring a conversation to a screeching halt. "You have a good point, my friend, for someone who makes Liberace look like the Rock."
That kind of cruelty suits you, Tracy. It's Mao-like. Maybe even like........HITLER!!!!
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