Esoteric Nazi Labelism

The anonymous nature of the internet has long been a source of irk for people that like open and honest debate. It's too easy for people to duck behind a handle and lob hate-filled tirades at such diverse targets as Barack Obama, the Cincinnati Reds and filmmaker Ridley Scott. Now I believe in Freedom of Speech as a foundation for our whole, you know, society, but part-in-parcel with that freedom is responsibility. 

So when someone who goes by the moniker "Serious Cynic" compares our local government to Nazi Germany, it means it's time to reach back and remember some words written here and here.

Because an Election Hasn't Really Got Started Till the Word 'Nazi' Comes Up

Not a Real Nazi

Yes, it's another election cycle and people are throwing around the 'N' word. No, not that N-word, the one that has to do with book-burning, concentration camps and goose-stepping across the face of Europe.

Anthony Marco, the NDP candidate in Niagara-West-Glanbrook (which is also PC leader Tim Hudak's riding), has some Liberals calling for his figurative head for a podcast he recorded over a year ago when he made some comments that they're construing as pro-Nazi. The quote they're upset about is as follows:

"For some people the old politics of Nazi Germany might be their religion. And just as I can't condemn other people's religion, I can't, I don't agree with them, but you can't stop somebody from believing in something." [...] "You're the one who is pretty messed up if you're going to devote your entire life to trying to convince somebody not to believe what they believe."

Liberal translation: If you want to believe in the Nazi doctrine of racial superiority then that's okay with Anthony Marco. But as reported by The Huffington Post Canada today, the quote on its own is out of context. Marco prefaced the above quote saying that he doesn't believe in burning books, even if he is against the ideology in a book:

"But there are a couple that I would suggest burning, and it’s not even from an ideological perspective, like 'Oh, burn stuff by Adolf Hitler.' Whatever. If you want to read that stuff, read that stuff. For some people the old politics of Nazi Germany might be their religion..." 

Marco did make an exception for one book though, "If you want something to burn and feel good about it, burn Bieber's book." For me it would be Kardashian Konfidential by the trio of spoiled sisters of the same name, but I also underline the base principle that burning any book is wrong.

Marco also had some choice comments about religion, but those don't seem to be getting him into as much trouble. For the time being, Andrea Horwath, Provincial NDP leader, is standing by her candidate. Hudak hasn't waded in too far saying he'd like to see a transcript before commenting, but the drum plays on for Liberals looking for a wedge.  

In the meantime, the word "Nazi" is teetering so dangerously on the verge of overuse that it threatens to no longer have any real meaning at all. What the Nazis did was awful, and the philosophical undercarriage of Nazism reprehensible, but every out of context use of the term only desaturates it further so that eventually it will as neutral a descriptor as cool, or douchebag. "Dude, why are you being such a Nazi?" "Mom stop being such a Nazi!"  

I don't think that's where we want to go, and I hate to say it, but do you know who else took people's political comments out of context and censured them for it, The Nazis. The circle is now complete.

New Rule: Nobody's A Nazi. (Except actual members of the Nazi Party)

Seriously?

Comparing our leaders or our political opponents to the fascist state that nearly conquered the globe and committed millions of people to dying horrible deaths is an instrument used by a lot of people in the United States. It's become easy for them to compare George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, or Nancy Pelosi to Hitler, or label them with terms like "Li'l Eichmann." (And don't even try and ask me about the whole thing with Obama painted as the Joker.) Anyway, I look at all this and think, well, at least we here in Canada can elevate ourselves to a level of political discourse where we don't compare people to Nazis.

My bad.

On a political high following last night's Mayoral Debate, I started scrolling through comment sections on various posts on the 59 Carden St blog. There's a post on there about The Guelph and District Labour Council's endorsement of several candidates in the coming election, and it's become one of those posts that's generated a lot of very heated commentary. 

Somewhere in the middle of all the comments was a three-way exchange about some information that Mayoral candidate Ray Mitchell posted about the legality of campaign donations from unions, saying that many municipalities in Ontario have outlawed the practice. Bill Hulet, a familiar poster on 59 Carden accused Mitchell of stretching the truth, saying:

"That's the same sort of politics that guys like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Joseph Goebbels follow."

Limbaugh, Beck and Goebbels? Worst. Dinner Party. Ever. 

But seriously, Goebbels? The implication, whether purposefully implied or not, is that Mitchell is cut from the same moral character as a Nazi. I'm no fan of either Limbaugh or Beck, one's an unrepentant drug abuser and the other is mad without a hat, but I would never in my wildest tantrum call them Nazis. To me, in a political discussion, comparing someone to a Nazi is like telling someone you'll kill them if you ever see their face again. It's a statement you may not have meant literally, but there's really no way to get around that because chances are, you're not going to kill that person if you see them again. 

The blog soon moved on to other matters and it seemed that there were no more Nazi comparisons to be made. It was a lively discussion and I send a virtual high-five to everyone that made it through to the end. Still, while the post was mostly issues focused, that one incident of name dropping Goebbels has got me grinding my gears. Disagreement is fine. Argument is fine. But throwing a Nazi uniform on people is just one small step to this: