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| 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.
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