I happen to think Americans in general are fairly dumb. It’s the only explanation for why Two and a Half Men has so many viewers, right? Our country’s education system is very publicly in the shitter. Our basic grasp of facts is woefully shaky. We’re stupid about pretty much every subject there is - and history is no exception. So why am I still surprised when people seem to completely misunderstand who Adolf Hitler was and what Nazis did?
It seems to happen on a weekly basis nowadays. Just recently, Hank Williams Jr. compared Obama and Boehner playing golf together to Hitler and Netanyahu. Playing golf? Together? I don’t know, that doesn’t make sense on a lot of timeline and logic levels, but I guess he was trying to say two people whose ideals are fundamentally different and probably do not enjoy each other’s company were playing golf together, and attempting to be funny about that. Here’s the thing. When you use those people, you’re assigning one of them as Hitler and one of them as Netanyahu. No matter who touches their nose and calls “No Hitler!” someone in that scenario is being compared to Adolf Hitler.
Hitler. Adolf Hitler. The guy who orchestrated the murders of approximately eleven million people (that’s not even counting everyone who died in the war). Right? That Hitler? Is there another famous Hitler I don’t know about? Who wouldn’t get along with the Prime Minister of Israel? No. There’s just the one. Obama certainly can’t be Hitler (psssst everyone, bombshell of the year: Obama is black). And while Boehner certainly has some lovely baby blues, I think his orange skin would also disqualify him from Hitler’s pure race goals, right? All in all, neither guy has ever expressed the desire to exterminate an entire group of people whose only crime was not believing Jesus is the savior. Hank Williams Jr., you FAIL.
Ann Coulter also recently compared the Wall Street protestors with Nazis. This is par for the course for lil’ ol Annie and all her friends at Fox News, who seem to have misprinted thesauruses that accidentally list “Nazi” as a synonym for “Liberal.” She claimed that some of the statements from Occupy Wall Street were “similar to what was said ‘before the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution and with only slight modification when the Nazis came to power.’" Only slight modification? SLIGHT MODIFICATION? I haven’t made my way down to Wall Street yet, so I can’t be totally sure, but I don’t think their signs about wanting higher taxes on the rich, the lack of punishment for the Wall Street goons who brought down our economy, and how easily politicians can be bought can be slightly modified to read “Aryans only!” “The Jews are the cause of our nation’s problems!” Oh, and the protestors are also NOT VIOLENT, so I’m gonna go ahead and chalk another point onto the “Not Nazis” side of the debate.
I guess if you change "love" to "The Third Reich" and "peace" to "The Aryan Nation," you're kind of getting there?
I haven’t even addressed the ridiculously offensive side of the Hitler comparisons - I feel like they’re so obvious it hardly needs to be said. But then again, I would’ve thought that comparing anyone except Neo Nazis to Old Nazis would be considered ridiculous as well, so maybe I should spell it out just in case. When you equate a fascist, sick piece of shit murderer who had the clear goal of taking over the world and populating it only with his preferred type of human…to…I don’t know….anyone else, that is extremely offensive. When you mistake liberalism and peaceful protest for soldiers who were more than willing to march into citizens’ homes to kidnap and murder them…that is extremely offensive. Is that enough? Should I go further? I’m not sure I actually can. I don’t see how else to explain it, really. Maybe I’m the dumb one!*
So next time you are thinking of comparing something/someone/someones to Hitler or Nazis, take a moment to think. Did this thing/person/people try to orchestrate genocide across several countries? If the answer to that question is no, you might want to find yourself another fucking comparison to use.
*I’m not.
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