Godwin's law

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by dalhorn1, Sep 5, 2012.

  1. dalhorn1

    dalhorn1 1,000+ Posts

    With all of the negative rhetoric on this forum today, I find it odd that nobody is mentioning or defending the daily barrage of "Hitler/Goebbels" slanderous comments aimed at GOP officials. Is the race card the only thing that gets the media critical of any longer? If its bad to compare a political foe to the most evil, vile regime of modern history, why don't any Democrats come forth and try to snuff out the uncalled for and highly derogatory hate speech stemming from the left side? Or, is this the new norm-say heinous bile about someone, then give a hasty and phony "apology", knowing full well that the insult was the goal, not an accidental heat of the moment comment?
     
  2. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    I'd say nearly 98 percent of people who succumb to Godwin's Law do it as kind of a last-ditch insult before they know they're beat. Kind of like all of the 2008 GOP members who wore the "Hitler gave good speeches too" shirts with Obama's picture on them.
     
  3. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    The Nazis were as bad as Stalin and his crew and Mao was as well but no more vile or evil.

    The Nazi's crimes were fully exposed and became a narrative everyone was familiar with. So, anytime you needed to make an analogy everyone would understand, out popped Hitler and company.

    The russians and chinese never got the full treatment, just partial. But you will see scads of conservatives calling people communists or socialists when in fact they are just liberals.

    It was liberals, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, who waged wars against the commies but if you point that out to conservatives, they just blame the wars on the liberal presidents.

    My point: the commies were just as bad as Hitler and nobody on the right seems terribly upset when their more incendiary brethren start accusing liberals of being commies.

    There needs to be a Godwin's Addendum to cover ******** accusations of communism.

    My response when a liberal buddy accuses a Bush or someone of being a Nazi is to ask if they are saying W slaughtered 6 million people because of ethnicity or invaded all his neighbors to expand our borders

    Anybody want to whine about that?

    Agree with OP in general, though I have used Hitler analogies in the past, though mostly for contrast.
     
  4. Monahorns

    Monahorns 5,000+ Posts

    Nazis were Socialist too. It is a misnomer to call a conservative a Nazi. All the bad groups you listed were left on the political spectrum. That's my main problem with it,
     
  5. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    Nazis were nationalist socialists and did believe in a form of free enterprise. They did not believe in seizing the means of production unless it was for war production.

    The reason some will call conservatives nazis is because conservatives are, generally but not always, more nationalist than the left and generally more militaristic. The average conservative is more likely to put military capabilities near the front of the list of optiions than the average person on the left.

    Hitler is seen as militaristic, nationalistic and working hand in glove with industrial interests. That is why he is not seen as being on the left to the extent that Stalin or Mao or Castro are.

    Again, more people are familiar with Hitler's ghastly behavior than with the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution or the show trials and five year plans and their ghastly outcomes. That familiarity makes the use of Hitler analogies more understandable in general conversation or in discussions in which historical analogies might be useful. Most Americans don't much history outside of what they have seen on television or in the movies.

    When I try to use the liquidation of the Kulaks as an analogy most people look at me like I am talking about some obscure episode of that tv show that had the spaceship wandering around the universe.
     
  6. Monahorns

    Monahorns 5,000+ Posts

    FDR was very nationalistic but he wasn't conservative either. So was LBJ who was also aggressive militarily. Clinton used military force in Kosovo. Obama has done so in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya (was there another). Truman dropped the bomb. So I don't think your assertion is correct.

    And Nazis acted like most if not all other Socialist regimes (who are left leaning) by not nationalizing all industry. So I don't see how they should be considered on the political right.
     
  7. Michtex

    Michtex 1,000+ Posts


     
  8. Monahorns

    Monahorns 5,000+ Posts

    I don't approve of the comparison for any use. It is in very poor taste.
     
  9. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    Monahorns: that is why I said generally but not always. I agree that the distinctions are not tidy and I don't see any real connection between conservatism, American style, and nazism or fascism or any other european creations.

    Nor do I see any real connection between american liberalism and european marxist parties.

    Bismarck introduced worker's comp and, I believe, social security. Hard to see him as a leftist. Ditto Teddy Roosevelt over here, though TR could be described as having a foot in both streams.
     

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