Think before you libel...

"Why should we be blond and blue-eyed
Chanting a 'heil', living a lie
Evil surrounds us, we lost our way
Darkness will lead us through fire and hell
We're not waving the same flag
Or going down the same road
So use your brains, just for one time
You can't rule mankind"
Masterplan-"Crystal Night"


Nazi.


That word is used so much nowadays. On a few occasions, it is legitimate, especially when speaking about hate groups like the Aryan Brotherhood. Hatemongers like them deserve to have that label being tossed at them, because that is what they are. It's calling something what it is.


Yet, the term is also used for other purposes. In that case, it is libel and defamation of character. Why? Simple. It is a slur when it is used to describe anyone who is on the political right, just like Stalin or Mao is used on people on the political left. We could say they are painting with a broad brush, but in this case, the brush has been cast aside and a Wagner paint sprayer is being used.


Mandy Potemkin in the legendary film The Princess Bride says the following when Wallace Shawn keeps using the word "inconceivable": "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Words to the wise from Mr. Potemkin

Lots of pundits and social media commentators keep using the word "Nazi". I do not think it means what they think it means. Like someone who uses the word "Hitler" in a debate, when I hear those terms being bandied about, I move on because to me that is a sign that they have lost the argument and have nothing intelligent to say. Same with communist, Stalin, or Mao. It doesn't take much effort to yank a name that you heard in history class and use it to describe someone who disagrees with you.

Let us look up the definition of the term "Nazi", shall we? Dictionary.com definition of Nazi: 1.a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler and advocated totalitarian government, territorial expansion, anti-Semitism, and Aryan supremacy, all these leading directly to World War II and the Holocaust. 2.(often lowercase) a person elsewhere who holds similar views. 3. (often lowercase) Sometimes Offensive. a person who is fanatically dedicated to or seeks to regulate a specified activity, practice, etc.:
a jazz nazi who disdains other forms of music; health nazis trying to ban junk food.


The dictionary also contains a usage note: Nazi in the extended sense of "a fanatical or domineering person" has existed at least since 1980 and parallels the use of the word police in the language police/the grammar police . Though this usage of Nazi is usually intended as jocular, it implies being intolerant of other people’s views and practices. And many people consider any extended use of the word Nazi to be offensive, in that it trivializes the terrible crimes of the German Nazis."


Count me as one of those people, especially after reading all I have read and researched over the past few months, and have learned about for years in school and after school in my own time. Comparing someone who disagrees with you to a person who was part of a regime that caused the deaths of 50 million plus people? A bit of a stretch, isn't it? Holding a different view doesn't make you akin to someone who supports or participated in mass murder or crimes against humanity.


Frankly, I'm getting tired of it being used to label people who are on the other side of your argument or the political aisle. If you want to use it to describe the lunatic fringe groups such as the Aryan Brotherhood who devote themselves to keep the racist policies of the NSDAP alive, then by all means do so. Just don't use it to describe your Republican friend. Chances are pretty close to certain that he/she doesn't preach about Jews in bars, have a mountain chalet called The Berghof, and a close associate named Rudolf Hess. Last time I checked, being a Republican (or a Democrat, or any other party in this country) is not a crime.


Just because you're offended, it doesn't mean you are right, and just because you are offended, it doesn't mean that the rest of the world gives a damn. The idea that "I'm offended, so I'm granted automatic, absolute, ideological superpowers to cancel out the beliefs of others" goes against the very reason the First Amendment was established: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." I see no clause or fine print saying "unless someone is offended". Maybe it was written microscopically in the parchment by James Madison or someone. That right there is fodder for a future series on the History Channel.

Truth.

I have no issues with spirited disagreement, but I do have an issue with terms not being used properly. Calling your liberal/socialist friend Stalin is way out of line, unless your friend committed genocide against the Ukrainians or makes his family work on a collective farm. Calling your conservative friend Hitler or a Nazi is also way out line, unless of course they had a hand in the Holocaust and have nude pictures of Eva Braun on their walls. Honestly, I don't think any of us knows people who do either of those things. Be glad you know people with opposing viewpoints.


Before you use it, learn about it. Read about the Nazi party. Learn about the life of Adolf Hitler. Don't be afraid to do so either. I have a good feeling that many people who use the term "Nazi" don't even know the half of the atrocities they committed. The Holocaust is only scratching the surface, that is as plain as the nose on your face and well documented. Only a fool would deny the Holocaust happened. Do you know about other heinous acts committed by the Nazis? Have you ever heard of the Night of the Long Knives? The Night and Fog Decree? Kristallnacht? The Sudetenland? The Anschluss? If you do, very good. If you know more than just what you learned in history class, even better. If you don't, educate yourself. Know all about the crimes against humanity the Nazi Party committed. Learn every gristly detail. The more uncomfortable it is for you, the better.


Read about Joseph Stalin. Read about The Bolsheviks. Read about the Soviet Union and their crimes against humanity. Read about collective farms. Read about the Holodomir. Read about the gulags. Once again, learn every detail no matter how unpleasant it is.


After that, maybe you will think twice about calling your friend such a strong insult just because they are a Republican or a Democrat. Thank the Lord that you live in a country that is NOT Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. I'd rather live in a nation where freedom of thought and opinion is tolerated and encouraged, and not a capital offense.




A personal note: I know I write about this issue so much like it is almost a personal crusade, and that is because it is. I am guilty of this behavior. I used to call people with a liberal point of view things like communists and worse. I feel horrible about it and I feel guilty because of it. I wish I could take back all of the things I said a few years ago. Sure, I never used any epithets or slurs, but to call someone a communist or a Nazi is to trivialize the crimes of said ideologies and to libel a friend or an acquaintance who doesn't deserve it. An insult that strong is not to be used on someone who is a good, honest, upstanding person just because they believe differently than you. As a penance for my regret, I feel I must speak on this until it comes to a dead stop. I have seen too many friendships ruined and families torn apart because of this. If you are my friend, I care not your ideology. I care about YOU. I like YOU. I love YOU. If you are a part of my life you have made an important impression on me that I refuse to throw away. If I ever had a harsh disagreement with anyone over anything, I am truly sorry. I feel I have to keep writing about this issue until the winds of discourse become more calming.

Name-callers on both sides of the aisle, I am calling you out. This ends now.