April 1, 2011 7:08 AM

Is this REALLY what we need to be doing to advance our cause?

Godwin’s law (also known as Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies) is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 which has become an Internet adage. It states: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. In other words, Godwin put forth the hyperbolic observation that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope— someone inevitably criticizes some point made in the discussion by comparing it to beliefs held by Hitler and the Nazis…. Godwin has argued that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.

I ran across this graphic on Facebook yesterday, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It set me to thinking about the sorry state of public discourse, when someone can think it appropriate to use Nazi imagery to denigrate their ideological adversaries. It was no less offensive last summer when members of the Tea Party used Nazi imagery to belittle President Obama. Rather than launch into a long rant about the inappropriateness of such imagery and language, I’ll just sum it up thusly: this is stupid, it’s wrong, and it should be highly offensive to anyone with a sense of history…never mind decency.

This is the best we can do as Progressives? Really? How in the world does graphically tying the GOP to the Nazi Party do anything to advance the cause that so many of us on the Left care about? Will this sort of silliness really somehow manage to convince Americans that Republicans are mean, nasty, evil scoundrels? Will this really convince more Americans that “Liberal” is a Progressive, viable ideology…and not an epithet that translates as “America-hating, Muslim-loving Socialist weenies?”

I, like a lot of Liberals/Progressives, firmly believe that today’s iteration of Conservatism has strayed far from its traditional definition. Republicans. who once stood for small government, now define “small government” as a means for enforcing their narrow agenda upon all Americans, a task requiring that government be injected into many aspects of American life. It’s authoritative, and it’s certainly not Conservative…even though Conservatives are selling it as such.

Progressives have more than enough ammunition to be able to compete with Conservatives on the ideological battlefield. We have better, stronger, and more consistent ideas. Our strategy isn’t predicated on lies, deception, and propaganda. Then again, if we feel justified in resorting to bathing our ideological adversaries in Nazi imagery, we cede every bit of moral high ground we might have previously held. We can (and should) be able to do much better than this.

Do we REALLY want to engage in the same tactics we so hated when they were employed by the Tea Party at their numerous rallies last summer? If we can’t see, and deplore, the hypocrisy in this, then we’re no better than the racists and bigots in the Tea Party. There are few things more rampantly and undeniably ignorant than working overtime to prove Godwin correct. Are we OK with allowing a few overeager, thoughtless zealots to paint all of us with the same brush?

We’re better than this…and we need to start acting like it. There should be no place on the Left for anyone who thinks that putting a swastika on the GOP logo is either reasonable and/or appropriate. The only way we’re going to get this country back on track and convince Americans that Republicans don’t represent the future is through the force and superiority of our ideas. There’s simply no cause for thinking that using Nazi imagery or tying Republicans to Nazism is EVER reasonable or appropriate. If you think there is, please take you ignorance and your elsewhere and leave the politics to the adults.

STOP IT. NOW. REALLY.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 1, 2011 7:08 AM.

Won't you please help someone desperately in need? was the previous entry in this blog.

Will they stop at nothing?? is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 5.12