If It Walks Like a Duck Maybe It's Just Goose Stepping

It's easy to end discussion by invoking the monsters of history or drawing comparisons. Playing the Nazi card in general or the HItler card specifically ends things because both sides figure there's nothing more to say. It's a bit like saying God is on your side. How do you respond to that? How do you defend Nazis or argue against God? You can't. Maybe at one time it was a watertight argument but now it's become silly. Even if it's an apt comparison or something we should be concerned about it it still smacks of hyperbole and makes it appear you have exhausted the argument.

That's too bad. Some things are Nazi-like. It's silly to call OC sheriff's deputies or the Glendora PD fascists because you got a ticket. But it's important to see there are white supremacist sub-cultures and gangs (or "brotherhoods") in police departments. That's Nazi-like and important to know about. It's inappropriate to throw Nazi around but that doesn't mean there aren't Nazis around.

So what do you do when something really is Nazi-like?

There's a group called Save Our State holding rallies to get people fired up about protecting us from the Brown Menace making our country great. Joe Turner, the leader of SOS, says he is not a Nazi. He just cares about saving our state. So he says stuff like, "Years of inculcation by the doctrines of political correctness have left you emasculated and impotent, silenced by the thunderous chants of "racist" and "bigot." And there you stand and watch, paralyzed by fear, as your community is ravaged by the illegal alien invasion and turned into a Third World cesspool." That's cool. The thing is, the words he uses are attractive to Nazis. So attractive in fact, they are frequently identical. They fear the same things and come to the same conclusions. Neo-Nazis go to his rallies and support him. I don't know if Joe Turner is or isn't a Nazi. He just says and wants the same things that Neo-Nazis do.

Now see what that does? It ties Joe Turner's ideas to Nazis. It makes it seem like on his side of the fence are the Nazis. It seems like you shouldn't be on his side of the fence if you don't want to be with Nazis. Well, it seems that way because it is that way. But don't worry, there are more than two sides of the fence. You may want to build a big wall along the border, be afraid of immigrants, and think they are stealing jobs, driving down wages, exhausting resources, and ruining the country but that doesn't mean you are a Nazi. You could just be ignorant, isolated, unaware of history, selfish, an AM radio listener, or any number of other things besides a Nazi.

The important thing is to be able to distinguish between what is really Nazi-like or racist and what is just plain stupid.

Spanish Bombs
Smokestack Lightnin'- Howlin' Wolf
Top of the World- Shonen Knife
Complicacion- Tito Puente
Here Comes the Sun- The Beatles
Son Abajeno- Mexican Mariachi
1812 Overture: Finale-
I'm Through With Lovve- Sarah Vaughan
Holidays in the Sun- Sex Pistols
My Pen and Pad- Blackalicious