I swear this exact phrase is an FBI plot to get people to doubt everything they see and hear.
“That school shooter was a nazi” “Well, we ought to be careful when saying things like that.”
“Elon Musk is a nazi.” “And what has he done exactly? You know, it’s important to be precise. The story of the boy who cried wolf is that …”
“Hitler was a nazi.” “Well, he was in charge of the nazis. Specificity is really important when handling delicate matters like these, you know.”
Not to pick on you specifically, but I am so fucking tired of hearing it.
I swear the over use of the term nazi is what got us to this place where people don’t believe Musk is one after doing two sieg heils during the inauguration.
Criticizing the term’s over use is not the same as denying their existence or horribleness.
You can’t police overuse. Just disagree and move on.
By constantly handwringing about it every single time it comes up, you end up teaching people that that’s the way you are supposed to react to this information. It becomes a thought terminating cliche. Somebody says nazi, and the first thing anyone else thinks about is “well, they’re probably just being hyperbolic.” You’re reinforcing the same narrative.
Like, a good nazi accusation usually comes with an argument. “Such and such is a nazi because of these 6 things I saw them do, and they kicked a dog also,” but even then, people will twist themselves into pretzels about whether the word is still “too much” or not. You have to cut them off. It’s not relevant. It doesn’t need to be given dignity as a criticism. It only serves as a distraction from the 6 points.
People do the exact same thing about the word genocide.
Think about it this way: an actual nazi benefits from these terms being muddy and unworkable, so our strategy cannot depend on clear waters; we will never get them.
I totally get that, but there’s a big difference between “this guy did a Nazi salute” or “this guy idolized Hitler” and “this guy worked with anti-semites.” I don’t think we should be using the word Nazi to mean “racist person,” as Nazi is pretty specific. I certainly hope I don’t come across as making any of the above arguments. Ford was a Nazi. Elon is a Nazi. I haven’t seen evidence suggesting Disney is the same, and I think it would be irresponsible to turn Nazi into a generic pejorative for “bigot.”
I (a Jewish person) draw a distinction between antisemitism and Nazism. Nazis aren’t just racist, they’re fascist, with a specific set of beliefs. All I can verify is that Disney associated with racists in Hollywood willingly. I find it hard to believe that if Disney was a Nazi sympathizer, he would’ve produced so many anti-Nazi propaganda films. To give a good analogy, someone might be racist towards Palestinians and Arab people without being Zionist. That’s a more specific belief that includes racism.
I swear this exact phrase is an FBI plot to get people to doubt everything they see and hear.
“That school shooter was a nazi” “Well, we ought to be careful when saying things like that.”
“Elon Musk is a nazi.” “And what has he done exactly? You know, it’s important to be precise. The story of the boy who cried wolf is that …”
“Hitler was a nazi.” “Well, he was in charge of the nazis. Specificity is really important when handling delicate matters like these, you know.”
Not to pick on you specifically, but I am so fucking tired of hearing it.
I swear the over use of the term nazi is what got us to this place where people don’t believe Musk is one after doing two sieg heils during the inauguration.
Criticizing the term’s over use is not the same as denying their existence or horribleness.
You can’t police overuse. Just disagree and move on.
By constantly handwringing about it every single time it comes up, you end up teaching people that that’s the way you are supposed to react to this information. It becomes a thought terminating cliche. Somebody says nazi, and the first thing anyone else thinks about is “well, they’re probably just being hyperbolic.” You’re reinforcing the same narrative.
Like, a good nazi accusation usually comes with an argument. “Such and such is a nazi because of these 6 things I saw them do, and they kicked a dog also,” but even then, people will twist themselves into pretzels about whether the word is still “too much” or not. You have to cut them off. It’s not relevant. It doesn’t need to be given dignity as a criticism. It only serves as a distraction from the 6 points.
People do the exact same thing about the word genocide.
Think about it this way: an actual nazi benefits from these terms being muddy and unworkable, so our strategy cannot depend on clear waters; we will never get them.
I totally get that, but there’s a big difference between “this guy did a Nazi salute” or “this guy idolized Hitler” and “this guy worked with anti-semites.” I don’t think we should be using the word Nazi to mean “racist person,” as Nazi is pretty specific. I certainly hope I don’t come across as making any of the above arguments. Ford was a Nazi. Elon is a Nazi. I haven’t seen evidence suggesting Disney is the same, and I think it would be irresponsible to turn Nazi into a generic pejorative for “bigot.”
Umm… Is there?
If you’re sitting at a table with 9 Nazis, then that’s a table of 10 Nazis.
I (a Jewish person) draw a distinction between antisemitism and Nazism. Nazis aren’t just racist, they’re fascist, with a specific set of beliefs. All I can verify is that Disney associated with racists in Hollywood willingly. I find it hard to believe that if Disney was a Nazi sympathizer, he would’ve produced so many anti-Nazi propaganda films. To give a good analogy, someone might be racist towards Palestinians and Arab people without being Zionist. That’s a more specific belief that includes racism.
To be clear, I have no idea what Walt is or isn’t. I’m not making a claim there, haha.
I agree… especially if we’re talking about historical figures who might be pretty far removed from the modern political climate.
But to be fair, there is a pretty direct connection between bigotry and nazis, modern or otherwise.