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 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.