On Hitler comparisons: people think Hitler = Holocaust

[jpgray]

Sorry. They don't think about the Reichstag fire, they don't think about Goebbels' strangely familiar methods of propaganda, they don't think about Hitler's more "tentative" imperialism before '39, they don't think about the Enabling Acts, and they don't think about a casual erosion of freedom with its accompanying escalation of fear towards shadowy "outsider" enemies.

They instead think of Hitler as a monster who killed Jewish people.

Say "Hitler is Bush!" and people will think "Moron! Bush hasn't killed 6 million Jewish people!" Sorry, however apt the comparison, people will not read into it the way you do, and you will not gain any headway on the comparison until the public view has changed.

(sorry for another Hitler/Bush thread)

[Liberal Veteran]

1. So then basically we all just need to compare Dean to Hitler to get...

...a reverse backlash?

[Cleita]

2. You are right.

Maybe comparing him to a corporate warlord would be better. Or, we can educate people as to what a fascist dictator really is.

[ComerPerro]

3. I completely agree

This is why people get so offended.

Just remember: we are experiencing the early years of Hitler right now. We shouldn't expect to see the full blown third reich associations this early.

[jpgray]

5. It's for shock value, I think.

But just like PETA plastering bloody animal pictures all over a kindergarten school, sometimes "shocking" will not get you the results you want. "Provocative" doesn't always mean "convincing".

[OldSoldier]

11. Not sure about that...

June 14, 1941: Auschwitz accepts its first inmates--Polish political prisoners. (http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/Auschwitz2.htm)

January 11, 2002: Camp X-ray in Cuba accepts its first inmates--al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners. (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/STRIKE_MAIN020111.html)

Looks like it started two years ago.

[maggrwaggr]

4. A comparison to Mussolini might be better and more accurate

of course a lot of people probably think Mussolini is an Italian sea-food dish.

[mmm]

6. I like my Mussolini with lotsa mazachelli!

I think most people could not identify Mussolini.

[AlGore-08.com]

7. There's actually a joke that makes that comparision

Q: What's the difference between George W. Bush and Mussolini?

A: Mussolini was elected.

[DrBB]

14. Well, yeah. As in...

...my sig line!

[ldoolin]

8. True

True, which is why I think a comparison of Bush to his dad's favorite tinpot dictator and cocaine buddy, Manuel Noriega, is far more appropriate.

[Room101]

9. So unfortunately true

Sorry. They don't think about the Reichstag fire, they don't think about Goebbels' strangely familiar methods of propaganda, they don't think about Hitler's more "tentative" imperialism before '39, they don't think about the Enabling Acts, and they don't think about a casual erosion of freedom with its accompanying escalation of fear towards shadowy "outsider" enemies.

They instead think of Hitler as a monster who killed Jewish people.

[Tactical Progressive]

10. The more generic and more accurate term, Fascist

should be used, not Hitler, for exactly those reasons.

Hitler historically carries with it the additional genocidal connotation that takes it beyond the ideological thuggery, corporate imperialism and military supremacy of Fascist wet dreams.

[midnight armadillo]

12. You assume people know anything

The average American's history education in school ends around the civil war. The average American only knows Hitler=Holocaust.

[jpgray]

13. And here I thought that was the message of this thread. :-) (nt)

[YNGW]

15. Another thing to note...

...is that 1920's & 1930's Germany was a broken country of depressed people who had been beaten down by the Versailles Treaty. What Hitler ultimately offered the German people was pride in their heritage as Germans. While the world told the German people they should suffer endlessly because of WWI, Hitler came along out of obsecurity to tell them they were the master race and they should refuse to be treated the way the Versailles Treaty said they should behave. It would be the same as if we were all slaves serving the will of the master, and one of us stood up and said we're better than that and we should rise up and control those around us. Not a perfect parallel, but putting yourself in such a position as a slave or as the German people of the 20's & 30's who had little hope, anyone who tells you that you hold value above what others think of you is someone you will listen to, and possibly even die for.

There is no equal comparison between "Versailles Treaty Germany" and the USA proir to 9/11.

[jpgray]

17. Our complacency is strangely similar to their indignation :-)

At least the same propaganda works--blame your society's problems on a minority or outsider "menace", and rob your people blind. :)

[YNGW]

23. Could be.

But that kind of tactic can be traced back much, much further than 1930's Germany.

I think this "Bush is Hitler" thing is nothing more than latching onto a recent world event that most people have at least heard about and know something about (we have pics, images and film) and attempting to handcuff Bushite to it. If someone is going to model their leadership after another, the last one to choose would be Nazi Germany. Sure, it rose quickly and did it's damage, but it flammed out in 15 years. If you're going to use a model, you would use the Romans. Their system still has lasting effects today, and it dwelt 1000 years. But, a protest sign that says "Bush is Caesar" doesn't have the same dramatic effect at a march as "Bush is Hitler", so it gets shelved.

[Selwynn]

16. You're right. That's why we shouldn't compare Bush to Hitler...

...regardless of how "right" the comparison may or may not be. It has no power - no convincing value, because the monster hitler who killed six million Jewish people far outshadows anything else. Everything disliked by someone will eventually end up getting compared to Hitler or the Nazis - so much so that its lost any kind of impacting significance to make the comparison in the first place.

There are better ways to drive home the evils of Bush than to insist on making a connection between Bush and Hitler that is so broadly misunderstood and deemed unacceptable by so many.

[Insider]

18. let's not say what we think?

let's say what we think OTHER people want to hear? let's say what we think OTHER people won't be offended by?

no thanks.

[jpgray]

19. Say whatever you want, but it isn't effective as an argument. (nt)

[Insider]

20. argument?

not my bag, no formal training, etc. expressing opinions is fine with me. i love to read OPINIONS on DU.

[jpgray]

22. Ok

My post was only meant to suggest that yelling "Bush is Hitler"! Won't convince any undecideds, no matter how accurate it is, for the reasons I gave above.

[PoofTheNinjaMog]

21. I agree 100%

Might I add that with Bush we are well underway to mass murder and a Hitler-like regime. Look at his policies. We have the power to remove him in November! LET'S DO IT!