Is the comparing Bush to Hitler a complete waste of time?

[Random_Australian]

There are already enough reasons to dislike either man without the comparisons on the basis of their own actions... (that's not the main point)

It seems too many comparisons to evil people have been made(You're a Stalin, You're a Hitler, You're a (Exceedingly nasty historical figure).

I no longer believe it is an effective tool of persausion. Not that I don't support the criticism itself, but I was wondering if DU beleives there is any real point in the comparisons that have been clichéd...so the 'We need to get people to understand how bad things are' argument doesn't work.
However, novel comparisons would, by that logic, still be effective.

Additional: Comparisons too groups also, e.g. calling us communists, socialists et cetera.

Discuss:
1) Are these comparisons still worth using?
2) Currently, both sides use these. Could the Left distingiush itself by changing their use, or would it make them less effective debaters?

Personally, I don't beleive they are still effective, but I'm still summing up if they are required, and if using novel/unusual ones would make the left seem effective...

btw if anyone accuses me of saying Bush and Hitler are entirely unalike, I'll accuse you of not reading the post... not trying to be unfriendly though...

[wtmusic]

1. Yes, it's ridiculous. It could NEVER happen again.

:evilgrin:

[Random_Australian]

6. Never said it couldn't just asking about the

effectiveness of it as a debating tool.

[MadisonProgressive]

2. I'll call a spade a spade

and point out that history usually repeats itself when good men do NOTHING!

[Random_Australian]

5. Agreed, we can call Bush a complete bastard, I was asking about

the effectiveness of comparisons as a debating tool.

[bbinacan]

19. Comparison?

No way.

[MadisonProgressive]

29. Debate is useless with these liars

[The Magistrate]

3. Pretty Much, Yes, Sir, It Is A Waste Of Time

[babylonsister]

4. Probably yes. BUT.. please explain

Capoeira. Thanks. :hi:

[madokie]

7. Not at all, busholini is bad anyway you put 'em.

[Random_Australian]

10. ...

Why is a comparison useful as a debating tool as a function of the unpleasantness of the person in question? 'If bush is bad anyway you put him' especially! There are many devices at our command, why ought we use that particular one when it is becoming cliché?

[hexola]

8. Its about the OBEDIENCE (nt) - not politics...

[hexola]

14. If Hitler asked you electrocute a stranger...would you...? - Read...

http://www.learntoquestion.com/resources/database/archives/000820.html

In the beginning, Stanley Milgram was worried about the Nazi problem. He doesn't worry much about the Nazis anymore. He worries about you and me, and, perhaps, himself a little bit too...Stanley Milgram is a social psychologist, and when he began his career at Yale University in 1960 he had a plan to prove, scientifically, that Germans are different. The Germans-are-different hypothesis has been used by historians, such as William L. Shirer, to explain the systematic destruction of the Jews by the Third Reich. One madman could decide to destroy the Jews and even create a master plan for getting it done. But to implement it on the scale that Hitler did meant that thousands of other people had to go along with the scheme and help to do the work. The Shirer thesis, which Milgram set out to test, is that Germans have a basic character flaw which explains the whole thing, and this flaw is a readiness to obey authority without question, no matter what outrageous acts the authority commands.

But he never took his experiment to Germany. He never took it any farther than Bridgeport. The first finding, also the most unexpected and disturbing finding, was that we Americans are an obedient people: not blindly obedient, and not blissfully obedient, just obedient. "I found so much obedience," says Milgram softly, a little sadly, "I hardly saw the need for taking the experiment to Germany."

[Swamp Rat]

9. I find it entertaining

:D

[Random_Australian]

11. Heh heh heh, certainly is a good one. AND covered by my 'novelty'

clause, which may be just the solution: We ought to find new and creative ways to compare the * regime to the people everyone is familiar with... hmmmmmm.....

[Swamp Rat]

17. It's not "hard work"

He sure makes it easy. :D




Edit: Where's my manners? Wecome to DU! :hi:

I see you like Capoeira. Ever been to Brasil?

[Mr_Spock]

12. Thanks, I was going to post thusly

...saved me the trouble :D

[bbinacan]

20. Cute

this added to the debate:eyes:

[Swamp Rat]

21. NOT!

:eyes:

[bbinacan]

25. Just what I thought.n/t

[Swamp Rat]

27. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

All I hear are BBs in a can. :rofl:

[bbinacan]

30. Me too

have a good night

[Swamp Rat]

31. Y'all come back ya hear!

:hi:

[bbinacan]

33. Goober says hey

[Swamp Rat]

34. Say "hey" to Gomer too!

:D

[bbinacan]

37. Will do. n/t

[OnyxCollie]

42. LOL! nt

[ClayZ]

13. This reminds me of the "neocon only" speeches?

[OnyxCollie]

15. I've got to make a political poster

for a graphic design class. I've been mulling over ways to make the Chimpy/Hitler comparison without offending (and losing) the audience by such an "extreme" statement. Perhaps some graphic of a nazi atrocity with the caption "It's not that bad. But why let it get worse? IMPEACH BUSH NOW!

[Random_Australian]

23. sounds good btw

one more thing, what DO you think of my proposal? (No, I'm not bieng catty cos' your a bit off-topic, I actually am interested)

[OnyxCollie]

41. Honestly, drop the comparison to Hitler.

It will only undermine your argument. (I've been considering scrapping my poster idea entirely.) My significant other is a university speech communication professor, wise in the ways of rhetoric, and she nixed my idea from the start. Hitler is such an extreme figure, it will cause you to lose credibility. However, a simple "poisoning of the well", while incredibly lame, is unfortunately effective. As weak as it is for repubs to use "Dems are soft on ___" without addressing the point of any issue, they put us at a disadvantage of having to reestablish credibility while debating the argument.

In my political science class, there's a Kool-Aid swilling idiot who went before the class to explain "why it was 'good' for America that Bush was wiretapping terrorists." "He's saving lives," he said. Doesn't matter that he missed the point that it's being done illegally and he can't provide an example of the program's effectiveness, the simple, albeit ridiculous, talking points proved to work on his easily-manipulated mind.

[bbinacan]

16. IMHO

When one resorts to calling people a Hitler, Nazi's, Commies, etc. They have left the realm of rational debate. Calling names is weak (think McCarthy). Let us have fresh debate about the issues and quit the mundane. PLEASE.:banghead:

[MadisonProgressive]

32. Good luck debating freeptards

[Swamp Rat]

38. Yes, good luck!

:D

[ShockediSay]

18. they said to Mozart too many notes;this isPolitics avoid2many Words

frame the issue in as few words as possible (something neither Gore nor Kerry could grasp)

any of these are serviceable

Can he/they (BushCo) protect us?

Did he/- protect us from 9/11 when we had all the information we did?

Did he/- protect us when we charged into Iraq w/out waiting for inspections to confirm whether or not there were WMDs?

Did he/- protect us when he/- pulled troops from Afghanistan to invade Iraq?

Did he protect us when he urged that our ports be turned over to a foreign government? Even when he wasn't advised in advance?

Did he/- protect us from the disaster in New Orleans?

Can we trust him and Cheney and Rumsfeld to be telling us the God's honest truth?




This is not rocket science. We just gotta get to the level of the sound bite mentality, just as that flunky Karl Rove has done (so successfully).

[Sleepless In NY]

22. Some of hitlers speeches sound so much like bush,,its errie

" Today Christians stand at the head of the nation... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian Spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developements in literature, in the theatre, and in the press- in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past few years." Adolph Hitler February 16, 1933 The Speeches of Adolph Hitler", 1922-1939, Vol. 1, pg. 871-872 London, Oxford University Press, 1942


"For this, to be sure, from the child's primer down to the last newspaper, every theater and every movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard, must be pressed into the service of this one great mission, until the timorous prayer of our present parlor patriots: ‘Lord, make us free!’ is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: ‘Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!’
"Mein Kampf", Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, 1999, pp. 632-633.

[Neil Lisst]

24. Compare Charlie Chaplain's Dictator with Dubya

Now THAT is an apt comparison.

[Random_Australian]

26. I'm too young to know about that,

sounds interesting btw though, would you explain please?

[Neil Lisst]

28. Charlie Chaplin made a hilarious spoof of Hitler

It's one of the great films of all time, truly hilarious.

You have to see it.

[ConsAreLiars]

35. That would be "Charlie Chaplin" in "The Great Dictator"

It can be found here: http://www.mininova.org/tor/18595

[Neil Lisst]

39. that's it

thanks for catching the spelling

I knew it didn't have the "a" but let it slip.

[ConsAreLiars]

40. Chaplin was not only a comedic genius, he was an honest man and a leftist

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin

[sam sarrha]

36. your friends dont need to be convinced your enemies will never be convinced

dont waste your time, get a hobbie