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Town Hall Nazi-Talk Trivializes Holocaust

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 14, 2009 7:50 AM CDT

(Newser) – Comparing your nemesis to a Nazi has been a "staple of American T-shirt and bumper-sticker political culture," writes Michael Gerson in the Washington Post, and such Nazi-talk has becoming a recurring element of the health care protests. "Anyone with a black felt pen and the ability to draw a Hitler moustache on a poster" can invoke the 20th century's most awful regime, instantly shutting down argument. But Nazism is not a symbol for whatever you don't like; it's a historical movement whose importance we risk forgetting.

Strident voices from Michael Moore to Rush Limbaugh trot out Nazi analogies, but so do mainstream politicians—in recent days Republican senator Jim DeMint said Obama's America is little different from 1930s Germany. This rhetoric isn't just a "lazy shortcut"; it's a disservice to history. "Nazism is not a useful symbol for everything that makes us angry, from Iraq to abortion." For Gerson, we risk shrinking the horrors of the Third Reich "and robbing them of their power to shock and teach."

[Images (3)]

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Cameron Peterson carries a poster showing an altered photo of President Barack Obama at a health care town hall meeting in Alhambra, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Delante Bess, right, hold a poster showing an altered photo of President Barack Obama during a health care town hall meeting in Alhambra, Calif, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A vandalized sign outside the office of Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., is shown Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in Smyrna, Ga. Scott had a contentious community meeting on health care last week. Scott, who is black,... (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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The burning of the Reichstag and Kristallnacht are not arguments against a single-payer health plan or against the Patriot Act. - Michael Gerson

This rhetorical strategy is a lazy shortcut to secure an emotional response. Worse than that, it is an argument that puts an end to all argument. What discourse is possible with the spawn of Hitler? - Michael Gerson

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