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Overusing Godwin's Law

Jan 13, 2004 5:32 PM
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If I hear one more Bush:Hitler or Sharon:Hitler analogy, I might just vomit, but I agree with Joho that dismissing any and all Hitler comparisons, out of hand, does a disservice to the world.

There were pre-Nazi parallels, such as the Turkish genocide of Armenians, and have been subsequent events that were frighteningly similar, like Vladimir Zhirinovsky's brief political rise in Russia, despite their many differences.

This, of course, is not a license for specious comparisons. But if we misunderstand the sense in which Hitler, Nazism and the Holocaust were unique, our naïveté could let a different threat slip by unnoticed.


Comments: Overusing Godwin's Law

Slip by unnoticed like the holocausts in Bosnia and Somalia didn't?

Posted by: O'dell on January 13, 2004 8:22 PM | permalink

Yes, perhaps "unnoticed" is the wrong word. Maybe "not watched carefully enough until it's too late".

Somalia?

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on January 14, 2004 10:46 AM | permalink

The Holocaust isn't the only aspect of Nazism or Hitler. After all, they are at the center of the most traumatic events of the last century. We can probably forget about Hitler as a useful analogy, except in cases of pretty serious analysis. But Nazism and the events of that period are certainly to important too be dismissed as cliche.

(In the Pianist there was a scene about a road that went through Warsaw... who could see that and not think about parallels? Having thought them, how can we ignore them?)

And despite all the material we do see about the Holocaust and the events of those times, the analysis is usually pretty shallow, and the depictions encourage both shallow analogies and shallow contrasts. But there's a lot of things people would rather forget about that time, because it wasn't really Hitler who did all the evil things, he was only one man. It wasn't even the Nazis, there weren't enough of them. It was all of Europe. And even in places where events aren't just analogous, but directly connected to WWII -- like in Yugoslavia -- we tend to ignore the connection.

Posted by: Ian Bicking on January 14, 2004 11:53 AM | permalink

Joe:

Sorry, Rwanda.

Ian:

Don't forget Stalin. In many ways he was worse (if only because he had more time and control). At least they were "partners," with people like Pol Pot and Henry Kissinger as "lesser associates."

Posted by: O'dell on January 14, 2004 4:22 PM | permalink

No more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.