Are you a Nazi? Am I? Who gets to decide?

My grandfather and his brothers fought in Europe against Hitler and the Nazis. Stop disrespecting their sacrifices for politics.

Even today, over 50 years later, when he speaks of the Nazis he begins to foam at the mouth. His friends and family fought and died ridding the Earth of a man that planned, promoted, and advocated for the genocide of 6 million Jews and another 5 million "undesirables".

Every time you refer to your political opponent as a Nazi or Hitler you are insulting the patriots who fought in WWII and dismissing the sacrifices my grandparents made so I could live in a free country.

Seriously, if I see one more person waving a picture of the US President Barack Obama doctored up to look like Hitler I'm going to be forced to modify another semi-automatic AR-15. So before you start demonizing the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED leader of the United States of America as a Nazi learn your history, read the US Constitution and get a dictionary.

Barack Obama is no more Hitler-like then George W. Bush. These are reasonable men doing what they were democratically elected to do (I know but nothing good comes from rehashing the 2000 election - fix the system don't be a wingnut). Contrary to what FOX News presents, no President ever gets up in the morning thinking - "How can I screw more Americans out of their civil liberties".

Those who are using the term for political gain are leveraging the fear and ignorance of the masses and are walking a fine line between treachery and treason. If I believed that Obama - or Bush - was a Nazi I'd be the first one to arms and organizing Freedom Fighters. Provided the current and legal processes for changing US leadership was being circumvented. And believe it or not - there is a process - ask Andrew Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Gerald R. Ford. Actually, they are all dead so it might be simpler to read the US Constitution.

My concern is there is some paranoid whack job out there who believes these Birther, fascist, Muslim conspiracy delusions and will attempt to fulfill his "calling" - but I digress.

If you are an American tossing around the term "Nazi" to describe another human being do you realize what you are saying? Do you even know what the term means or what it meant to be a Nazi? If you do know, and continue to use it to slander others or embrace it as a constructive worldview, well, you have no conscious or soul and have past the point of reason.

By their nature Nazis:

• Claim a Christian belief system but are anti-Catholic
• Belief in the superiority of an Aryan race
• Advocated a strong, centralized government to defend the German people around the world against Communism and Jewish servitude
• Accept the idea of history as a race struggle influenced by Social Darwinism
• Are antisemitic
• Believe a diverse population that including multiple races and cultures breeds a weak people and a weak state
  
• And are imperialistic

To achieve these goals Nazis sought:

• The creation of a largely homogeneous and self-sufficent ethnic state
• Rejected ideologies like democracy, liberalism, capitalist and Marxism (You cannot be both a Nazi and a Communist)
• Embraced nationalism as communal duty of citizens serve to the state
• Relied on military power to maintain order and control both inside and outside its internationally recognized borders
  
• The compulsory sterilization of people with mental deficiencies or illnesses perceived as hereditary

The Nazis executed over 11 million people in 7 years or rough 1,570,000 people every year. That doesn't include the men and women that fought - on both sides - that died or the additional non-combatant deaths. As a comparison below are a list of US cities and their populations. These 11,000,000 plus people would die under Hitler.

Population City
795,458 Indianapolis, Ind.
805,605 Jacksonville, Fla.
764,976 San Francisco, Calif.
747,755 Columbus, Ohio
743,074 Austin, Tex.
674,028 Memphis, Tenn.
637,455 Baltimore, Md.
681,818 Fort Worth, Tex.
671,588 Charlotte, N.C.
606,913 El Paso, Tex.
602,191 Milwaukee, Wis.
594,210 Seattle, Wash.
599,351 Boston, Mass.
588,349 Denver, Colo.
557,789 Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky
588,292 Washington, DC
590,807 Nashville-Davidson, Tenn.
======================
11,249,659 Total

So seriously, stop with the Nazism slander. It is wrong morally, historically and intellectually to paint your fellow countryman as Hitler or a Nazi. My grandfather, his brothers and friends fought and died in Africa, Italy, Normandy and a 1,000 other shitholes in order for us to be free. Use your freedom of speech but take some responsibility for what you say.

You're giving me a headache

I wish it were a black and white world - then I would be able to pick a side and have a 50% chance of being absolutely on the correct side. Us versus them. Right versus Wrong. Left versus Right. Good versus Evil. Taste Great versus Less Filling.

There is something gloriously appealing to a simplistic worldview that can easily be boiled down to the phrase, "chocolate or vanilla". It is convenient to know that I'm going either to heaven or to hell and the outcome is determined solely on whether I profess a belief in a savior - or not. It is wonderful to believe that "you are either with us or against us." Ah...mission accomplished...or not. See how comfortable it is to say such things. Such simple duality is easy on the brain because it doesn't take any effort to choose.

A black and white world would certainly be convenient - I personally think there are entirely to many brands of toothpaste.

On the other hand - there is something dangerously insidious about a simplistic either/or world. For example, "if it weren't for 'them' we wouldn't have these problems." Simplistic but problematic.

Especially if you replace the word "them" with words such as cracker, nigger, crumpet-sucker, chigger, crunchy, paddy, kike, beaner or one of a 1,ooo other racial slurs. For example, at the turn of the 20th century, as the Irish came across the Atlantic and blacks made their way to opportunity in the north, they were commonly greeted by signs that read, "Irish and niggers need not apply". Which is why another old slur for the Irish was "NINA" - "No Irish Need Apply".

Well at least they knew where to look for a job - somewhere else.

We want simplistic - it is much easier to manage. This is the difficulty with complicated issues - these refuse to be boiled down to an us versus them, either/or option. We want it to be simple which is why we label those people who disagree or are different than us as conservative or liberal, fascist or socialist, Nazi or communist. There are a small minority of people making a living propagating simplistic worldviews - views that limit discussion, limit the free exchange of ideas and limit solutions. Unfortunately, these people can be seen broadcasting into billions of homes around the world delivering an exciting, loud, entertaining and simplistic blend of hostility, humor and zeal.

After all who wants to watch two reasonable moderates who mostly agree?

It is this simplistic world view that gives power to the likes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Osama Bin Laden, Joseph McCarthy, Glen Beck and my high school football coach - all idealistic fascists. We want it to be simple. We don't want to see the other side of the story, walk in another man's shoes, broaden our perspective or consider all the facts. All of these actions require us to swallow our pride and ego and admit we might not really know. "Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem," wrote educational psychologist Thomas Szasz, "That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all."

Complicated issues such as health care reform, terrorism and energy give us a headache because like all forms of exercise it forces us to stretch our brains. Americans are the most obese people in the world: most of us refuse to get off the couch to exercise our bodies - perhaps instead we should use our couch time to exercise our brains.