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On throwing around 'Nazi' in the health care debate

Choose what side you will be on regarding the debate over health care in this country, but Rabbi Guttman (via edcone.com link) gives good perspective to the use/sentiment of the word 'Nazi' in the debate.

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Posted by nmclaughlin on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 10:16 am

What do you think?

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nemo0037

August 11, 2009 - 3:04 pm EDT

Nice to read Guttman's take on this. Sadly, I think that for too long,
people have used the term "Nazi" to simply express a view that something
they oppose is "evil." I would venture to guess that most of the people
who use it have no clue what Nazi party policies or teachings were
about, let alone taken the time to compare these things with whatever it
is they are trying to condemn. Instead of being hurt, I would have felt
pity that these protesters are so obviously intellectually lazy.

Which is offensive to many people for other reasons than the Rabbi had.
In this debate, the people need to use the brain power they have for
more than listening to their favorite talking head and parroting
whatever pops out of their mouths. People need to learn many more facts
than whatever it is that Fox News or Rush Limbaugh shouts at them, and
to think for themselves. For a change.

Brekka

August 12, 2009 - 8:02 pm EDT

It's a pity you don't know that House Speaker Pelosi used the term first to describe those people who disagreed with the healthcare bill as "carrying swasktikas" (i.e. being NAZI's). President Obama does want to change America from a democracy to a socialized nation. That is why we have Waxman's Cap and Trade Bill and the Healthcare bill in such heated debate. Yes, this isn't about Obamacare, it is about WaxmanCare. You need to read HR3200 and the Senate version of the Healthcare bill. You may find that Pelosi's comments repulsive. You will find the healthcare bills repulsive. You need to read those bills.

Andrew Brod

August 12, 2009 - 9:15 pm EDT

Talk about a pity. It's tough to count just how many times Brekka misses the point or gets facts wrong. But let's give it a shot. First, there's actually photographic evidence of reform opponents at rallies holding swastika signs, so Pelosi didn't make this up. Second, Pelosi wasn't calling those sign carriers Nazis--she understood that they were conflating health-care reform and Nazism. So in other words the sign carriers were the ones calling others Nazis, and that's what Pelosi was complaining about. Third, the American medical-care system is pretty socialized already, and while Obama wants to improve some regulation, he's not talking about "socialized medicine." Only Fox News is. Fourth, cap and trade has nothing to do with this topic, and in any case it's basically the opposite of socialism--it's the use of market mechanisms to better control pollution. And finally, none of Brekka's comments changes the fact that it's repugnant for the right to use Nazi imagery and name-calling to obscure the health-care debate.