Reply #42: Please give reality a chance [View All]

[erknm]

Qualitative vs quantitative?
I don't even see qualitative similarities. I obviously don't like W, but I do not accuse him of ethnic cleansing and genocide. And if we put all the 2,500 + US soldiers on his shoulders, this is still less than the Nazis killed in an average day. Each one a tragedy, to be sure, but not even comparable. Just because there are some similarities do not mean that they are comparable. Wait, I can just see it, Hitler drank German beer. I also drink German beer. Now I understand why people call me a Nazi, the comparison is obvious.

It seems that some people on this blog never learn: There is enough factual evidence to hate W and punish republicans for his behavior. There may be enough evidence to bring up talk of war crimes, so that some future president can pardon the entire lot. But outlandish and ridiculous exaggerations do nothing but allow people to feel okay about labeling accusers as raving lunatics and dismissing anything they say. Hyperbole will not get democrats elected. So it really depends on whether an accuser wants to scream for its own sake, or wants to have a meaningful dialogue.

Frankly, I cannot say it better than Godwin himself from his book, Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age, where he argued that "hyperbolic overuse of the Hitler/Nazi comparison should be avoided, as it robs the valid comparisons of their impact".