Some people have taken to referring to a certain overweight golfer as “America’s Hitler.” After endless Hollywood dramatizations and History Channel re-enactments of the Third Reich, that designation drapes him in a certain unearned glamour of evil. It would be more accurate and appropriate to call him “America’s Milosevic.” And yes, it can happen here. Don’t let it.
2 thoughts on “Accuracy in Analogizing”
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A further reason for being suspicious of the use of “fascism” as an analogy for what is being advertised to voters today is that fascism conjures up imaginations of a pathological degree of unity and uniformity– an aesthetic that some may find tempting. What happened to the former Yugoslavia, a violent breakup along ethnic and sectarian lines, was destructive in a different way and had nothing to do with creating unity.
One report on the Madison Square Garden event said that the people who came into the venue looked “normal,” but as soon as they were seated, they became venomous and receptive to venomous addresses. They had “permission” to be intolerant. That strikes me as uniformity, like putting on the Fascist brown shirt.