Oh, right, like no one's ever compared him to Hitler before


(by mgh)

Is Rudy Giuliani really like Hitler?

If he were, it would almost certainly decrease by some margin his likelihood of success in a 2008 presidential bid. Almost certainly.

But how much alike are they really? Sure, they are both megalomaniacal authoritarian political figures. But while Hitler executed millions and millions of Jews and other innocents in a genocidal attempt to conquer Europe, Giuliani's fascism was more about shutting down city arts programs over elephant-dung-laced portraits of religious icons.

So the similarities are not really that deep.

Giuliani will serve as commencement speaker for the upstate Middlebury College this summer. In protest, the student newspaper ran an opinion piece titled "Giuliani is a Punk, Un-Invite Him" (New York Times coverage).

The editors also ran a Photoshopped portrait of Giuliani with a Hitler mustache giving a Nazi salute.

Now, there has been some outrage over this caricature, and some fallout including the resignation of the editor responsible for the cartoon. Not unlike the outrage over Bush's face being morphed into Hitler in an entry to MoveOn's ad contest, or over various Democratic candidates' faces being morphed into those of Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden in actual Republican campaign ads approved by Republican candidates.

So let's take it down a notch. Angry argument makers of the world, please do not suggest any politician is Hitler, Hussein, or bin Laden unless you really think he or she is guilty of mass murders on that scale. Politicians, newspapers, college presidents of the world, please do not be too outraged when it happens sometimes anyway — you know it's coming. Treat it as the silly hyperbole it is.

While you're at it, please take a moment to read the excellent discussion on The Next Hurrah prompted by DHinMI's piece on the sloppy and ineffective use of the pejorative "theocrat."

His bottom line is that you get listeners with the truth; you lose them with hyperbole.

In short — Giuliani: Punk, Yes. Hitler-like, not so much.

(See also our treatment of the use of Hitler comparisons in anti-Schwarzenegger rhetoric . -- CP)

Posted: Tue - May 3, 2005 at 12:19 PM   | Category:     |   |   | |


©
eXTReMe Tracker