Post by cato on Nov 3, 2018 18:18:29 GMT
In any debate with non conservatives the example of Adolf Hitler is often used against conservatives who are implicitly seen as inhabiting the same political gene pool.
The reluctance especially in Ireland to identify as part of the right is striking. The word Thatcherite is also used to shut down debates even by politicians who have presided over Thatcherite economic policies like privitisation ,tax cuts etc.
Those who support Brexit are often seen as willing to plunge Europe back into the days of war and it is sometimes claimed that only Brussels and the Euro stand between us and the gas chambers. In Ireland it is claimed a hard border will result in a return to secterian slaughter. As we all know the Irish troubles were fought to achieve a common customs union presided over by the EU! The irony of branding Brexiteers as fascist by countries that were actually really fascist is beyond ridiculous.
The EU is all that stands between us and the 4th Reich it would appear. Similarly people upset at rising levels of crime , emigration and the loss of national identity are viewed as populists - which is code for Nazis.
Part of this link of the right to Hitler is deliberate smearing by association. All non liberals have a secret SS uniform in the attic! This was a line promoted by the Soviet Union in its heyday when even social democrats were branded as fascists!.Another reason is laziness and ignorance. There are a wide variety of political models philosophies and systems but sure it's a lot easier to reduce things to nice left wing liberals against the hordes of goose stepping Nazis. This Manichean fantasy is nuts of course but many do believe it.
Hitler is the most widely depicted historical figure on TV and book shelves groan under Nazi themed tomes. Without denying his undoubted malign importance our era seems to have lost any sense of his perspective in a wider narrative. Modern history is protrayed as the Nazis and only the Nazis. Other narratives can get ignored or forgotten or at least sidelined.
Hitler may have lost the war but he lives on in the nightmares of the left.
The reluctance especially in Ireland to identify as part of the right is striking. The word Thatcherite is also used to shut down debates even by politicians who have presided over Thatcherite economic policies like privitisation ,tax cuts etc.
Those who support Brexit are often seen as willing to plunge Europe back into the days of war and it is sometimes claimed that only Brussels and the Euro stand between us and the gas chambers. In Ireland it is claimed a hard border will result in a return to secterian slaughter. As we all know the Irish troubles were fought to achieve a common customs union presided over by the EU! The irony of branding Brexiteers as fascist by countries that were actually really fascist is beyond ridiculous.
The EU is all that stands between us and the 4th Reich it would appear. Similarly people upset at rising levels of crime , emigration and the loss of national identity are viewed as populists - which is code for Nazis.
Part of this link of the right to Hitler is deliberate smearing by association. All non liberals have a secret SS uniform in the attic! This was a line promoted by the Soviet Union in its heyday when even social democrats were branded as fascists!.Another reason is laziness and ignorance. There are a wide variety of political models philosophies and systems but sure it's a lot easier to reduce things to nice left wing liberals against the hordes of goose stepping Nazis. This Manichean fantasy is nuts of course but many do believe it.
Hitler is the most widely depicted historical figure on TV and book shelves groan under Nazi themed tomes. Without denying his undoubted malign importance our era seems to have lost any sense of his perspective in a wider narrative. Modern history is protrayed as the Nazis and only the Nazis. Other narratives can get ignored or forgotten or at least sidelined.
Hitler may have lost the war but he lives on in the nightmares of the left.
