As I just banned another misbehaving commenter who stopped off here just to show he was smarter than me and to defend Snopes (“…But for Snopes?”), it seems a propitious time to post this Comment of the Day, the second (the first is here) to be inspired by my post about another banned commenter calling me a “Trump supporting fascist.” And he was much smarter than the jerk I just banned.
Here is A M Golden’s Comment of the Day on the post, “Ethics Quote of the Month: Banned EA Commenter ‘David’”:
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When I was about 11 years old, my grandparents’ church showed a movie called “The Hiding Place” about a Dutch family that hid Jews from the Nazis. I was fascinated by the idea that there could exist a country so very unlike America where people could be punished for helping others. Since I was already very interested in history, I began what is now a 40-plus-year study of the Third Reich and Hitler, in particular.
I do not consider myself an expert; however, I am certainly more knowledgeable than the average layperson. I have read hundreds of books over the years concerning Nazi Germany and not just the military build-up and harassment of Jews. I’ve read a lot about the culture, the education and the day-to-day life of Germans.
And, of course, I’ve read multiple biographies of Hitler himself. Not every biography is created equal, though (Don’t get me started on movies about Hitler. The last one I tried to watch was a TV movie called “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” starring an otherwise fine actor named Robert Carlyle. I turned it off after 10 minutes due to the blatant misrepresentations and outright fabrications of Hitler’s early life. Apparently, the expert consultant had his name taken off of it for the same reason). Some biographies are pretty bad and postulate things that are not likely to be true. A good example of this are the ones that try to push the idea that Hitler was a homosexual.
There is no evidence that he was gay. There are plenty of reasons to dislike Hitler, it’s not necessary to stretch imagination to make up other things. It’s also rather homophobic, isn’t it? “Hitler was a psychopathic bigot with delusions of grandeur who started the most destructive war in human history…and he was a homosexual!”.
Let me be plain here because my fascination with this period of history is often misunderstood: Adolf Hitler was a terrible person who caused terrible things to happen. His end came entirely too late and history should lament that not enough people realized how toxic his leadership was sooner when removing him without bloodshed was still possible.
But a lie about Hitler is still a lie.
And a lie about Trump is still a lie.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Donald Trump. The so-called resistance – Democrats and their allies in the news media, the entertainment industry, academia and other influential institutions in our country – seem determined to attribute every negative characteristic possible to him, up to and including that he is literally Hitler.
There is no evidence that Trump will get rid of the Constitution, begin herding dissenters into re-education or concentration camps or turn the country into a theocracy (that last one is ludicrous on its face. Anyone who thinks Trump is anything more than what Richard Dawkins recently referred to as a cultural Christian is deluded). But that same so-called resistance has been propagandizing relentlessly for 8 years now so there are people out there like your debate partner who think that hurting Trump is a good thing, regardless of the damage it does to our institutions in the process. If you lie about Trump, it’s okay because Trump is evil – like Hitler – so they’re good lies. If you point out that they are lies, you must be a Trump acolyte and are evil just like he is just like I get sideways looks from people who think I’m “defending Hitler” when I point out that it is unlikely that he was gay and that, no, he did not hate his mother.
The trouble is that people like your friend don’t realize they’ve been propagandized to believe the lies. It’s almost as if there’s a bureaucracy out there intent on disseminating generalizations about other people in order to keep in office those with whom they are politically aligned. There have been countries throughout history in which things like that have happened. I’m sure I will think of a good example of one soon.
And, yet, you are the one called a fascist.
Ethics Alarms 
I have a friend, John is his name. He was a career army intelligence officer during and after the cold war. He gives brilliant lectures about the spy craft he used and particularly on the enemies uses of disinformation, misinformationm malinformation. Brilliant, yet post retiremnt he has become a rabid democrat who cannot or rather refuses to peer into the mirror of his idelogy and see their disinformation, misinformation, malinformation campaign. As a result he as unfriended me, both virtualy and in reality. Bias blinds and destroys. In tis case a friendship that began in 1986, no longer exists.
First, let me say that this was a great comment, and it covers something that a lot of today’s nuance free protesters cannot seem to grasp.
As you demonstrate, it is quite possible to study a subject without endorsing that subject. The fact that you’ve studied Hitler’s life, and by extension that of Nazi Germany to at least some degree, does not make you a Nazi — far from it. For one thing, it is often illuminative to study a society to see how it went off the rails. From my point of view, the progressive movement seems to be moving in the same direction Germany did in the 1930’s.
And the second point you make, which is definitely valid today, is that if someone is abhorrent, the best way to show that to other folks is simply to lay out the facts. If you make stuff up to make that person look worse, you will lose parts of your audience who recognize those falsehoods. Worse, you lose credibility amongst people to whom truth matters.
I enjoy playing war games and have for decades. If I play a game that concerns the Eastern Front in WWII, that doesn’t mean I am either a Nazi or a Stalinist (or both) depending on which side I am playing. It is simply an endlessly fascinating subject area (and has been since about 1941) both for war gamers and military historians. And again, if I say some good things about the Wehrmacht or the Red Army, it doesn’t mean I am endorsing the war crimes both sides committed.
I overhear MSNBC commentators talking about Trump periodically (my sister is addicted to the channel, I am sorry to say), and apparently they are able to pry open his head and absolutely determine what he is going to do if re-elected (which, if it happens, they will have significantly contributed to). They don’t realize how absurd they sound if one hasn’t already drunk their kool-aid.
Once again, I’m honored (even if you used the movie art from “Rise of Evil”. They cast Stockard Channing to play Hitler’s mother).
Will, Rizzo in “Grease” was kind of evil…
True, she did create problems for Sandy and Danny. And whoever did the artwork for the “Grease” opening credits did her no favors. Very unflattering cartoon of Rizzo.
To be fair, Channing was badly miscast, and way, way too old for the role—like almost everyone else in that film.
Stockard Channing is a better choice than Carol Channing.
Both your COTD responses were awesome. Thanks for sharing!!
Carol Channing?
Helloooo, Adolf
This is Mutti, Adolf
It’s 10 AM and you are still in bed.
You look unwell, Adolf.
As you tell, Adolf.
You’re still grumblin’, you’re still mumblin’
You’re still a lazy head.