Monstrous Labels, Part I: Springtime for Hitler
Prologue, quoting from a blog I wrote in the spring of 2009:
[Recently] I wrote a piece describing a particularly vociferous and opinionated group of education bloggers and commenters as "reform Nazis." As in--the Soup Nazi, so entertainingly depicted on Seinfeld.
My peace-loving friend and Daily Kos uber-blogger Ken Bernstein gently chided me for careless use of a pretty hard-core epithet, pointing out that such name-calling is not an invitation to thoughtful dialogue. It took me about five chastised-but-bristling minutes, back then, to admit that he was right: He who uses the most vile and inflammatory language is not the most influential. Loudest, perhaps--but not the most truthful or accurate.
Around the time of that exchange, the nation had the opportunity to hear a whole lot of specious, incoherent blah-blah about Hitler and health care--hunh?--and witness Shepard Fairey's iconic poster of Obama adorned with a toothbrush mustache.
Ha ha. Not.
But --is this wrong? Does it mean that Jon Stewart should never do pointed satire on Hitler-mustache stickers (available for images of all the people you currently dislike)? Was Barney Frank out of bounds, when he compared discussing the health care bill with town-hall "Nazi policy" protesters to talking with his dining room table? As a person who includes The Producers among