"Once again, Ted Turner can't seem to learn his lesson," Foxman says. "You tell him it's wrong, it's offensive, it's inappropriate, it's degrading to the memory of the six million. He apologizes -- then does it again.”
Richard Silverstein responded to my earlier post by providing more info on the ADL's tendency to lash out at liberals who make such comments while remaining blinkered to sometimes more egregious Nazi equivalences drawn by the right.
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I wrote about a similar instance last year after the right media attempted to lynch MoveOn.org for sponsoring an anti-Bush ad content, which featured two contestant submissions that likened Bush to Hitler, while ignoring a New York Post column by militarist commentator Ralph Peters that compared Howard Dean to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and Dean followers to Nazi Brownshirts and the Gestapo.
It's worth noting that Radio Icarus (see previous post) built his career on such glib comparisons. Limbaugh's stock value was built on such trademarked terms as "feminazis," which his slavish listeners parrot with glee. Has Foxman's once lowered the boom on Limbaugh for the use? No.
Used in careful proportion, Nazi references can help illustrate a point. I often refer to the Parents Television Council as "uber-prigs" and "neo-nannies," both allusions to the fascist zeal with which the organization scans our airwaves for the slightest "indecency" and then mobilizes their shock troops to hammer the FCC and congress with silly complaints. It works for me. I wonder what Foxman would say. Given my occasional progressive slant -- yes, I'll admit to it -- I'm certain he would not be pleased.
3 comments:
It's really ashamed, what Ted Turner says is the truth BUT it just comes out the wrong way. Turner would make CNN a great PR person. CNN needs spunk in it's pr department.
First and foremost on the order of battle, Moveon.org was not responsible for the content of their "Bush in 30 Seconds" ads. Their request was the ads be kept appropriate for general audiences. It just so happened that 2 ad submitters considered comparing Bush to Hitler appropriate. The conservatives did not make any comparisons to Kerry until the Moveon ads were aired, but it was just a knee jerk reaction. What scares a lot of folks is Bush's neocons attack gay rights, just like the Nazis, so of course there will be comparisons made. The conservatives also didn't like it when someone questioned Bush's status in the Alabama Air National Guard, and especially www.awolbush.com seemed to gall them to no end.
Dean' supporters were almost as organized as many conservatives, which must have worried the conservatives, but I must admit since I was a Kerry supporter, I wasn't aware of their comparison of Howard Dean to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and Dean followers to Nazi Brownshirts and the Gestapo.
Calling the estate tax a holocaust against the rich requires an incredible stretch of the imagination. For all of the balderdash I keep hearing on what is appropriate, I say Norquist's use of the English language is most inappropriate, as he apparently does not understand the definition of holocaust and most likely counts on his listeners ignorance.
Just for the record ( I didn't want to take the time to register with this blog service) My name is Paul Richardson, prich@earthlink.net
First things first, yes, the holocaust was a truly dark period of history for all of us (and not just the jewish people who perished during it), however to assail its use whether it be metaphoric or direct is idiotic,
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