Has anyone else noticed how so many “progressives” now toss off the N-word at the drop of a hut? (That’s no misprint. “Hut” is Deutsche for “hat”.)
By N-word, of course, I mean “Nazi.”
Nearly every day, I saddle up at my desk, gallop into cyberspace, and ride headlong into left-wing protesters, members of the mainstream media, and even respectable Democrats throwing the tar of Nazism and Fascism at some poor thunderstruck fool who has had the temerity to cross them, hoping the swastika smear will stick and thereby doom the evildoer, usually a conservative, to ruination or oblivion. Donald Trump and his supporters, lumped together by Hilary Clinton as a “basket of deplorables”; Steve Bannon and his former coworkers at Breitbart News; social scientists like Charles Murray, Jordan Peterson, and Christina Hoff Sommers; professors who believe students are mature enough to select their own Halloween costumes; gun owners, hunters, and fishermen (fisher people?); Bible-belt Christians; libertarians; folks who favor charter schools; sensible souls who prefer male and female restrooms: the left routinely tags these citizens and many other Americans as fascists and Nazis.
By N-word, of course, I mean “Nazi.”
Nearly every day, I saddle up at my desk, gallop into cyberspace, and ride headlong into left-wing protesters, members of the mainstream media, and even respectable Democrats throwing the tar of Nazism and Fascism at some poor thunderstruck fool who has had the temerity to cross them, hoping the swastika smear will stick and thereby doom the evildoer, usually a conservative, to ruination or oblivion. Donald Trump and his supporters, lumped together by Hilary Clinton as a “basket of deplorables”; Steve Bannon and his former coworkers at Breitbart News; social scientists like Charles Murray, Jordan Peterson, and Christina Hoff Sommers; professors who believe students are mature enough to select their own Halloween costumes; gun owners, hunters, and fishermen (fisher people?); Bible-belt Christians; libertarians; folks who favor charter schools; sensible souls who prefer male and female restrooms: the left routinely tags these citizens and many other Americans as fascists and Nazis.
Yet I wonder. If we brought together all these different people, if we sported as many Nazis as some contend live among us, surely we’d see jack-booted regiments goose-stepping down Constitution Avenue. Gather up all these Sturmtruppen, and that collection of Brownshirts would dwarf the Nuremberg Rally.
So where are all these Nazis?
In the last few years, smearing opponents with the N-word has become so routine, so mundane an insult, that most of us who follow politics brush past the charges with a yawn. “Look, Lucinda, Senator Pureheart just called General James ‘Bulldog’ Mattis a Nazi. Isn’t Mattis the guy who said to his troops, ‘Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet?’ Who knew he was a Nazi? Hey, you’re making omelets this morning? Could you throw in some ham with that cheese?”
Our plethora of perceived Fascisti raises another question: What in the name of Dachau and Auschwitz are the lefties thinking when they toss off these fascistic labels? Don’t they realize they are demeaning those who died at the hands of real Nazis? Are they serious or are they just too lazy to come up with a better grade of dirt? Do those student protesters really mean business when they wave their signs accusing some blindsided conservative speaker of being a fascist? Are we really supposed to believe the news commentator who tells us that Donald Trump is the new Adolf Hitler? That Ann Coulter is Eva Braun? What exactly is the leftist definition of Nazism?
There’s the rub. The octopodes squirting out their poisonous ink don’t bother to define their terms. They just pop out the words Nazi and Fascist without telling us what the words mean, debasing and trivializing in the meantime all those who were executed in Nazi concentration camps or who died battling real fascism.
My own definitions for Nazism and fascism are based on my reading of history and my grasp of reality. Rather than offer some long-winded critique of these political philosophies, I find that my Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, published in 1975, contains more than adequate definitions. (Let me add that these definitions describe more accurately those slinging the mud than those being smeared.)
Webster’s tells us that Nazism is “the body of social and economic doctrines held and put into effect by the National Socialist German Workers party in the Third German Reich including the totalitarian principle of government, state control of all industry, predominance of groups assumed to be racially superior, and supremacy of the fuhrer.” As for fascism, it is “a “political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government, headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”
These are accurate, classic definitions of Nazism and fascism. My wimpy online dictionary seems more in tune with our present times, offering these definitions of a Nazi: 1) a follower of Adolph Hitler; 2) a racist; and 3) a bossy person. The first definition makes sense: A follower of Adolph Hitler is a Nazi. But the second—“A racist is a Nazi”—is bogus and won’t fly. If you disbelieve me, track down some Black Panthers, call them Nazis, and see how far you get. (I mean how far you get literally, as in running.) As for the third definition—“A bossy person is a Nazi”—you’ve got to be kidding me. If such were the case, then Marine Corps drill instructors, some surgeons I’ve known, and most two year olds of any color would qualify as Nazis.
At any rate, the historic definitions of Nazism and Fascism are clearly now as dead as the Third Reich. Even as dead, perhaps, as free speech on many American campuses. The present–day morons hurling such innuendo neither know nor care what makes up a fascist or a Nazi. They just thrust their hands into the bucketful of mud, throw a fistful of goop at an opponent, and hope the mess sticks.
This lack of mutually agreed upon definitions returns us then to the question: What do leftists mean when they start screaming “Nazi?” What are they intending when they pin a Schicklgruber moustache on someone they detest?
After considering the matter, I decided to solve the problem of definition by taking the Jeff Foxworthy approach. Foxworthy is the comedian who became famous for his redneck jokes. He never offers his fans a dictionary definition of a redneck, but instead employs connotation to make his points, defining a redneck by association and implication. The jokes that made him famous were based on his comedic shtick “You might be a redneck if….” Foxworthy invented a pickup truck load of these suppositions: “You might be a redneck if your blood alcohol content has ever exceeded your IQ;” “You might be a redneck if you think a stock tip is advice on ‘wormin’ your hogs;” “You might be a redneck if a state trooper ever asked if you had an I.D. and you said ‘About what?’” (If you have to think too much about this last one, you aren't from the South.)
Here, I thought, was a workable approach. By following Jeff Foxworthy’s example, by employing connotation rather than denotation to gain some insight, I might successfully create a composite figure of what a leftist considers a “Nazi” or a “Fascist.”
So here goes. The list below is composed in no particular order. If you answer yes to 10 of these questions, well sorry partner, but the left has declared you a borderline skinhead. Agree with 20, and to quote the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld, “No soup for you!” Anything above 30, and you qualify as a full-fledged, card-carrying, Sieg-Heiling member of the Gestapo.
You might be a Nazi/Fascist if…
Oh, wait. Let’s add a few more:
Gee, lump these groups together, and we have more Fascists trotting around America than in 1930s Italy and Germany combined.
Who Knew?
So where are all these Nazis?
In the last few years, smearing opponents with the N-word has become so routine, so mundane an insult, that most of us who follow politics brush past the charges with a yawn. “Look, Lucinda, Senator Pureheart just called General James ‘Bulldog’ Mattis a Nazi. Isn’t Mattis the guy who said to his troops, ‘Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet?’ Who knew he was a Nazi? Hey, you’re making omelets this morning? Could you throw in some ham with that cheese?”
Our plethora of perceived Fascisti raises another question: What in the name of Dachau and Auschwitz are the lefties thinking when they toss off these fascistic labels? Don’t they realize they are demeaning those who died at the hands of real Nazis? Are they serious or are they just too lazy to come up with a better grade of dirt? Do those student protesters really mean business when they wave their signs accusing some blindsided conservative speaker of being a fascist? Are we really supposed to believe the news commentator who tells us that Donald Trump is the new Adolf Hitler? That Ann Coulter is Eva Braun? What exactly is the leftist definition of Nazism?
There’s the rub. The octopodes squirting out their poisonous ink don’t bother to define their terms. They just pop out the words Nazi and Fascist without telling us what the words mean, debasing and trivializing in the meantime all those who were executed in Nazi concentration camps or who died battling real fascism.
My own definitions for Nazism and fascism are based on my reading of history and my grasp of reality. Rather than offer some long-winded critique of these political philosophies, I find that my Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, published in 1975, contains more than adequate definitions. (Let me add that these definitions describe more accurately those slinging the mud than those being smeared.)
Webster’s tells us that Nazism is “the body of social and economic doctrines held and put into effect by the National Socialist German Workers party in the Third German Reich including the totalitarian principle of government, state control of all industry, predominance of groups assumed to be racially superior, and supremacy of the fuhrer.” As for fascism, it is “a “political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government, headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”
These are accurate, classic definitions of Nazism and fascism. My wimpy online dictionary seems more in tune with our present times, offering these definitions of a Nazi: 1) a follower of Adolph Hitler; 2) a racist; and 3) a bossy person. The first definition makes sense: A follower of Adolph Hitler is a Nazi. But the second—“A racist is a Nazi”—is bogus and won’t fly. If you disbelieve me, track down some Black Panthers, call them Nazis, and see how far you get. (I mean how far you get literally, as in running.) As for the third definition—“A bossy person is a Nazi”—you’ve got to be kidding me. If such were the case, then Marine Corps drill instructors, some surgeons I’ve known, and most two year olds of any color would qualify as Nazis.
At any rate, the historic definitions of Nazism and Fascism are clearly now as dead as the Third Reich. Even as dead, perhaps, as free speech on many American campuses. The present–day morons hurling such innuendo neither know nor care what makes up a fascist or a Nazi. They just thrust their hands into the bucketful of mud, throw a fistful of goop at an opponent, and hope the mess sticks.
This lack of mutually agreed upon definitions returns us then to the question: What do leftists mean when they start screaming “Nazi?” What are they intending when they pin a Schicklgruber moustache on someone they detest?
After considering the matter, I decided to solve the problem of definition by taking the Jeff Foxworthy approach. Foxworthy is the comedian who became famous for his redneck jokes. He never offers his fans a dictionary definition of a redneck, but instead employs connotation to make his points, defining a redneck by association and implication. The jokes that made him famous were based on his comedic shtick “You might be a redneck if….” Foxworthy invented a pickup truck load of these suppositions: “You might be a redneck if your blood alcohol content has ever exceeded your IQ;” “You might be a redneck if you think a stock tip is advice on ‘wormin’ your hogs;” “You might be a redneck if a state trooper ever asked if you had an I.D. and you said ‘About what?’” (If you have to think too much about this last one, you aren't from the South.)
Here, I thought, was a workable approach. By following Jeff Foxworthy’s example, by employing connotation rather than denotation to gain some insight, I might successfully create a composite figure of what a leftist considers a “Nazi” or a “Fascist.”
So here goes. The list below is composed in no particular order. If you answer yes to 10 of these questions, well sorry partner, but the left has declared you a borderline skinhead. Agree with 20, and to quote the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld, “No soup for you!” Anything above 30, and you qualify as a full-fledged, card-carrying, Sieg-Heiling member of the Gestapo.
You might be a Nazi/Fascist if…
- You supported Republican Ted Cruz or Democrat James Webb for president in the election of 2016.
- You voted for Donald Trump for president.
- You are a white male.
- You are a stay-at-home mom.
- You support the Constitution of the United States.
- You own a gun. (Add one point for each additional gun owned.)
- You are happy the police are patrolling your neighborhood.
- You are a white female.
- You support charter schools.
- You homeschool your children.
- You drive a gas-powered car.
- You support Israel.
- You think Islam condones terror.
- You are a Christian.
- You are a Jew.
- You smoke cigarettes.
- You eat red meat.
- You eat meat.
- You eat at MacDonald’s.
- You prefer football to soccer.
- You think the government spends too much money.
- You think the government wastes too much money.
- You think “diversity” has to do with stock shares.
- You say Merry Christmas.
- You say Happy Easter.
- You consider XY and XX chromosomes indicators of sex and gender.
- You think climate change is stepping into an air-conditioned Florida motel room in August.
- You think Black Lives Matter is an organization trying to reduce the murder rate in the Windy City.
- You read Chronicles, National Review, or some other conservative magazine.
- You regularly read online sites like Drudge, Breitbart, Townhall, and Maggie’s Farm.
- You attend church every week.
- There’s a Bible on the reading table by your bed.
- You have more than 2.2 children.
- You think abortion means killing a human being.
- You believe Barack Obama was an incompetent president.
- The irony of the words “The Affordable Care Act” leaves you breathless with laughter.
- You find it astounding that nearly half the people in the country pay no income taxes.
- You are baffled by such gender neutral pronouns as “ze,” “hir,” and “hirs.”
- You claim to be reasonably adept at identifying men and women as men and women.
- You oppose illegal immigration.
- You find anything exceptional about America. Anything at all.
- You stand at the ball game and put your hand over your heart for the National Anthem.
- You live in North Carolina with its baleful bathroom laws.
- You live in a Red State.
- You live anywhere in the South.
- You are a business owner fed up with government regulations.
- You are an unemployed factory worker upset about your job being shipped overseas.
- You rooted for the American military in any war movie ever made.
- You prefer Budweiser to craft beers.
- You think craft beers are the brewskis you drink while building the kid’s racecar for the Pinewood Derby.
- You have ever told a friend to “man up” or “cowboy up.”
- You idly wonder aloud why your university doesn’t offer a “men’s studies” major.
- You are six years old and kiss a girl on the playground. (Your parents are Nazis.)
- You are six years old. You pretend your right hand is a pistol and say “pow-pow” to a tree. (Your parents are Nazis.)
- You think “toxic masculinity” has to do with the old dudes drinking boilermakers in a Milwaukee bar.
- You think “zero tolerance” refers to the stance of the left on views other than its own.
- You think a “safe space” is the basement during a tornado.
- You think “trigger warnings” are what you say as you level your Mossberg 12 gauge at the intruder in your home.
- You consider a “micro-aggression” an attack by chiggers.
- You write a list like this one.
Oh, wait. Let’s add a few more:
- You may be a fascist if you scream down speakers on university campuses.
- You may be a fascist if you put a ski mask over your face and beat the patoot out of your opponents.
- You may be a fascist if you’re paid to go about the country screaming and beating the patoot out of people.
- You may be a fascist if you support thugs burning buildings and beating up Donald Trump supporters.
Gee, lump these groups together, and we have more Fascists trotting around America than in 1930s Italy and Germany combined.
Who Knew?
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