Not Hitler

[jetriot]

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in America a lot of people like to compare people they politically disagree with to Hitler. The media always likes to hop on to it because it is easy to cover and easy to debate with little to no thought required. I was recently writing a paper about the topic and came across this video from Glenn Beck's internet video network.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWkC2GDDNlE

It made me pause and think about how people that we disagree with on policy are often demonized so strongly by those that disagree with them that they become antichrists to whichever side is brainwashed into hating them. They visit their news sources and read out of context quote from one personality or another and developed intense hatred for a person they have never met or even listened to for longer than 5 minutes.

SO I decided to download and listen to a few of the guy's radio shows and discover that his beliefs are pretty close to mine as a libertarian(although I found him way too dramatic and more religious than I like). Really makes me wonder how many others I have misread.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

The image error sign does bare quite a lot of similarities to Hitler. Did you know he's got a passionate hate for PNGs?

OT: There's a fallacy for this somewhere, not sure what it's called officially. I just know it as the "Hitler was a vegetarian" fallacy, where people say that Hitler did something similar to what someone in the present did and therefore anyone who does it is terrible.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

The image error sign does bare quite a lot of similarities to Hitler. Did you know he's got a passionate hate for PNGs?

OT: There's a fallacy for this somewhere, not sure what it's called officially. I just know it as the "Hitler was a vegetarian" fallacy, where people say that Hitler did something similar to what someone in the present did and therefore anyone who does it is terrible.

..But but it looks fine on my screen...

Well, not fine, it's Michael Bay, but whatever.

 

[Rastien]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

The image error sign does bare quite a lot of similarities to Hitler. Did you know he's got a passionate hate for PNGs?

OT: There's a fallacy for this somewhere, not sure what it's called officially. I just know it as the "Hitler was a vegetarian" fallacy, where people say that Hitler did something similar to what someone in the present did and therefore anyone who does it is terrible.

Unrelated off topic

I could watch your avatar for hours, really, hours.

 

[DoPo]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

The image error sign does bare quite a lot of similarities to Hitler. Did you know he's got a passionate hate for PNGs?

OT: There's a fallacy for this somewhere, not sure what it's called officially. I just know it as the "Hitler was a vegetarian" fallacy, where people say that Hitler did something similar to what someone in the present did and therefore anyone who does it is terrible.

Guilt by association - "Hitler did it, so it's bad". "Reductio ad Hitlerum", "Argumentum ad Nazium" or also called the Hitler Card are pretty much specific subtypes of the guilt by association that are about Hitler (or Nazis). There is Godwin's Law, too, but it's different.

Also, here is the image

And I don't think I have much to add. There are logical fallacies that deal specifically with this, I don't think there is much more to say here.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

My guess would be that Hitler in the minds of many is a clearly defined, well known bad guy.
So when you compare someone to Hitler, you can be sure other people will understand the reference.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

The image error sign does bare quite a lot of similarities to Hitler. Did you know he's got a passionate hate for PNGs?

OT: There's a fallacy for this somewhere, not sure what it's called officially. I just know it as the "Hitler was a vegetarian" fallacy, where people say that Hitler did something similar to what someone in the present did and therefore anyone who does it is terrible.

Guilt by association - "Hitler did it, so it's bad". "Reductio ad Hitlerum", "Argumentum ad Nazium" or also called the Hitler Card are pretty much specific subtypes of the guilt by association that are about Hitler (or Nazis). There is Godwin's Law, too, but it's different.

Ahh, thanks for the help. Never been good with logical fallacies.

Unrelated off topic

I could watch your avatar for hours, really, hours.

Awww shucks, stop it you.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Did you know that this man

Has been compared to Hitler?

The image error sign does bare quite a lot of similarities to Hitler. Did you know he's got a passionate hate for PNGs?

OT: There's a fallacy for this somewhere, not sure what it's called officially. I just know it as the "Hitler was a vegetarian" fallacy, where people say that Hitler did something similar to what someone in the present did and therefore anyone who does it is terrible.

I think the fallacy falls under the Godwin's Law umbrella, seeing as you're basically saying "You agree with Hitler on [insert subject here]? Well, you're no better than a Nazi!"

But it is good to read into people beyond whatever persona pop culture has given them. It's nice to agree with someone whose ideology you thought you would reject outright, or vice versa: find that someone you thought was portrayed as a hero wasn't anything of the sort.

Oddly, I had both in my AS History course. I found that Mussolini was, to begin with, a Socialist, and the Fascist party was a fair attempt at uniting left and right wing ideals, that fell into darkness due to poor execution and attempting to emulate the Nazis (and by employing thugs in uniforms, of course). The opposite was finding that Winston Churchill, commonly trumpeted as a hero in Britain, was actually an extremely flawed politician and probably would have been remembered far less fondly had it not been for his Premiership during World War 2.

 

[DoPo]

I think the fallacy falls under the Godwin's Law umbrella, seeing as you're basically saying "You agree with Hitler on [insert subject here]? Well, you're no better than a Nazi!"

No, Godwin's Law basically states that every discussion (every - regardless of context) is inevitably racing towards a mention of Nazis/Hitler. It's not really a logical fallacy by itself. And there is an informal addendum that when that happens, the discussion is over, and the one who invoked it loses. And further informal - unless it's deliberate.

 

[Lucem712]

I guess it's the easiest thing to compare to short of the devil. Mostly no one is going to reply, once you compare them to Hitler, 'well, you know he wasn't all that bad.'

Now say what you will about the Nazis and Hitler, but got-damn they knew how to wear a military uniform.

 

[Squilookle]

Poor Mussolini. Nobody remembers Il Duce... it's all 'Hitler this' or 'Stalin that'... Even Castro gets more recognition...

Now say what you will about the Nazis and Hitler, but got-damn they knew how to wear a military uniform.

Credit where credit's due, I suppose. Didn't Hugo Boss design most of them?

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

Poor Mussolini. Nobody remembers Il Duce... it's all 'Hitler this' or 'Stalin that'... Even Castro gets more recognition...

I say we role them all into one to make future arguments easier.

How about... Mao MussoKimJongSitler?

Sounds good to me.

You forgot Castro. Maybe we should try MaotroMussoKimJongStaitler.

 

[DoPo]

Poor Mussolini. Nobody remembers Il Duce... it's all 'Hitler this' or 'Stalin that'... Even Castro gets more recognition...

I say we role them all into one to make future arguments easier.

How about... Mao MussoKimJongSitler?

Sounds good to me.

You forgot Castro. Maybe we should try MaotroMussoKimJongStaitler.

Wasn't that the leader of the Nazimmunists?

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

Poor Mussolini. Nobody remembers Il Duce... it's all 'Hitler this' or 'Stalin that'... Even Castro gets more recognition...

I say we role them all into one to make future arguments easier.

How about... Mao MussoKimJongSitler?

Sounds good to me.

You forgot Castro. Maybe we should try MaotroMussoKimJongStaitler.

Wasn't that the leader of the Nazimmunists?

No no no... he was the leader of the International People's Party of CommieNazis. The Nazimmunists were just an urban legend.

 

[Dtox333]

It's just typical bias and ignorance from small groups of loud mouthed people.

Your ideas on how to run things are different, they disagree with you, so you MUST be their enemies, because that's how they process the situation, that you have to be treated as something to be opposed/defeated and that they have to prevail. Instead of, you know, treating the opposing side as equals who merely have a difference in opinion/ideals.

It's also a lot easier to attack someone and denounce their credibility than prove your own, and what better way to do that than to reach for some over exaggerated comparison, one that bears little to no relevance, but contains so much emotion behind it that people can't help but take it into consideration?

they're just too busy trying to gut their competition to realize how little sense it actually makes. Or they realize that, and also realize that people are generally gullible.