PuckSR t1_it9btet wrote on October 21, 2022 at 9:49 PM

Reply to comment by PaxNova in Does 1984 ever dive into how the Party took control over Oceania? [no direct spoilers please] by INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS

But the comparison is somewhat apt. Hitler used "Jews, gays, and communists" as his scapegoats. While Trump used "the politically correct woke mob, the mexicans, etc" as his scapegoats.

Both Hitler and Trump threw out a ton of legislation without any explicit policy behind it with the intent of attacking those groups with which they disagreed.

I get your concern, but I dont exactly remember a lot of people saying that Bush was acting like Hitler.

PaxNova t1_it9h6i5 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:29 PM

This is a list of the big ones, and it handily includes a reference to calling Obama Hitler, too, lest it be forgotten how trivial the comparison needs to be to bring him up by either party. There was also an ad campaign about Bush being Hitler from MoveOn.org.

In short, starting a foreign war means you're Hitler.

PuckSR t1_it9isv9 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:42 PM

But those attacks seem to all be Hitler=evil type.

PaxNova t1_it9kona wrote on October 21, 2022 at 10:56 PM

Exactly. Hence my "boy who cried Wolf" comparison.

I think we're agreeing, but I'm also saying that it's been used to imply evil so long that it has lost meaning as an actual, historical example. One could easily say, "He endorses federal PSAs, like Hitler," and people would think you're against PSAs rather than just noting a historical fact. It sets the tone as automatically hostile. Hostile people, in politics, tend towards bias. Nobody wants to listen to them (unless they share the bias). It is ineffective to make the comparison in nearly all cases.

PuckSR t1_it9p714 wrote on October 21, 2022 at 11:32 PM

We are agreeing, but I am trying to make the point that "crying wolf" would have been appropriate if it had been saved for Trump.

Additionally, I think that some of the older generation could NEVER see it as appropriate because unless the person is advocating for the extermination of an entire race, then they are nothing like Hitler