NationStates Jolt Archive

I've seen web pages in which conservatives attack socialists, comparing them to Stalin. I've seen others, in which liberals attack conservatives, comparing them to Hitler and the Nazis. And I've even seen arguments with one side trying to prove that such-and-such a tyrant was this-or-that.

"(Insert Dictator Here) was a (Insert Political Affiliation Here)! You (Insert Political Affiliation Here) Are no better than (Insert Dictator Here)!"

I think it this is outrageous for two reasons.

1. In today's world, it is very difficult to compare anyone to a psychotic like Stalin or Hitler.

2. These men were monsters who killed millions, and we're arguing their politics? Using their atrocities to further our own ends by smearing our opponents?

In all honesty, we really can't, and shouldn't. There's only one thing we should remember these men by; as monsters. Their ideologies do not matter, it is their actions. The fact that Stalin was a Communist and Hitler wasn't makes no difference to me.

In my eyes, they're both scum.

In all honesty, we really can't, and shouldn't. There's only one thing we should remember these men by; as monsters. Their ideologies do not matter, it is their actions. The fact that Stalin was a Communist and Hitler wasn't makes no difference to me.

In my eyes, they're both scum.

Well said.

Maharlikana

Well said.

Maharlikana

Not to be a douche and all, but you don't have to sign your posts with your user name. It's somehwat annoying, seeing as we already know you wrote it.

I've seen web pages in which conservatives attack socialists, comparing them to Stalin. I've seen others, in which liberals attack conservatives, comparing them to Hitler and the Nazis. And I've even seen arguments with one side trying to prove that such-and-such a tyrant was this-or-that.

"(Insert Dictator Here) was a (Insert Political Affiliation Here)! You (Insert Political Affiliation Here) Are no better than (Insert Dictator Here)!"

I think it this is outrageous for two reasons.

1. In today's world, it is very difficult to compare anyone to a psychotic like Stalin or Hitler.

2. These men were monsters who killed millions, and we're arguing their politics? Using their atrocities to further our own ends by smearing our opponents?

In all honesty, we really can't, and shouldn't. There's only one thing we should remember these men by; as monsters. Their ideologies do not matter, it is their actions. The fact that Stalin was a Communist and Hitler wasn't makes no difference to me.

In my eyes, they're both scum.

True. Whatever their governments were based on still resulted in the atrocious murders of millions and millions of innocent people-the torture of countless more. They were both monsters.

Not to be a douche and all, but you don't have to sign your posts with your user name. It's somehwat annoying, seeing as we already know you wrote it.

Don't be a douche.

Don't be a douche.

When you've been one for so long, it's hard to stop. Anyway, I was trying to not be one there.

All right. Chalk that one up to force of habit. Signing all my letters and all that.

Peace!

I've seen web pages in which conservatives attack socialists, comparing them to Stalin. I've seen others, in which liberals attack conservatives, comparing them to Hitler and the Nazis. And I've even seen arguments with one side trying to prove that such-and-such a tyrant was this-or-that.

"(Insert Dictator Here) was a (Insert Political Affiliation Here)! You (Insert Political Affiliation Here) Are no better than (Insert Dictator Here)!"

I think it this is outrageous for two reasons.

1. In today's world, it is very difficult to compare anyone to a psychotic like Stalin or Hitler.

2. These men were monsters who killed millions, and we're arguing their politics? Using their atrocities to further our own ends by smearing our opponents?

In all honesty, we really can't, and shouldn't. There's only one thing we should remember these men by; as monsters. Their ideologies do not matter, it is their actions. The fact that Stalin was a Communist and Hitler wasn't makes no difference to me.

In my eyes, they're both scum.
Not to mention that it's just a lazy argument. It depends on a necessarily false analogy, and is by extension, pathetically weak.

That's not to say that comparisons can't be drawn between historical aspects of either Hitler or Stalin or their regimes and a modern counterpart--it's good to examine history for analogs that might keep us from making the same mistakes others made--but it's a cheap shot to just call someone a Nazi or a Stalinist, or make a straight comparison to Hitler or Stalin without some real work going on to make the case.

I've seen web pages in which conservatives attack socialists, comparing them to Stalin. I've seen others, in which liberals attack conservatives, comparing them to Hitler and the Nazis. And I've even seen arguments with one side trying to prove that such-and-such a tyrant was this-or-that.

"(Insert Dictator Here) was a (Insert Political Affiliation Here)! You (Insert Political Affiliation Here) Are no better than (Insert Dictator Here)!"

I think it this is outrageous for two reasons.

1. In today's world, it is very difficult to compare anyone to a psychotic like Stalin or Hitler.

2. These men were monsters who killed millions, and we're arguing their politics? Using their atrocities to further our own ends by smearing our opponents?

In all honesty, we really can't, and shouldn't. There's only one thing we should remember these men by; as monsters. Their ideologies do not matter, it is their actions. The fact that Stalin was a Communist and Hitler wasn't makes no difference to me.

In my eyes, they're both scum.


Well, I can't speak for the conservatives, or most of the liberals for that matter, but I don't think any liberals are saying that Bush is as bad as Hitler, or that the Republicans are as bad as the Nazis.

That's what makes it so annoying when they bring out old refrains like "Bush didn't send millions of Jews to death camps, comparing what he does to that belittles the suffering of the holocaust... bla bla bla."

That's true. Bush is not as bad at Hitler. Unfortunatly it's one of the nicest things you can say about him. Right up there with, "he's not a coke addict...anymore."

Hitler waged unprovoked wars of aggression that killed millions of innocents.
Bush only waged one unprovoked war of aggression that only killed tens of thousands of innocents.

Hitler locked millions of people up in work, prison, and death camps for nothing more than their ethnicity or their political outlook. Many of them were killed outright, others left to die of exhaustion, exposure, and neglect.
Bush has only locked up several thousand innocents for nothing other than their religion or their political outlook. We don't know how many were murdered or allowed to die of neglect, but it was probably less than a hundred, so far.

Nazi's invaded their neighboors and claimed their territory using the ethnic make-up of their populations as a flimsy pretext for Germany's right to interfere.
Republicans invade, subvert, and exploit America's neighboors using their economic systems as a flimsy pretext for America's right to interfere, but leave those nations with their titular sovreignty.

See? I'm a liberal who is totally willing to admit that Bush and the Republicans are less bad the Hitler and the Nazi's. Of course it would be nice if they were also unlike Hitler and the Nazi's, but failing that, less bad is nice.

Hitler waged unprovoked wars of aggression that killed millions of innocents.
Bush only waged one unprovoked war of aggression that only killed tens of thousands of innocents.

Hitler locked millions of people up in work, prison, and death camps for nothing more than their ethnicity or their political outlook. Many of them were killed outright, others left to die of exhaustion, exposure, and neglect.
Bush has only locked up several thousand innocents for nothing other than their religion or their political outlook. We don't know how many were murdered or allowed to die of neglect, but it was probably less than a hundred, so far.

Nazi's invaded their neighboors and claimed their territory using the ethnic make-up of their populations as a flimsy pretext for Germany's right to interfere.
Republicans invade, subvert, and exploit America's neighboors using their economic systems as a flimsy pretext for America's right to interfere, but leave those nations with their titular sovreignty.

See? I'm a liberal who is totally willing to admit that Bush and the Republicans are less bad the Hitler and the Nazi's. Of course it would be nice if they were also unlike Hitler and the Nazi's, but failing that, less bad is nice.

Aye. It's unfortunate that we sometimes find correlations. It is said that we must not forget the past. However, we have not found a person who was on the LEVEL of Stalin's or Hitler's psychosis, even if they are "similar".

I agree with most of the original post, but at the same time it has to be remembered that these were not "monsters" they were human beings, and we humans have the capacity to do truly awful things.

i say politics doesn't make the monster, its the desire for power and greed.

like Douglas Adams says, those who want after power are those who should never be allowed to weild it.



i mean, without those driving desires, Hitler - dispite being a pretty evil, racist and hateful man - would have not been able to commit the atrocities he did. he would have most likely just been some crazy, nasty little man with some crackpot ideas, not the mass murderer he was.
this is one of the reasons i hate greed and the desire for prestige & power.

In all honesty, we really can't, and shouldn't. There's only one thing we should remember these men by; as monsters. Their ideologies do not matter, it is their actions. The fact that Stalin was a Communist and Hitler wasn't makes no difference to me.

In my eyes, they're both scum.
I disagree. Dispite the horridness of their actions, they do have one more important thing in common. They were human. To demonize them is useless and wrong, not to mention self-deluduing.