True Names

One of the least charming rhetorical tricks of the strident left is to compare the current US president with a certain defunct German dictator. Maybe they are so fascinated with the written word they have developed a cargo-cult-like belief that writing it makes it so? I can't imagine why they would want that, but I can't imagine how they can make the comparison with a straight face either. See, in a real dictatorship, when you have the nerve to say things the dictator doesn't like, you die. The members of the White Rose were executed for merely printing pamphlets. Last time I checked, Michael Moore was still alive and spouting nonsense, along with all the rest of that bunch. No vast liberal internment camps in Montana, no political executions, no "disappeared". As fascist dictatorships go, I give this one an F.

What really gets me steamed, though, is the implied disrespect for those who DID suffer from a fascist dictator. Over 5 MILLION people, civilians, died. Many, many more would have, if Moustache Boy had had his way. There was a old friend of my grandmother's, a sweet, gentle German lady. I loved her little house surrounded by a tangle of lush flowers, her soft accent, her ambrosial coffee cake. She had numbers tattooed on her arm. She must have been a young woman when it was done. Terrified. She probably saw people she knew -- family, friends, neighbors -- killed. She never spoke about it. Want to talk about evil? Evil deliberately tries to destroy people like her. Just because of what she was.

When people make that insidious comparison, I see red. Not because of the contempt of the president or of politics they clearly despise, that's their right and priviledge in this country. Because I remember that little grey-haired woman with numbers on her arm.

Fight fascism! Make a coffeecake! (recipie in the comments)