Lay off the Holocaust Metaphors!

"Police arrest Acco Arab Salameh Julam, 40, for distributing a pamphlet describing Ehud Olmert as the Hitler of the current area. " How original! Let's see now, Olmert joins the list of other modern day Hitlers like George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Ariel Sharon, heck, I've even heard Shimon Peres called that before.

But wait, there's more - I forget which Senator compared the living conditions and treatment of terrorists at Gitmo to those of the concentration camps. And it goes without saying that all Republicans and Israelis are Nazis.

Nazi, Hitler, concentration camps - examples of the worst sort of human cruelty in modern time. Everyone knows there's nothing worse than being compared to these things, so people do exactly that when they don't like something.

I can understand it when you talk about recent characters such as Saddam, Arafat and the like, although even they don't come close. But lately these terms have been trivialized to the point where they are used to describe basically anyone whom someone dislikes. "He took my parking spot, that Nazi!"

Attention all you Holocaust metaphorists:

Do you know how dumb you sound when you use such extreme language for lesser things? It displays your ignorance and / or trivialization of what the Holocaust was. Do you know how disrespectful you are to those that suffered through the real thing when Froot Loops for breakfast at Gitmo is compared to Auschwitz? Has Rabbi Marvin Hier ever raised this as an issue?

I understand the value of hyperbole, but you're doing it with a real hot button and it's not funny.* Some comments are out of bounds, like how you'd feel if I told a dirty joke about your mother. I hope a survivor whacks you accross the face. Shut up, then read up!

Is it a coincidence that most of these comparisons are made by socialist-leaning lefties? Why don't you ever hear them use Stalin or Mao? Both were greater killers than Hitler.

Here's a brand new one from our friend Hugo Chavez of Venezuela on the Saddam conviction and sentencing:

"We oppose the death penalty in the first place. It's a matter of principles. But if it were a question of a sentence, the first who'd have to be condemmed to the greatest sentence established on this planet is the president of the United States...if it were a question of of those who perpetrated genocide."

Genocide! I forgot that one. Thanks Hugo.
Citgo - what to do when you get gas.



* Except for the Seinfeld with the Soup Nazi, because that was funny.