Will The Real Nazis Please Stand Up!

So many people nowadays refer to people they dislike or disagree with as "Nazis". I, myself, have referred to others as Nazis. I usually refer to the Chief County Medical Officer (or whatever her title is), Dr. Ann Lindsey, as our local "Health Nazi". Others, particularly those on the Left, refer to Bush and his associates as Nazis, of one kind or another. And, of course, there's Rush Limbaugh and his famous "Feminazi", referring to what he felt were extremist feminists.

Some are offended by people using that term and I suppose I get a little bothered myself when the term is used to describe someone I like or agree with. I wonder if we're taking this Nazi thing a little too seriously though. Certainly some people use it as a term of derision but I think most people that use the term use it to describe someone as being an extremist on one issue or the other. So I don't think use of the term should be that big a deal although perhaps it's not appropriate in regards to civil discourse.

We, who use the term, should know what the real Nazis stood for, before we throw the word around so casually, shouldn't we? It never occurred to me to find out what the real 1930s era Nazi platform consisted of. Right Wing Rocker actually did read the platform and has it posted on his blog. He takes exception to liberals referring to conservatives as Nazis and takes us step by step through the original Nazi platform and opines as to whether conservatives or liberals agree most with different sections of the platform. An interesting read, albeit almost a bit lengthy for my attention span. You can decide for yourself whether he's right or wrong.