Prime Time Crime
(Published in the Similkameen Spotlight week of Nov. 14, 2005)
Enough with the Nazi Comparisons
By
John Martin
The list of irresponsible mouthpieces on the left side of the political spectrum throwing the Nazi analogies around with reckless abandonment keeps growing.
First there was radical animal rights activist, Jerry Vlasak, comparing lab animals to Jews in concentration camps. The spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front stunned panel members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works with this absurd analogy.
Next it was B.C. Pro-Choice Action Network’s Joyce Arthur’s turn to trivialize the Holocaust. While lambasting those who don’t see things the same as her and her tax-payer funded organization, Arthur noted that pro-lifers’ attitudes toward women are akin to “the Nazis’ attitudes toward Jews.”
Not to be outdone, Vancouver mayor wannabe Jim Green, showed he has a firm understanding of gutter politics. Green was asked about NPA candidate Ronald Leung, who has stated his opposition to same sex marriage. Here’s what Green had to say about the candidate, “What if somebody were making comments, for instance, that Hitler didn't go far enough in dealing with the Jewish question? Would we not be concerned about that person's ability to lead a multi-cultural city like this? I certainly would."
So, someone who supports the traditional definition of marriage is in the same boat as a Hitler admirer? Given that the country is still pretty well split down the middle on the issue, that would mean there are15 million or so Nazi sympathizers across the land.
A few years ago Paul Martin and just about every other Liberal voted to preserve the traditional definition of marriage. That makes the PM a Nazi too? Or is he a reformed Nazi now that he changed his mind?
During the 2000 election, former Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan referred to the Canadian Alliance Party’s supporters as “Holocaust deniers, racists and prominent bigots.” There was no reprimand from her party’s leader.
Type “Bush is a Nazi” into Google and you’ll get 13 thousand hits. If this is the best his critics can do, no wonder he keeps winning elections.
Obviously political and ideological conflicts are going to get nasty from time to time and some ugly superlatives are inevitable. But off the cuff comparisons to Nazis and concentration camps are out of order.
The country was recently outraged, and rightly so, when respected Native leader David Ahenakew defended Hitler and the Holocaust.
We should be equally outraged at those who exploit and trivialize such a critical historical event for their personal benefit.
John Martin is a Criminologist at the University College of the Fraser Valley and can be contacted at John.Martin@ucfv.ca