When Hyperbole Becomes Reality

 

Remember the good old days when we rolled our eyes and protested with annoyance at the exaggerations that the Left repeatedly spewed? We assumed they did it to demonize those of us on the Right, to upset us, and cause us to react defensively at their hyperbole and distortions. And of course, to some degree that was precisely what they were doing. And eventually, we reached a point where we grew accustomed to their misrepresentations because no one was in a position to stop them. Yes, some of us protested their statements—some of the politicians, the few journalists on the political Right, and those of us on Ricochet. But for the most part, the media repeated these attacks, happy to be in the ranks of the Left.

Terms like Nazis, concentration camps, cruelty to children, bigotry, the influence of the rich were all terms used to discount and discredit the people on the Right. Their contrived reputation of us as racists, the enemy, fascists, white supremacists, and the like were often used to condemn our criticisms of the strategies of the Left. When we called out “fake news,” we were called enemies of the state and destroyers of democracy. The attacks have become a normal part of the rhetoric of the Left. The word “hyperbole” has no place in their vocabulary, and they continue to try to destroy those who do not buy into their ideology or accept their lies and distortions.

The irony of their words and actions is that hyperbole has been transformed into today’s political reality. Only the attacks of the Left on the Right to defame and demonize us have emerged as definitions of the Left: they have become everything they accuse us of.

And the truth of that transformation is frightening.

In an article in American Thinker by Steve McCann, he re-visited the attacks he’d received after an earlier article likening the actions and rhetoric of the Left to the Nazis in Germany. Of course, he received blowback for his analysis, so he wrote an article providing specific information to support his charges. His conclusions were alarming, and although they were not all perfect analogies, the resemblances were apparent and obvious. I’d like to describe some of his best comparisons, and the most frightening for our own country.

The first example he gave was the Nazi obsession with race. Hitler blamed the “inferior races” for trying to destroy Germany. McCann compares the Democrats in this way:

First, racial division was a central component of Nazi political strategy and philosophy.  The Nazi Party was, without doubt, the most racially obsessed political party in human history.  Today’s Democrat party is second only to the Nazi Party in their racial obsession.   Every piece of legislation, every accusation against their opponents, every aspect of American society, even weather and climate is framed in racism.

We only need to follow the attacks on white, heterosexual Christians to see this assessment clearly.

The next clear analogy is the censorship of the Nazis:

Second, the Nazi Party was fixated on censorship and eliminating any cultural institution, publication or speech that did not fully support them.  In other words, their version of today’s “cancel culture.”   The Nazis were notorious for book-burning rituals in order to intimidate and send the message that they would shut down anyone and anything that did not align with their ideology.

We aren’t burning books—yet—but we are censoring individuals, corporations, and conservative groups who refuse to follow the ideology of the Left. Social media is a dangerous place to voice one’s views if one doesn’t follow the ideology of the Left. They will attack you, call for your banishment, and demand that you are fired from your job.

Let us not forget the riots in the street, our very own Kristallnacht repeated over and over again, which the Left ignored or discounted.

Although there were other examples comparing the Left with the Nazis, one of the clearest is the collusion between the Left and corporations:

In an extraordinary juxtaposition the Nazis were able to vilify the wealthy and the industrialists while the subjects of their vitriol voluntarily financed the Nazi Party and its political campaigns.  Hitler assured the German corporate titans that, despite their rhetoric, the Nazis would leave them alone and award them lucrative contracts if they supported the Party through massive financial support and favorable newspaper coverage.

We’re looking at you—Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Home Depot, New York Times, Washington Post–and the myriad other organizations who are blindly and foolishly supporting the Left to stay on the Left’s good side. These companies have no idea how they will eventually be taken down by the ignorant and blatant lies they have spoken, to gain the praise of the Left.

Is it too late to turn back?

*     *     *     *     *

I think we need, first, to call these actions by the Left what they are: Evil. Nazi-like. Scapegoating. Fascistic. Marginalizing. Censoring. Outrageous.

And more.

We need to encourage every governor to get behind Governor Kemp in Georgia, publicly and loudly, to honor his courage and his cause.

We need governors to back up Governor DeSantis, even if they don’t fully agree with him, because they support his right to make the decisions for his own state.

Republicans in Congress need to organize and form a group with a specific agenda to call out every despicable action of their colleagues on the Left. It must be coordinated and publicized in every imaginable way, even through radio and TV ads. These condemnations must be done on social media, and every time they take the videos down, we must put them back up through other accounts. We must use alternative social media sites, no matter how limited their exposure is.

If someone is banned by a social media site, members who support them must speak out vociferously. Eventually, the supporters may be banned, but we must be ready to take that risk.

And for those of us individually: we must let everyone know that the Left behaviors mimic those of the Nazi regime. No equivocation, no excuses. And for those who need evidence, the McMann article, as well as others, are your backup. We are now in the political fight of our lives. We can no longer make excuses.

Don’t back down.

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  1. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    I think when I was younger, there were organizations that spoke out against trivializing terms like “Nazi”.  Now words like “Nazi” and “racist” and “Jim Crow” are used so often they have lost their meaning in history.  These things are so trivialized that we have to amplify them with “on steroids”.  This is bad.  We remember history and respect the lessons, because it makes us more careful going forward.  As Bill Mahar said, we have become a silly people.  The Left is incapable of treating serious things seriously. 

    • #1
  2. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Who categorized the Tag “fascism of the left”  What other kind of fascism is there?

    • #2
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):
    The Left is incapable of treating serious things seriously. 

    Indeed. And they get to decide what is worthy of serious consideration, too. Clearly a moral foundation isn’t in that category, and the only things that matter are the present and the future–as they define it. Thanks @dong.

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I Walton (View Comment):

    Who categorized the Tag “fascism of the left” What other kind of fascism is there?

    So true. I’ll fix it forthwith, @iwalton. It is redundant.

    • #4
  5. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Susan Quinn: Don’t back down.

    Back down? Ima just gettin warmed up.

    Substitute Google, Amazon, and Twitter for Krupp, I. G. Farben, and Daimler-Benz and what do you get?

    And Coca-Cola makes both lists! Outstanding, boys! Your consistency may not be admirable, but it is … umm … consistent.

    • #5
  6. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Good grief. I hope Coke is proud of its history. All of them are also stupid and naive, @percival. Why would the Left keep their promises, when they repeatedly and publicly lie to everyone? Even Biden lies–I have no idea if he is also incredibly ignorant, or if he doesn’t care what he says, as long as he’s known as the most progressive President ever. I hope lots of people are “just gettin warmed up”; I’m with ya!

    • #6
  7. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    Even Biden lies–I have no idea if he is also incredibly ignorant, or if he doesn’t care what he says, as long as he’s known as the most progressive President ever.

    Joe’s bandwidth was never anything to brag on in the old days. All it would take is one questioner at a press conference to have the guts to go off-script and Joe will start drooling out of both sides of his mouth.

    I know who I’d send. Get ’em, Mollie.

    • #7
  8. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Percival (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    Even Biden lies–I have no idea if he is also incredibly ignorant, or if he doesn’t care what he says, as long as he’s known as the most progressive President ever.

    Joe’s bandwidth was never anything to brag on in the old days. All it would take is one questioner at a press conference to have the guts to go off-script and Joe will start drooling out of both sides of his mouth.

    I know who’d I’d send. Get ’em, Mollie.

    She continues to do interviews on Fox News, and she’s awesome. I’ve noticed that she is calling out people and groups more often. She’s not mincing words, and seems less worried about being polite. I think we all need to take a lesson from her: the gloves must come off!

    • #8
  9. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    I think the greatest obstacle to your goals is simply “comfort.” We, as a nation, seem to be more comfortable in our circumstances than any in history (with the possible exception of the Roman Empire). Inertia is hard to overcome, so it will probably take a great, observable threat, either internal or external, to move most of us off the couch and into positive action.

    • #9
  10. Steven Seward Member
    Steven Seward
    @StevenSeward

    I offer one more important similarity to Nazis, the idea of “Life Unworthy of Life.”  This, to me, is possibly the strongest similarity that Democrats have to Nazis, and the most potentially destructive one.  Democrat philosophy entails getting rid of those in society who are least wanted, which includes mainly the unborn, the elderly, and the incapacitated or severely sick.  Examples abound everywhere.  Almost all Democrat Senators, including Kamalla Harris, voted against the “Born Alive” Bill, thereby allowing doctors to kill newborn infants who had survived abortion attempts.  Or Princeton bioethics professor Peter Singer who thinks parents should have the right to kill their children up to age five.  There are all sorts of leftist plans for getting rid of the elderly – just ask Biden Coronavirus advisor Ezekiel Emmanuel who promulgates that people should not be allowed to live past age 75.  Remember the Terri Shiavo case?  Most Democrats wanted to kill the defective woman rather than let her parents take care of her.

    The thing that goes hand and hand with this is the Democrat propensity to go out of their way to protect the criminal class above all others.  That one may not be similar to the Nazis, but it is worse than Naziism.  

    • #10
  11. Addiction Is A Choice Member
    Addiction Is A Choice
    @AddictionIsAChoice

    • #11
  12. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    I think the greatest obstacle to your goals is simply “comfort.” We, as a nation, seem to be more comfortable in our circumstances than any in history (with the possible exception of the Roman Empire). Inertia is hard to overcome, so it will probably take a great, observable threat, either internal or external, to move most of us off the couch and into positive action.

    There’s no denying that limitation, @jimmcconnell. All of us don’t have to jump on board–just some of us to get the ball rolling. Inertia is hard to overcome. But if we don’t?

    • #12
  13. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Steven Seward (View Comment):
    I offer one more important similarity to Nazis, the idea of “Life Unworthy of Life.” 

    You are so spot on, @stevenseward! It is horrible. Let’s not forget eugenics, too. Despicable and inhumane. Thanks for reminding all of us.

    • #13
  14. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Addiction Is A Choice (View Comment):

    Perfect, @addictionisachoice. And disgusting. They are completely unable to self-reflect and it is tragic for them and for the country.

    • #14
  15. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    I think when I was younger, there were organizations that spoke out against trivializing terms like “Nazi”. Now words like “Nazi” and “racist” and “Jim Crow” are used so often they have lost their meaning in history. These things are so trivialized that we have to amplify them with “on steroids”. This is bad. We remember history and respect the lessons, because it makes us more careful going forward. As Bill Mahar said, we have become a silly people. The Left is incapable of treating serious things seriously.

    I don’t see it getting any better.  In today’s local newpaper, there was a letter to the editor from a self-styled scholar comparing the events of 6 January to the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.  No matter the event, there’s a cretin in the wings waiting to draw a parallel with an occurrence in Nazi Germany.

    • #15
  16. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    I think when I was younger, there were organizations that spoke out against trivializing terms like “Nazi”. Now words like “Nazi” and “racist” and “Jim Crow” are used so often they have lost their meaning in history. These things are so trivialized that we have to amplify them with “on steroids”. This is bad. We remember history and respect the lessons, because it makes us more careful going forward. As Bill Mahar said, we have become a silly people. The Left is incapable of treating serious things seriously.

    I don’t see it getting any better. In today’s local newpaper, there was a letter to the editor from a self-styled scholar comparing the events of 6 January to the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. No matter the event, there’s a cretin in the wings waiting to draw a parallel with an occurrence in Nazi Germany.

    Too bad he doesn’t look in the mirror and see the true fascist in himself.

    • #16
  17. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Susan Quinn:

    We need to encourage every governor to get behind Governor Kemp in Georgia, publicly and loudly, to honor his courage and his cause.

    We need governors to back up Governor DeSantis, even if they don’t fully agree with him, because they support his right to make the decisions for his own state.

    Republicans in Congress

    are to blame. McConnell, and Lyin’ Ryan had the power in 2017 to clip the wings of the tech giants, to make Section 230 mandatory and enforceable by private suit. McConnell and McCarthy prove hourly that they are with the elite against all of us and the Constitution by their continuous refusal to denounce the entire left and enforce party discipline, compelling all members of their caucus to stand solidly together with Florida, Georgia, South Dakota, Texas . . . .

    • #17
  18. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):
    McConnell and McCarthy prove hourly that they are with the elite against all of us and the Constitution by their continuous refusal to denounce the entire left and enforce party discipline, compelling all members of their caucus to stand solidly together with Florida, Georgia, South Dakota, Texas . . . .

    I agree with you, @cliffordbrown. At this time, Republicans can no longer quibble over the small stuff. I do believe that unity is the only thing that will get us through these times!

    • #18
  19. KCVolunteer Lincoln
    KCVolunteer
    @KCVolunteer

    Susan QuinnWe aren’t burning books—yet—but we are censoring individuals, corporations and conservative groups who refuse to follow the ideology of the Left.

    There is no need to burn books when they can so effectively figuratively burn the opposition via social media.

    • #19
  20. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    KCVolunteer (View Comment):

    Susan QuinnWe aren’t burning books—yet—but we are censoring individuals, corporations and conservative groups who refuse to follow the ideology of the Left.

    There is no need to burn books when they can so effectively figuratively burn the opposition via social media.

    They burn us through their intimidation tactics so very well.

    • #20
  21. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    This is difficult to listen to, but this pastor yelling at the health inspector accompanied by the police and had quite enough historically of Nazi-like and Gestapo-like behavior in his native Poland. If you want to hear his few comments, you can forward to about the 2:00 mark. Calgary has a mask mandate, at least for churches.

    • #21
  22. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    This is difficult to listen to, but this pastor yelling at the health inspector accompanied by the police and had quite enough historically of Nazi-like and Gestapo-like behavior in his native Poland. If you want to hear his few comments, you can forward to about the 2:00 mark. Calgary has a mask mandate, at least for churches.

    It is sad that the only people taking action are the eastern European refugees. 

     

    • #22
  23. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    My name for the covid enforcers is Health Nazis.  I just did a quickie post over on my blog about the brave Polish pastor.

    • #23
  24. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Agree with everything in this piece except for one thing: 

    Susan Quinn: Only the attacks of the Left on the Right to defame and demonize us have emerged as definitions of the Left: they have become everything they accuse us of.

    Should read: “Only the attacks of the Left on the Right to defame and demonize us have emerged  revealed  the true definitions of the Left: they have become are and always have been everything they accuse us of.

    • #24
  25. Steven Seward Member
    Steven Seward
    @StevenSeward

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Agree with everything in this piece except for one thing:

    Susan Quinn: Only the attacks of the Left on the Right to defame and demonize us have emerged as definitions of the Left: they have become everything they accuse us of.

    Should read: “Only the attacks of the Left on the Right to defame and demonize us have emerged revealed the true definitions of the Left: they have become are and always have been everything they accuse us of.

    I have pretty much found this to be true of people on the left.  They are the most bigoted, intolerant, and ignorant people I have known.  They seem to be completely un-self-aware of their own deficiencies.

    • #25
  26. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Sally- 2 points quickly come to mind:

    1) I don’t recall who said it, but a reporter was outside a movie theater in Germany that was showing Fahrenheit 9/11 and asked a German if he was going to see it- he replied: No, if I want to see propaganda I’d rather watch a master at it like Leni Riefenstahl.

    2) the left needs to read Rene Girard and his excellent analysis of scapegoating.

    • #26
  27. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    MiMac (View Comment):

    Sally- 2 points quickly come to mind:

    1) I don’t recall who said it, but a reporter was outside a movie theater in Germany that was showing Fahrenheit 9/11 and asked a German if he was going to see it- he replied: No, if I want to see propaganda I’d rather watch a master at it like Leni Riefenstahl.

    2) the left needs to read Rene Girard and his excellent analysis of scapegoating.

    Very fine comment. Lessons learned and to learn

    • #27
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