Ethics

Nazi Comparisons and Consistency

By Ed Brayton

Back when I was coaching high school debate it was normal and expected that almost every advantage or disadvantage claimed to result from a plan by either team had to end with a nuclear war. No matter how tenuous the connection, the final impact of every argument was that the plan would either prevent or cause a nuclear war. Nuclear war was the ultimate bad thing, the worst thing one could imagine and therefore the argumentative trump card - play it and you win.

In political discourse, the equivalent of the nuclear war in high school debate is the Nazi comparison. It's the worst possible thing one can invoke, the very archetype of evil, the most heinous and vile comparison one can use to disparage their opponents. And it has become all too common, an almost casual throwaway line for political activists.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on August 10, 2009 (boomark / email).