Citing the Nazis

It is a fact universally acknowledged that if one invokesthe Nazis in an argument, that argument is lost. Everyone knows that, don’tthey? Bring up Hitler in an online thread and that thread comes to an end.Compare someone to a Nazi and you are the one who ends up looking ridiculousand extreme. Putting something modern day alongside the Nazis is considered theultimate in overreactions.

And in the vast majority of cases, that’s true. But at thesame time, there is a tremendous risk in dismissing all such comparisons withsuch instant contempt. Because if we aren’t careful, we might end up forgettingone of the most important lessons that history can ever teach us – how people withextremist, dangerous views can work their way into power.

For anyone who has it available to them, I would stronglyrecommend watching the first series of the BBC documentary series Rise ofthe Nazis because while it is a hard and sobering watch, it is also alesson in the dangers of how a group of people can rise in credibility bywearing a polite face right up until they don’t have to. It tells the story ofa nation with economic difficulties and a weary population, tired of their government,looking for an alternative and voting in an outsider party previously regardedas extreme but now making themselves more respectable, who were promising tofix all the problems other politicians had caused and restore their nation toits previous glory. Is that sounding worryingly familiar to anyone else keepingan eye across the world stage right now?

And the great problem with democracy is, once you are in,you’re in, and whatever one decides to do with that power, short of revolution,there’s not much the rest of us can do about it. And maybe the promises will bekept and they will govern in exactly the way they have promised. Or maybe theywill show their hidden face and people’s lives will be indelibly changed –maybe they will find ways to keep themselves in power beyond their term andrestrict the freedom of those who oppose them to say so, as others have donebefore them, becoming entrenched and quietly abolishing democracy altogether.And that’s the trouble – how does one tell before the event if citing the Nazisis an overreaction or a valid concern?

And the simple truth is – we can’t. But it would be deeplyfoolish of us to dismiss the possibility of it happening again. All over theworld, extremism is rising and working its polite face into politics. And it iswe, the voters, who need to remember the lessons of history and not get fooledagain. We need to think long and hard about who and what it is we are votingfor and not just fling a vote to a group bordering on the fringe of dangerousjust because we are sick of everyone else. People need to think before theyvote.

So here I am, citing the Nazis. But I really hope I don’tlose the argument.