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For some reason lately I’ve been fretting over something in particular that I said several years ago. I wrote ‘Third Reich analogies are shit and they should not be necessary to get a point across.’ I kind of regret saying that; I feel like it was too harsh and I only said it because I was angry at the time.
While I agree that Reich analogies can be a crude way of getting a point across (being rhetorical shortcuts) and I prefer that nobody overuse them (like the right does), I don’t want anybody to scorn lower‐class people for using them against their oppressors either. In general, I believe that the ways in which we respond to our oppression should preferably not be controlled; that can only make an unpleasant situation worse, and anyway, we have legitimate grievances.
At one point in 2020 I became acquainted with a communist on Twitter who compared the U.S. police force to the Wehrmacht. I found that inaccurate, personally, but given how the police oppress us I didn’t bother nitpicking. In fact, it was a nice opportunity for me to share examples of antisemitic neofascists in the police force.
What pisses me off is when somebody equates the oppressed (e.g., Palestinians, lower‐class communists) with the Reich instead. That is when the analogies go from being mildly questionable to enraging and make me regret the very phenomenon of Godwin’s law. On the other hand, that is probably a slight overreaction on my part.
What do you think? Am I being too hard on myself?
I know I’ve said a lot of cringey stuff over the years. I was a lib until quite recently. From my perspective you’re being too hard on yourself. We all have our moments, and we all learn over time and through mistakes and as new evidence is presented.
Oddly enough I also try to avoid third reich analogies. Not because I don’t think they’re appropriate, but because fascism broadly and naziism specifically are intentionally misrepresented in mainstream history and media. The analogies I often want to make are based on a historical materialist and diamat understanding of the third reich, but that’s missed by anyone who hasn’t taken the time to learn that history. To most people Nazis were a flash in the pan sparked by a particularly charismatic leader (great man theory), with a little bit of “mass formation psychosis” thrown in for flavour.
The comment you linked was in response to the tweet, so I think you’re fine. Everyone overgeneralizes at some point
The comment was fire too!
You are indeed overanalyzing.
That being said, the only country that deserves 3rd Reich comparisons is the United States, which learned from the mistakes of Nazi Germany and is racing to perfect the fascist mode.
i feel like what a lot of people miss when it comes to “third reich” comparison is that no one actually knows or understands the intricacies of the nazi political system, how it worked, its objectives and whatnot.
It’s just an archetype. the idea of the third reich entered the collective psyche as a general and vague idea of “evil government”.
Look at any popular media featuring an evil empire, for example star wars: the enemy is always nothing but a reskin of the nazis. Because that’s what we imagine “evil” looks like, and thus why both left and right call each other literally Hitler - it’s such a vague idea that it can be applied to anything from concentration camps to 15 minutes cities.
anyone trying to draw serious comparisons with a government that existed 80 years ago just doesn’t know what they are talking about and is just trying to ride the rethorical power of words like “gestapo” “hitler” or “nazi germany”. Any self-respecting communist should be able to argue without resorting to that.
it’s kind of like calling someone who did property damage “vandal”. Whoever uses that term is hardly familiar with the vandal tribe and the vandalic kingdom, it’s just an archetype that has been used for so long that the original meaning is no longer relevant