Enough with "Nazism" being used willy-nilly

MrBishop

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
If you use a term willy-nilly, as often as possible, and in as many contexts as possible...that word loses its real meaning, its impact and its entire context.
I am referring, in this case, to the term "Nazism" - which seems to be a favorite on OTC.
Don't like the way something is treated? It's Nazism. Unfair treatment...must be Nazism, fights to make things fair - Nazism, security cameras - Nazism, etc etc...ad nauseum
Let me put it this way...Nazism is Nazism. Some of what you people are refering to isn't Nazism. It might be fascism, or Big Brother-like (1984/Norwellian), or Socialistic etc...but
and this is very important!!
Nazism
1. Nazism, Naziism, national socialism -- (a form of socialism featuring racism and expansionism)
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It's main points are racism (one perfect race and the destruction of all other races in order to clean the gene-pool), and expansionism - invade,invade, invade.
Please fell free to bring up the term Nazism if you hear about a country systematically killing off a race of people in death-camps...I won't mind. Please feel free to use the term Nazism, if you're talking about a nation invading all of it's neighbors, and spilling blood across the land. I promise that I won't mind.
Nazism is a powerful term...and very tempting to use because of it's impact on the reader, but there's a reason that it's so shocking...and with every willy-nilly use of it...that shock is being whittled away until one day...the terrors that the Nazis caused and all the deaths and blood on their hands will be forgotten and trivialized.
Give it a little thought, the next time that you find your fingers typing in the term Nazism. Is this really Nazism, or am I just being facetious?
 
I see. So your definition of Nazi is the only one we can use? I've got two words for ya, and the second one's "off".

I used the term Nazi for a very good reason. And if you knew your history a tenth as well as you think you do, you'd have understood my use as well.
 
I agree with Bish. Nazi is largely used as a suffix to point out that you dislike some group when they in fact are not nazis or anything like it (femi-nazi, eco-nazi, etc). Same with commies.

Now shut up you commie-nazi bastich. :lol:
 
Bish - I can't read your post without having my eyes tear up from the strain. The black text doesn't show up too well on the blue background. :(
 
Re: Enough with

Professur said:
I see. So your definition of Nazi is the only one we can use? I've got two words for ya, and the second one's "off".

I used the term Nazi for a very good reason. And if you knew your history a tenth as well as you think you do, you'd have understood my use as well.
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I wasn't aiming this atcha Prof...you just happened to be a straw on that particular back.

If, in your thread, you were talking about the "Nazi Youth" movement, where kids were given rewards to tell on their parents and neighbours, then by all means...use that term. "Reminiscent of the Nazi-youth movement". or perhaps the massive censorship of the press, which the Nazis were known for...but then again, so were a lot of other regimes.

Nazi germany and the Nazi movement had a lot of aspects to it...a great deal of them fairly negative. I've read a great deal on it and I think that I can safely say that certain things should not be labeled Nazism. It's too braod a brush to paint issues with...and it's bristles are tinged with blood and human-gristle.

To label something Nazism, when it could just as easily have been called something else (less vague), is too easy. It shouldn't be.

As for my definition...this is my thread. Feel free to disagree, but it's my opinion and I'm stating it.

"Here's to you, and here's to me...and may we never dissagree; but if we do, then _____ You! Here's to me! " - old Scottish Drinking Toast
 
Re: Enough with

AlphaTroll said:
Bish - I can't read your post without having my eyes tear up from the strain. The black text doesn't show up too well on the blue background. :(
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Sorry my dear...this happens everytime that I toss something into MSWord to spell-check it and then copy/paste it back. Word changes it to black....it copies to black, but if I change the font to white...OTC will keep it white (on both the b lue and silver backgrounds). I need an OTC spellchecker :(

You can copy/paste it to Word and it'll be legible :)
 
Re: Enough with

Bish - Nazism isn't the only such word that has taken on a new meaning at OTC (and other places online or IRL). I think in a way it's an exclamation against someone you do not agree with, that you feel 'discriminates' against your POV.
 
Re: Enough with

That's a point, Bish. Common usage changes over time, and frequently has very little to do with actual meanings.

I see. So your definition of Nazi is the only one we can use? I've got two words for ya, and the second one's "off".
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On the other hand, Prof, wouldn't you say the "definition" of a word is what you'd find in the dictionary? It may not be the current popular vernacular usage, but it is the definition.
:shrug:
 
Re: Enough with

Actually, I'd dispute that too. That's one definition. Not the only one. And, for this issue, Nazism covers a blanket of things. Damn near an entire culture all on it's own. That's not simply definable in two lines in a book, no matter how well written.

Everyone seems to think that all the nazis did was hold a war, and kill lots of jews. Wrongo. That's like saying communists only toppled the royalty and set up gulags. They also put the first satelite, animal, and person into space. They also set up communal farms, and enforced equality between peoples.

Lots of things the Nazis did don't seem all that bad, until you look at the end goal. Gun control, youth movements, neighbourhood watch. The VW. All for the good of the people. Hell, think about what Hitler was called. Mein Fuhrer. My Father.

That's what I said about history. If you don't know the entire story of the rise and fall of the Nazis, it might be a good idea to look it up before you start trying to define them.
 
Re: Enough with

True enough, Prof. A lot of people don't seem to realize that there are probably as many (or more) nazis today as there were during WWII. And I'm talking the real thing, not femi-nazis et al.
 
Re: Enough with

AlphaTroll said:
Completely off topic - chic, I can't take any of your RW posts seriously with that avatar! :D
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You aren't mistakenly thinking I do?
 
Re: Enough with

Professur said:
Actually, I'd dispute that too. That's one definition. Not the only one. And, for this issue, Nazism covers a blanket of things. Damn near an entire culture all on it's own. That's not simply definable in two lines in a book, no matter how well written.

Everyone seems to think that all the nazis did was hold a war, and kill lots of jews. Wrongo. That's like saying communists only toppled the royalty and set up gulags. They also put the first satelite, animal, and person into space. They also set up communal farms, and enforced equality between peoples.

Lots of things the Nazis did don't seem all that bad, until you look at the end goal. Gun control, youth movements, neighbourhood watch. The VW. All for the good of the people. Hell, think about what Hitler was called. Mein Fuhrer. My Father.

That's what I said about history. If you don't know the entire story of the rise and fall of the Nazis, it might be a good idea to look it up before you start trying to define them.
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I remember that TV show...focused on using one group against another by setting up castes within a small group. One caste had all the rights and the other...treated alsmot like slave labour. A powerful film...well done.

Yes...Nazis did a great deal of good...and they also did a great deal of evil as well. It's not the good things that they are remembered for though, is it?

If the term 'nazism' can be used for all those instances, then I could just as easily say that all breast-cancer research is an example of "Nazism at it's best".

That would harldy make breast-cancer research sound appealing thought, would it?

Your thread, Prof, used the term to denote something negative...or rather, something which you deemed negative, but your use of the term is overkill, to say the least. It's like killing a mosquito with a bazooka.

I have no issues with you using the term (bacause you explained it so well)...but even you must admit...that by using the term daily, it loses it's impact...and all the history behind what Nazism stood for is beginning to amount to a hill of beans.

History classes aren't really touching on the subject. The young of today don't realize the length and bredth of the Nazi regime, nor it's priciples.
You and I understand... but because the term Nazi is used so loosly and easily, the kids of today will never understand it's impact (it's true impact) and all that was fought for in WWII will be for naught....forgotten and impuissant.

It's Chicken Little all over again. The sky is falling! It's Nazism! The sky is falling!
 
Re: Enough with

chcr said:
I agree with Bish. Nazi is largely used as a suffix to point out that you dislike some group when they in fact are not nazis or anything like it (femi-nazi, eco-nazi, etc). Same with commies.

Now shut up you commie-nazi bastich. :lol:
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I agree with that Chcr
 
Lets face it. Nazi is a bad word, meaning bad, really bad things. I have heard it used for shock value, I have heard it used when an argument has gotten too heated. I have heard it over-used and misused.

Prof, you argue that you can take the word to mean what you want it to mean. That's fine and dandy for you; it can mean Rocky Road ice cream to you, for all I care. But when you use it to communicate an opinion or a thought to other people; that is language. And communication and language comprehension depend on shared understanding of the basic definitions of a word. If a tree in your world ain't the same as in mine, we are going to have some issues when I ask you to go climb one :D.

I've had this debate before, not about this word, but another. What it all boils down to is that in order for us to understand one another, our interpretation of the meaning of a word must be similar. And this has to include both the dictionary meaning and the social context of its usage. The word "sick" means something completely different to a guy calling in for a day off work and to a 16-year-old kid talking about the new Eminem album. Yes, word usage evolves over time, in this case, the actual definition of Nazism is a political one, however I think most of us can agree that the images that spring to mind are those of millions of people dying in death camps at the order of an egomaniacal racist madman. Not the image of medical advancement and social change.

You are right, the Nazis are responsible for these things, but when you used the word, or when anyone uses this word, it is most definitely not in that context, and it is not at all what you implied. And I agree with bish whole-heartedly. I would hate to hear my kids using this word in 30 years as an exclamation at a guy who cut them off on the freeway.
 
Re: Enough with

Professur said:
Lots of things the Nazis did don't seem all that bad, until you look at the end goal. Gun control, youth movements, neighbourhood watch. The VW. All for the good of the people. Hell, think about what Hitler was called. Mein Fuhrer. My Father.
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Fuhrer derives from the Old High German - "Fuoren" meaning to lead or guide it doesn't mean Father.
 
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