Tuesday, March 05, 2013

On Nazi Analogies


One of the issues with which I wrestle when I blog is when should I use analogies from history or not.  I am something of a history freak and strongly feel we should learn from history and apply its lessons today.  And one lesson is it is much easier to call out and to stop evil early on than after its malevolence is fully unleashed.  Hence my early and frequent warnings about Obama.

At the same time, I neither want to trivialize history and suffering, particularly such dark periods as the Third Reich, nor do I want to become an obnoxious version of the boy who cried wolf.

So there is balance somewhere in referring back to dark historic episodes.  But finding it is often no easy matter.

First Things has just posted one of more thoughtful columns I’ve seen on this quandary, from John-Clark Levin.  I commend it to you

1 comment:

Tregonsee said...

Godwin's Law has served us well for a generation. The problem is that sometimes, rarely, there really is a wolf at the door.