The above excerpt from Frank Bruni's op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Times addresses an issue that seems to be rampant in politics, on talk shows, and even in classrooms... using historical events to illicit fear about contemporary issues. Bruni discusses that it is both the liberals and the conservatives who choose to employ this shameless tactic. Below are just some of the examples in recent American politics:
1. The chairman of the Democratic Party in California compared Paul Ryan to the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels after some of Ryan's statements at the Republican National Convention proved to be inaccurate.
2. Ted Cruz recently stated that anyone who goes along with Obamacare is the same as those who rolled over for Hitler and the Third Reich.
3. Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana compared the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 to the Supreme Court's ruling which upheld the Affordable Care Act. (Obamacare)
4. Gary Bauer claimed that challenging the President on his health care law was the same as those on United Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers on 9/11.
These disgusting political tactics by members of both major parties are used to simply blind people from the realities of the situations at hand... not only that, when you choose to discuss terrorism or genocide in relation to a healthcare law or inaccurate statements you betray yourself as one who grossly misunderstands the very basics of those events which you choose to discuss.
Bruni ends his column with, "You know what's just like Germany in the 1930s? Germany in the 1930's."