How much like a nazi are you?

Congressman Steve Cohen, in a house floor speech this week, referenced a Nazi to help drive home a point. He compared his opponent's method of using propaganda to that of Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels was the Nazi's chief propagandist.

As soon as Anderson Cooper heard the word Nazi, his brain completely shut down. He stopped listening. Cooper somehow lost his ability to comprehend Cohen's comparison. Instead of hearing:

My opponent uses the same propaganda techniques as Goebbels

Cooper heard:

My opponent is a Nazi

which, of course, is not what Cohen said.

Anderson Cooper was completely incensed. He was so focussed on his crusade against the N-word, that he completely lost his ability to comprehend the nuance of Cohen's statement.

Cooper made a rounding error. He didn't hear Cohen's actual meaning. He instead heard an oversimplification. He heard something he wanted to hear.  

As far as I can tell, Goebbels propaganda techniques were extremely effective. It is scary and relevant that he was able to convince a huge amount of people to take part in (or go along with) one of the most horrific crimes in history.

Perhaps those same Nazi propaganda techniques could be used to find homes for puppies. Or to convince America to hate Obamacare.

If the same techniques used to make everyone hate Jews are being used to make everyone hate Obamacare, how is that not relevant?

Cooper had no desire and made no attempt to analyze or understand the nuance of Cohen's statement. He made no attempt to actually ponder Goebbels propaganda techniques or how they were (or were not) similar to those used by Cohen's opponents.

This just didn't interest Cooper. He was too focused on the word Nazi. And that the word Nazi must be offensive no matter the context or subtleties of the situation.

Using analogies from history is appropriate when trying to make a point. The Nazi story is a big story, an important story, a story with many facets. It is a huge part of humanity's shared history. It represents not one bad thing but practically every bad thing. Almost every negative component of human nature is somehow contained in that story. And we should never forget it.

If our politicians are doing something that is Nazis-ish, even if just in kind but not magnitude, it is a valid and relevant thing to bring up.

I wish that Cooper would have taken his half hour to objectively investigate the relevant questions:

• What propaganda techniques were used by Goebbels?
• What propaganda techniques are used by Cohen's opponents?
• How are they alike? How are they not alike?
• What are the ramifications?

But perhaps that is just my idea of what is relevant and interesting. Maybe cooper and his audience find it more interesting to talk about how offended they are by the word Natzi.

Because we all know that the best way to prevent something like the Nazi party from every happening again is to make the topic taboo.

Here is the Cohen interview.

By the way, this kind of thing is apparently in fashion. Here is a similar interview by Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer hears the word Nazi and completely shuts down any desire to comprehend the interviewees subtle points. And here is Jon Steward doing the same thing.

So therefore I propose a new website called:

www.how-much-like-a-nazi-are-you.com