Rant

[eretria]

Keeping this public for once:

Something that's been festering a long while now.

Something that needs to get out.

I've stumbled across this several times before, but it's become more frequent as of late:

The term 'Nazi' in regard to something rather mundane:

Grammar-Nazi.
Spelling/Punctuation-Nazi
Html-Nazi

for example.



And everytime I see it, I want to take the person who uses it by the lapels and shake him/her.
Are they even aware of what they're saying? Is it suddenly cool to relate to an ideology that killed millions? Have we lost our historic sensibility to such an extent that there really is no governing your own words in regards to the atrocities happening in the third Reich?

Just to remind you what you're comparing yourself to:
And excerpt from Wikipedia's entry on Nazism:
"Hitler's Nazi theory also claimed that the Aryan race is a master race, superior to all other races, that a nation is the highest creation of a race, and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of great races. These nations developed cultures that naturally grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits." The weakest nations, Hitler said, were those of impure or mongrel races, because they have divided, quarrelling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of all were seen to be the parasitic Untermensch (Subhumans), mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and so called anti-socials, all of whom were considered lebensunwertes Leben (Life-unworthy life) owing to their perceived deficiency and inferiority."

So, basically, when you're saying you're a grammar-Nazi or a spelling-Nazi, you're saying that everyone who makes mistakes is subhuman. A parasite. Inferior. A lowlife. That you're super-human and that only you should be allowed to roam the earth. That the ones with bad spelling / grammar should be purged from the face of the earth.

Uh-huh. I certainly agree that people who constantly and ignorantly use incorrect grammar/spelling should be whacked over the head with a large dictionary, but could you please consider what the hell you're saying?

This is an ideology that over 4-5 million victims should remind us to banish from our minds once and for all. Even the slightest resemblance of it is giving it the chance to resurface again.

So, how about thinking, really thinking about the terms you're using?
Go to a concentration camp, open your eyes and see what's been done. Then think, think really hard if you ever want the term "Nazi" ever to be heard in relation with anything that represents you.

Comments

[sleepwalker41.livejournal.com]

An excellently stated point. I suddenly thought of the 'Never Again' on a memorial wall at Dachau. As bothered as you are by the careless use of that word, let's hope that it remains a sore enough spot with people so the world doesn't forget.

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

Well said. We should all think more carefully about what we're really saying when we choose our words, because words do, indeed, have power.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

It's such a blatantly disrespectful Anglo-Saxon idiom, yes.

[meko00.livejournal.com]

I agree. I wish people would use their heads more.

sensitivity training

[quiller77.livejournal.com]

I suspect North Americans are more prone to such careless use of the word and the images it evokes than Europeans -- just because there is the sense here that it was all so very long ago and, well, it didn't happen *here*. I've made other thoughtless social blunders in relation to mocking/belittling Nazism, but not the one you mention. Now I know my ears will be burning if I hear it. I hope I have the presence of mind to pass on your wisdom.

Re: sensitivity training

[eretria.livejournal.com]

See, that's the one thing I never quite get, how people can feel careless about this time, or think that it's way in the past and can't happen again. History repeats itself. Over and over again. There's nothing linear about history.
Especially strange conundrum, this, when thinking about something that happened in Berlin the other day - my godmother's son was speaking German (he's half-American), and was doing so with an exaggerated accent and rather loud, very pronounced. And he was mentioning something about German punctuality. Heads whipped around and he was glared at accusingly - by Germans and tourists alike. So, the sensitivity is there, apparently. But mainly in Germany, it seems.

[shadesofbrixton.livejournal.com]

there is nothing more upsetting to me than someone who uses this phrase. not only because of the flagrant useage of the word 'nazi', a word which i hope i will never take lightly in my lifetime, but because of the implications of self-labelling oneself as such. it's the lowest form of bragging, and i despise it. i'm glad someone finally wrote up a cohesive argument. thanks for saying all the things in my head.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

This is one of the few occasions where I wished some rants would reach a more ... well, public public.
Since I know none of you lovely people on my flist ever uses that phrase, and so it seems sort of unfair to rant to you.
I'm just glad it seemed vaguely coherent, as I was really fuming when I wrote it.

[ttrin.livejournal.com]

I see your point :-S
But you have to take into account the constant changing and shifting of language-words-meaning.
Most people using the term Nazi have no idea what it means to us, and what we link with it.
(For example, take the German word "geil" - a generation before me it meant 'aroused', but my generation used it as 'cool', 'great', 'awesome' etc)

That doesn't make the whole issue a good one, but it serves as an explanation.