Totalitarian. Fascist. Nazi. War.

...These words are used so often lately, almost carelessly. I find it especially grating in these times we now find ourselves.

In Europe we are going back to openly demonising specific groups of people. Nationalism is on the rise. Xenophobia is on the rise. The Euro power brokers have been deconstructing the original intentions of the Eurozone and are trying to turn it into a federal state... which is not working. Lately, there's a strong wealth division between Northern states and Southern states. The divide grows by the day. Angry retoric plus grinding poverty which is only going to get worse. In the USA the same terms abound in discussions between Republicans and Democrats. I was witness to a particularly vicious online argument over the past days, that set me to thinking and started off this post.

I also spoke to some young people last week. Oh, we won't ever have another war, they said. That's silly. Earlier in the discussion the words fascist and nazi dribbled through the conversation - talking about current world affairs. Some shared my political leanings, some not. All used this terminology almost without thinking.

This is dishonest, this use of these words. These terms belong to the ultimate horror and not to politicians of the day - even if these politicians are divisive or stupid or dishonest.

It's perhaps good to remember exactly what those words mean, what they can lead to.


This is an old WW2 US War dept documentary film on the death camps at the end of the war and is not safe watching for children. In fact, not really safe watching for adults either. It's pure nightmare material, the tone is accusatory and bitter. This is the awful history of our world, not so long ago. The real thing, so to speak.

We should reserve those words for their true use and not dilute their horror for populist arguments.


(By the way, ignore the retoric of the post. I wanted to link only to the film.)