We Should Really Stop Using The Word Nazi to Refer to Things Other Than Actual Nazis
A peculiar but troublesome trend has developed, mainly here in America, over the last two years or so. My guess would be somewhere around the time Donald Trump took office, it became more and more common to hear the term Nazi — outside of your sophomore social studies room and The History Channel. Certain people began using it to refer to anyone they didn’t like and policies they didn’t agree with. It became a way of turning the general public against someone before facts were heard. Few people stand with the guy who’s been labeled a Nazi. And rightfully so when the word is used even semi correctly. However, it’s recently been thrown around loosely on blogs by folks who couldn’t tell you what Auschwitz was. Can we talk about how incredibly ignorant, insensitive and offensive that is?
While I refer to it more often than I should and it may sadly be my proudest internet moment to date — I got into a Twitter beef with rapper Talib Kweli sometime last Fall. I’ll spare you the irrelevant details, you can read the full story via the link above if you’re interested. I bring this story up because the result of it was Talib Kweli referring to me as a Nazi when he ran out of logical arguments to make. I didn’t say a single hateful thing, not towards an individual or group — yet I was called what most people…
