When Trump and Others Use Descriptive political Words

 Nadene Goldfoot                                      

When Trump and other political leaders use such words as Socialism, Communism and Nazism, what is really being conveyed?  To call someone a socialist or even a communist is not the same as calling them a Nazi !  A moderator sounded like she didn't know the difference on a panel online.  

A discussion took place on a TV show of CNN, I believe it was, yesterday, and I wanted to interject:  Nazism is not the same and shouldn't be spoken  in the same breath as the other words.  Only Nazism caused the death of 6 million Jews.  Only Nazism started with anti Semitism in Germany to the point of selection of Jews to be persecuted in Germany of dismissal of businesses and professionals in their workplace.  To even hear the word, Nazi,  raises fear in most all Jews' hearts even today.  We know anti Semitism has returned almost as bad as in the 1930s in Germany as well.

The panel discussed the uses of such terms and some wanted all erased from our use while the others wanted free speech and the use of them.

Please, know that descriptive words can cause stabbing in the heart to some of us regardless.  Watch how you categorize such words.  Some words are not synonyms of all others.  Some religions teach this fact.  The old adage of Sticks and Stones can hurt my bones but words will never hurt me is not quite true. 

This trend brings to mind:  

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem. 

After World War II, Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today. 

What we forget is that socialism or communism came out of an era way back in time of kings, emperors, emirs, Tzars and such, where there was one man (usually a man) at the helm, a dictator.  Socialism looked pretty good compared to what they had been under;  and the same goes for communism.  

Nazism deserves its own paragraph.  It came out of  the Weimar Republic, a parliamentary democracy established in 1918 after the collapse of the German Empire during World War I. The Weimar Republic was named after the city of Weimar, where its constitution was drafted. They had started WWI and were suffering from the effects themselves not to mention what that did to other countries.  As it happened, anti-Semitism hasprevailed ever since emperor Constantine of the Romans and have been the brunt of people ever since.  

Resource:

Opinion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHUrvN-hIM4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic#:~:text=The%20Weimar%20Republic%20was%20a,had%20a%20semi%2Dpresidential%20system.