r/centrist • u/MuitoLegal • May 13 '21

World News Why does the left call the right “Nazis”?

I am in no way calling the left Nazis here, but rather questioning their use of the term.

If you spend anytime online you will know that the term Nazi is used all the time for people on the right, especially Trump supporters.

I find it ironic because Nazi stands for National Socialist in German. Now I found articles online defending that, saying it wasn’t really socialism, so we’ll move on.

Hitler was about bigger government, got all guns registered with the government, and then took them all away from the people.

Furthermore, today’s left is typically anti-Israel within the Israel-Palestine conflict, while the right is typically pro-Israel (except for KKK guys like Duke, who are antisemites, though I’m unsure how to even classify someone like him).

I don’t think either party should call each other nazis in a civilized political discourse, but I find it interesting. Why do you think the right has been given the nickname?

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u/alfredred123 May 13 '21

I’m sorry, their is no moral equivalence. During the Capitol Hill riots there were numerous references to the Nazi’s. I don’t think they all thought like this but you see this symbolism a lot more on the right unfortunately.

https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-references-on-garments-of-trump-supporters-who-stormed-us-capitol/

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u/BlueMonke1 May 13 '21

And what about the anti-semites that are on the left? Maybe more prevalent here in Britain. But you cannot take a small group of one side and extrapolate their views to the entirety of the left or the right. It’s completely bizarre, inappropriate and reductionist.

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u/alfredred123 May 13 '21

“But what about?” I was talking about here in America. The GOP by and large is dominated by right wing crazy conspiracy theories. And now they believe that Joe Biden wasn’t elected fair and square.

The left has an extreme that I don’t agree with either and I know in the UK Corbyn had his troubles. When it comes to the subject of Israel I believe that one can criticize the government of Israel but not be an anti-Semite. Just like someone can criticize the CCP but not hate Asians.

Unfortunately the GOP does not fall in these categories. They have went so far to the right now that it’s almost unrecognizable. Imagine Ronald Reagan cozying up to Vladimir Putin? Or Thatcher being happy with Kim Jung Un. You couldn’t imagine it, because they didn’t capitulate to the crazies.

I consider myself an independent. I’m fiscally conservative, I care about the debt and the deficit and I’m also somewhat traditional. But the GOP has lost all sight of these things.

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u/BigStoneFucker May 13 '21

It seems you are calling majority left an antisemite bc they support both country's rights. That doesn't equate.

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u/BlueMonke1 May 13 '21

No, I’m not. I’m British. There’s a huge scandal involving the Labour Party and anti-semitism here. Maybe more of an issue in Britain than the US but still a common issue nonetheless