Holocaust Analogies Are Not Campaign Rhetoric |
Words matter. Holocaust imagery matters even more.
When New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman said that the next Congressman from New York’s 10th Congressional District, Brad Lander “would be a camp guard in a concentration camp if he could,” he crossed a line that should never become normalized in American political discourse. The remark, directed at a fellow Jew whose views on Israel and domestic politics differ sharply from his own, doesn’t elevate the debate; it diminishes it.
The Holocaust is not a political metaphor. It is not an applause line. It is not a weapon to be deployed whenever someone disagrees with another Jew’s politics.
History teaches us that language has consequences. When we casually invoke Nazi........