or, in different words,
i get leery about people using nazism as the main parallel right now--not because it’s not an apt parallel and hitler’s takeover of germany isn’t absolutely a piece of historical record we should be looking at closely right now (though the historian in me will jump up and down saying there are other very important non-american historical parallels that are highly relevant), but rather because
the us government has forcibly moved people who lived here before the us government was even a thing long before hitler took over when we forced native american peoples of the southeast to move from their homes out to oklahoma.
the us government moved people of japanese descent to concentration camps in 1942, while hitler was still alive and well.
slave-owning americans routinely ripped apart the families of the people they enslaved. it was a conscious tactic--separating husbands and wives, separating children from parents.
the white power movement in the united states predates hitler, much less his usage of the term “ubermensch”
indeed, hitler openly admired the white power structure, and the nuremberg laws reflect its influence
a very solid percentage of americans were relieved that the us didn’t join wwii until 1941 because they thought hitler had it right. the us remained diplomatically neutral despite the annexation of poland and austria and the blatant war being waged on germany’s borders.
all this is to say: i feel strongly that because of the way that hollywood and political rhetoric have engaged with nazism in the past 60-70 years has allowed people to think that it’s “unamerican” as well as brutal, horrible, fascist, authoritarian, inhumane, etc.
and the fact remains: ain’t nothing unamerican about what’s happening right now. it’s home grown, and its roots predate adolf hitler and the nazi party. it’s a natural follow up from our own history. and it’s not where i want us to be either, or where i wish our historical development had taken us. but it’s as american as apple pie. and i worry that if/when we bring this regime to the fucking matt, people will feel entitled to say “we defeated that unamerican nazism” and stop giving a flying fuck about how all of this is home grown. “that wasn’t us,” they will say--because people are saying “this isn’t us.”
“yes it fucking is,” i say.
