This word, I don't think it means what you think it means.

Definition of a particular word for stupid conservatives and right-wingers.

I'm going to address a particular word, used commonly in many online debates and political stoushes. The word is 'Nazi'.

The Nazis or Nationalist Socialist Party were formed between wars in Germany. This is 20th century history and if you possess the capacity to crack a book, you can learn all of this quite easily. Despite the use of the word 'socialist' in their name, the Nazis weren't socialist like we would understand the term today. They were socialist only insofar as the nationalistic will was obeyed. They did several things which in a straight reading of socialist ideology, seem... well, at least a little out of character shall we say. They allied with fascist movements across Europe. Fascism came from the 'fasces' a Roman symbol of an axe surrouned by bound twigs - strength through unity. All fascist movements, including the Nazis were anti-socialist, anti-communist, anti-leftist, and anti- a whole pile of other things as well. They included not only Germany under Hitler, but Italy under Mussolini, Spain under Franco and Croatia under Pavelic.

Godwin's Law turns up as an internet adage quite commonly - the comparison of an opponent to Hitler or other upholder of Nazi ideology.

So, conservatives and right-wingers, here's some information. You cannot have the term 'Nazi'. You are not allowed to use it. When you share attitudes and policies held by Nazis, accusing people who oppose those attitudes and policies of being Nazis is ridiculous. It makes you look stupid(er).

Even if you do use it, try not to call someone a Communist Nazi. It's like calling someone a Catholic Protestant, a Zebra Lion or a Klingon Romulan. It is nonsensical.

This is not to say I don't understand why you use it. Of course I do. Nazis are totalitarian bad guys. Everyone would rather be Indiana Jones than a Nazi if given the choice. I get it, trust me. But see, when you try to make miscarriages illegal or say that legally protected life begins at fertilisation, thereby turning women into state controlled incubators, when you demonise a group of foreigners as scabs preying on 'our' way of life, you are not being Indiana Jones, you are being like those guys he routinely shot, whipped and roundhouse punched. Yes, Nazis.

By all means if you want to demonise the left, there are plenty of communist or socialist governments that turned hellish - Kim Jong Il runs a communist country, so did Stalin and Pol Pot. Use those, they're just sitting there, but don't act like a Nazi, and then call leftists Nazis. It's, well... it's fucking stupid.

And this also goes for religious authorities. Gentlemen! For you are all gentlemen, which says to me you're already half way down the path to scumbaggery. Gentlemen, please. As representatives of the force which has more blood on it's hands than any secular authority, of the force which has tried more than any other to turn women into incubators, to destroy learning, to harvest wealth from the poor, to set back human civilisation, to demonise, torture and execute those you see as unclean, please refrain completely from the Nazi analogy. You, more than any others, simply cannot use this term to demonise opponents. To pick one organised religion among many - The Catholic Church supported the Nazis, gained statehood as the Vatican under Mussolini, supported the Croation and Spanish fascists, have undertaken a global program of child rapist protection, hid war criminals, and also aided and abetted massacres such as the one that occurred in Rwanda.

To then turn around and call people who campaign for equal rights Nazis, well... that pot is looking mighty black, o kettle.

So, stop using the word. Find another. You have much more in common at a general level with the Nazis than we do. By flinging this word around as carelessly as you do (and I'm looking at YOU Senator Abetz), you also succeed in cheapening the experiences of people who had family that died in the Holocaust. Do you understand that calling someone a Nazi, just because you disagree with them, might make someone whose family suffered real oppression under the actual Nazis feel a little pissed off? Upset? Angry?

I would actually go broader and call for a general moratorium on the use of the word Nazi to demonise an opponent. Let's just call each other 'jerks' or 'arseholes' instead. It's simple, and it's non partisan. But especially all you right-wingers, you have no validity when - as a right-winger - you try to demonise someone by calling them the slur of the most horrible right wing party to ever have existed.

Or is that the point? The best insult you can call someone is an extreme example of who you are. Wow, dude that's just... sad.