Nazi Comparisons

Generally I detest comparisons to the Nazis, as it trivialises the unprecedented evil and horrors of the Holocaust. My own family lost many members to Hitler, so idiots claiming Bush is Hitler deserve derision or worse.

And so I should state the obvious. There is absolutely no way that Tamaki and his followers are even close to Nazis. They are intolerant jerks, not genocidal killers.

However what do you do with a movement which seems to go out of the way to invite such comparisons. The use of children, the matching black shirts as uniforms, the disciplined marching in lines, the one handed salute all tied in with a message of blame and intolerance. It is no surprise that almost all the major media coverage has focused on such comparisons. In fact almost everyone who saw them did.

The Dominion Post has a good article (and photo) on the black shirts.

I did like Helen Clark’s response to Tamaki’s offer to help her write a family policy. She pointed out that a couple of years ago Tamaki referred to having a female PM and Opposition Leader as the work of the devil. It was a good reminder of how extreme and outside the mainstream he is.