The increasing irrelevance of Hitler as evil

Writing for Canwest Services, columnist Misty Harris penned a column about the increasing comeback of Adolf Hitler; “not politically but as a punch line”. Harris writes about the increasing amount of “Hitler humour” that is currently on the scene and quotes experts who opine as why this is happening and its effect. John Craft, a professor of mass communications at the University of Arizona is quoted as saying that with weakened history curriculums in schools and an increase of this type of humour, future generations will end up with a distorted image of Adolf Hitler. And the mention of his name does not evoke the emotional hurt as it did in the era following the Second World War.

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Harris points out that Hitler comedy has always been around, beginning with Charlie Chaplin. And then there was the play and movie, The Producers, in the late 1960s, just a little over 20 years from the end of war. People managed then, as they no doubt will now to take Hitler comedy for what it is – comedy. But what is really disconcerting is not the comedy but the way that Hitler’s name is bandied about primarily by those on the left. In the direct aftermath of the war, the name “Hitler” was synonymous with pure evil; so much so that most if not all people with that surname changed their names. Hitler as evil has lost all of the meaning that it had in the direct aftermath of the fall of the Third Reich. The concept of good and evil back then has now been replaced by moral relativism. There is no good or evil or right or wrong; everything is relative. George W. Bush was laughed at by his enemies on the left for declaring Iraq, Iran and North Korea to be the “axis of evil”. It was not his choice of countries that caused the mocking but rather the fact that he resorted to the outdated concept of evil. Referring to evil made him just a crazy bible thumper in their eyes. How can Hitler possibly be thought to be evil when evil no longer exist? Much of the mainstream media adopts this moral relativism by refusing to label groups such as Hamas as terrorists. The media do not want to offend those who think that Hamas and similar groups are freedom fighters so terrorists who willfully blow up babies and children become insurgents or fighters. There is no absolute right or wrong or good or evil. Many of the haters on the left love bringing the name of Hitler up. George W. Bush is Hitler; former Ontario premier Mike Harris is Hitler; anyone with whom they disagree with is Hitler. Comparisons of even the mildest conservatives with Hitler and the Nazis are perfectly acceptable in today’s leftist circles. Mental midgets such as Ontario CUPE president Sid Ryan love compare the Israelis to Nazis although being gutless as most of his ilk are, Ryan backed down when he started to take heat for it. In today’s society Hitler and Nazism are thrown around so much that they have lost any of the original meaning that those words used to convey. Comedy such as The Producers if it is done right is funny despite its controversial subject matter. In the end comedy about Hitler really doesn’t matter; they symbolism of the inhumanity that the mention of Adolf Hitler once brought is long gone.

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