You might be familiar with Godwin’s Law: the argument that, in online discussions, the longer one lasts, the more likely it is for someone to bring up Hitler. Evidently, Godwin’s Law can also apply outside of online discourse. The latest example of this comes from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who’s facing calls for his resignation after a particularly convoluted political metaphor following Bernie Sanders’s Nevada caucus win.
Specifically, Matthews compared Sanders’s Nevada victory, and the increasing likelihood that he would win the Democratic Party nomination, to Nazi Germany’s military victory over — and subsequent occupation of — France in 1940.
Folks it’s realpic.twitter.com/Vm0BxJ6ge6
— Eli Valley (@elivalley) February 22, 2020
Matthews has made little secret of his dislike of Sanders: earlier this month, he alluded to his anxiety over public executions in Central Park when discussing the prospect of the Vermont Senator becoming President. But comparing a Jewish candidate for President to, well, Nazi Germany has — very understandably — infuriated more than a few people who heard Matthews’s comments.
As Newsweek reports, a number of prominent writers and political figures have called for Matthews to resign or be fired. The fact that members of Sanders’s family were killed in the Holocaust makes Matthews’s comparison that much more egregious.
And, as historian and writer Ibram X. Kendi has noted, analogies like Matthews’s aren’t just flawed and offensive — they also undermine a greater understanding of history among American voters.
How is this not toxic?
Moderate and progressive Democrats must find the common will to critique from data, from relevant history, from clear definitions, from open minds—not anecdotes, not irrelevant history, not fear-mongering, not locked minds.https://t.co/gS73X3xVkB
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) February 23, 2020
There’s a reason Godwin’s Law has frustrated many: comparing everyone whose politics you dislike to Nazis can make it more difficult to pinpoint actual Nazis when they do show up. The controversy surrounding Matthews is another example of this, albeit a very high-profile one.
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