Both sides need to cool it with the Nazi talk

Hey, I'm talking to you. You're either a talk-show host who makes money from being irresponsibly entertaining or your a concerned citizen who's been scared into throwing rational debate out the window.

We get it. You hate the other side. No, no. You REALLY hate the other side. I'm here to tell you that calling someone else a Nazi or implying that they're Nazi-like just wont cut it when you're trying to actually do something to help this country.

You think we're in dire times? I agree. You think radical measures are justified. Ok, fine, but to the point of throwing all decency and reasonableness out the door. Calling someone a Nazi is UNREASONABLE.

I'm going to show you two videos to explain the point that BOTH sides fall prey to this cheap, but horribly damaging scare tactic:



and now for the other side...



We all know there are extremists on both sides and we all seem to think that OUR extremism is OK. It's not. Sure the internet and talk shows are full of people doing things that WE'D never do, but when you repeat something that sounds true from a source you havent researched, or make a comment that some talk show guy swears he has a source for...you're contributing to the problem.

I'm asking for people to dig in and do their own research. I know we all lead lives that have too little time as it is. It's easy to want to cut corners and believe what "respected people" tell you. But when corner after corner after corner is cut by well-intentioned people who just want to be safe, the end result is spouting this NAZI stuff. By the end of the day you think you're justified painting a Hitler 'stache on Obama/Bush and you get desensitized as to how bad it is to do that.

Hitler and Mengele were evil men, motivated to eradicate a race of people through the most horrific means available based on twisted ideological views that only a few extremists (read: none of the past presidents) espouse.

Seriously. Stop it.

(BTW. Evan over at www.brain-terminal.com has done some amazing work. While we're different on a fair amount of issues, I applaud his efforts and enjoy his work for the most part.)