At 12:14 AM 8/7/00 +0200, you wrote:
>I'm not denying you individuality, i'm asking you to be considerate.
>I'm not sure if that you realise that the fundamental respect
>for individuality is not there when you throw words like "Nazi" around
>yourself.
>A poor choice of words, obviously you do feel the urge to dramatize and take
>into
>extremes your statements.
I think there's a cultural conflict here. When Americans use "Nazi" (and
I'm using the word as an example, okay!) as a typical adjective, it usually
means someone who is blindly over-zealous, hence the US TV show "Seinfeld,"
which had an episode where there was a character described as the "soup Nazi."
I understand that in certain parts of the world, especially those who were
actually affected by the actions of the real Nazis, it's not as humorous,
especially if there are people on this list whose ancestors were killed by
the Nazis. But it's easy to forget that. Here in the U.S., there's little
reverence and respect for anything, especially history, so a term like
"Nazi" becomes a funny insult, since America was not as directly affected
by the Nazis. Yes there are people in America who call themselves "Nazis"
and espouse a belif system based on the original early 20th Century
National Socialist party of Germany, but we consider them to nothing more
than freaks who appear on the "Jerry Springer Show" -- again an object of
laughter.
Speaking of old World War II terms, I do recall someone, when talking about
music instrument manufacturers talk about the Japanese manufacturers, and
uttering, "Well that's the Japs for you..." I'm not sure whether there is
anyone on this list who is of Japanese ancestry but I could understand
where a similar issue could arise because of that.
Elson
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