Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 A “good war” no more: The new World War II revisionism
- 2 From history to memory and back again: Debating the Holocaust’s uniqueness
- 3 Probing the limits of speculation: Counterfactualism and the Holocaust
- 4 Nazis that never were: new alternate histories of the Third Reich
- 5 Humanizing Hitler: the Führer in contemporary film
- 6 Between tragedy and farce: Nazism on the Internet
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 A “good war” no more: The new World War II revisionism
- 2 From history to memory and back again: Debating the Holocaust’s uniqueness
- 3 Probing the limits of speculation: Counterfactualism and the Holocaust
- 4 Nazis that never were: new alternate histories of the Third Reich
- 5 Humanizing Hitler: the Führer in contemporary film
- 6 Between tragedy and farce: Nazism on the Internet
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
[It is] the undeniable and terrible truth of the universe. Look within yourself … you know it to be true.
There is no use pleading, no use denying. The sooner you accept the truth the sooner the real work can begin.
Everyone is Hitler.
UncyclopediaWell, maybe not everyone. But it sometimes seems like it given how frequently people these days are compared to the Nazi dictator. Since the turn of the millennium, Hitler comparisons have multiplied all over the world. In the United States, Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have been repeatedly likened to Hitler, as have countless other politicians, ranging from prominent national figures like Sarah Palin, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton to more minor local officials. Various world leaders have come in for similar treatment, whether European heads of state, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi, and Vladimir Putin; Middle Eastern leaders, Ariel Sharon, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Bashar al-Assad; and non-Western political figures, such as Hugo Chavez, Hu Jintao, and the Dalai Lama. Beyond politicians, many other prominent people have been likened to Hitler, including religious leaders, comedians, sports figures, and Hollywood directors. So common have such comparisons become that the Internet now boasts multiple lists of “People … Who Have Been Compared to Hitler.” To be sure, these lists do not include “everyone,” as asserted in Uncyclopedia’s satirical claim. But they are extensive enough to suggest that it is only slightly off the mark.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Hi Hitler!How the Nazi Past is Being Normalized in Contemporary Culture, pp. 340 - 349Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014