Letter to the editor: Use of the word ‘Nazis’ to make political points is offensive
To the editor,
This is a response to Allan Stevo’s, recent letter to the editor on Feb. 18 in the Paso Robles Daily News, entitled: Make your voice heard about school mask mandates.
Mr. Stevo: You have a right to voice your opinion. That is free speech. I respect your right to voice your opinion, whether I (or others) agree or disagree.
This is not directly in response to your comments on the mask mandate, it is the comparison you use, and the use of phrases, that is highly offensive, hurtful, and thoughtless, when you refer to:….“their district had to act like Newsom’s local mask Nazis,” and repeated further on: “Mask Nazis of 2020.”
Mr. Stevo: Are you aware of how the Nazis acted, what their agenda was, and the feelings evoked when these terms and false comparisons are used? Have you seen the pictures, the newsreels, the museums, read your history, understand the horrors? Do you comprehend their laws were intended to initiate “the final solution,” to annihilate all Jews? And you compare a mask mandate to this? Shame on you.
As a Jew, I resent that. As a Jew who lost much of his family in the Holocaust, I resent that. As a human being, I resent that. Your use, any use, comparing actions/laws like this (mask mandate) to the Nazis is offensive, marginalizes and denigrates the horrors of that time that were thrust upon Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and pretty much anyone that did not fit the parameters of “the master race.”
How dare you dismiss the murder of six million Jews, and millions of others by comparing those horrors to a mask mandate law. How dare you marginalize the treatment of millions who lost their homes, families, country, and lives. How dare you equate a mask mandate law to laws allowing people to be picked up in the black of night, tortured, put on trains, sent to camps. I am so outraged when anyone takes a political stand and compares it to the Nazis and what they perpetrated against not only Jews but humankind during those dark years… just to make their point.
How many of your relatives lost their homes? How many of your relatives had to flee their country, lucky to get out with their lives? How many of your relatives were picked up and sent to camps and then the ovens. How many of your relatives barely survived and then had the remainder of what happened tattooed on their arms. How many of your relatives simply disappeared, with no trace of them whatsoever. You and anyone that uses a comparison to Nazis, which automatically refers to the horrors they committed, in order to make personal or political points, seems to have no feeling, no understanding or knowledge of that history, or just don’t care.
Maybe this was just a misspoken word on your part… I hope that was so, and that this does not reflect some darker side of you.
An apology is called for Mr. Stevo. I hope you will stand up, apologize to all who you have hurt and offended by your use of the word “Nazis” and the phrases it was contained in. Think about the words and comparisons you use regarding your views, thoughts, and comments-words matter. As a writer, you should be aware of this.
Thank you,
Donald Sonderling
Paso Robles Daily News contributor
Editor’s note: Opinion pieces and letters to the editor are the personal opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.
