We Await An Apology, Mr. Westgard

The Westgardian Lie

46th Ward blogger WhatTheHelen?! doesn't want to forget the recent spate of Westgardian slurs, in which Thomas J. Westgard cavalierly called people Nazis, the basest of slurs. Neither do I.

During the past 49th Ward aldermanic campaign, some in the Joe Moore camp used very ugly tactics. They accused those with differing opinions of being "racists" and "Nazis," or stronly implied the same. Attorney Thomas J. Westgard was arguably the worst offender, blatanly drawing comparisons of candidate Don Gordon to Nazi dictator and mass murderer Adolf Hitler.

That is sick because Mr. Gordon is neither a Nazi nor a mass murderer.

It is sick because it's a cheap way to slander and discredit an opponent without having to actually address real issues. It panders to the base fears of the least educated and, frankly, dumbest voters.

There is another reason why it is so sick. It cheapens the meaning of the word "Nazi," of which the meaning has become all too diluted in the past 50 years. Believe it or not, many who use the word "Nazi" know little or nothing about Adolf Hilter, of the actual Nazis, or World War II, of the death camps. Not surprisingly, the Westgards of the world coddle the professors who deny the Holocaust, and scream out "academic freedom" as a defense for it.

From WhatTheHelen?!:

As we mentioned earlier, WTH?! took a long tour of both western and eastern Europe many, many moons ago. One of the places we saw was Dachau, the former German concentration camp where so many thousands of innocent people - Christians, Jews, political dissenters, Russian prisoners of war, and others - died at the hands of the Nazis.

"May The Example of Those Who Were Exterminated Here Between 1933-1945 Because They Resisted Nazism Help to Unite the Living for the Defence of Peace and Freedom and in Respect for Their Fellow Men."

We await an apology, Mr. Westgard. You should be ashamed of yourself.