Reclaiming Hitler

Right Wing Duck's comedy monologue was funny, and as it percolated up through my brain I had a thought. RWD proposes (jokingly, of course) that we start using "Hitler" as a euphemism for "cool", now that it's been virtually stripped of all its original meaning by frequent overuse to refer to Republicans and other undesirables. Maybe he's onto something, though.

When I was a kid, my parents never used ethnic slurs, EVER. I was taught that those were not acceptable words to say under any circumstances, that they were just unspeakably rude. So when I got to public school and college and heard black people calling each other "n-----" and lesbians calling each other "d---", I was absolutely shocked, and said so. But they told me it was all right-- their communities were "reclaiming" those words that had previously been used as slurs and turning them into positive affirmations of their blackness/gayness/what have you. However, they were still outraged if anyone outside of their community used the words.

So since extreme Leftists have been referring to Republicans as "fascists" and "Hitler" so often that it makes one's head spin, maybe it's time to "reclaim" those slurs. Let's all pretend it's perfectly OK for a Bush supporter to call another Bush supporter a "fascist" or a "Hitler", but be unspeakably insulted if anyone else does. What do you think?

[remove tongue from cheek]