Yep - that’s my tip this week. Don’t call someone a Nazi unless they’re an actual Nazi. Simple, right?

Far too frequently we describe things we don’t like in the strongest terms possible. Among the many problems with that: those strongest terms are often historically illiterate.  Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University and a former governor of Indiana, illustrated the ignorance (and laziness) of some of our word choices in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post. 

Nazi.  Fascist.  Communist.  These words are uttered dozens of times a day on various 24-hour news channels.  Of course, it’s much worse on social media; Daniels reminded us of Mike Godwin’s theorem (from 1990!) that “as an online discussion continues, the probability of a reference or comparison to Hitler or Nazis approaches 1.” Unfortunately, some of these internet trolls now hold political office…