I received a short time ago an email written by a gentleman who was irate (to put it mildly) that I would use and perpetuate the word “Nazi”, in this case in the subtitle of my book, Hellstorm. In his angry opinion, I was little better than an agent of the Jewish enemy. Not much, but I do get a little of that, by and by. I am accustomed to it. When I used to speak in the South about America’s civil war, 1861-1865, I ocassionaly was corrected by those who impatiently insisted it was not a “civil war” but rather it was The War of Northern Aggression, The War for Southern Independence, etc. That said, here is my response to the email mentioned:
Dear —-
A word is what you make of it. I grew up with the word “Nazi”, as I did the words “Civil War” and to this very day all those words remain neutrals–neither good or bad words, just quick and easy words that enable me to cut to the chase. Nazi is two syllables and easier to use than National Socialist Democratic Workers Party, which is 14 syllables (the same goes for “civil war” as opposed to The War of Northern Aggression”–3 sylabells versus 8). Nazi is a zippy little word instantly recognized by everyone on earth as World War II Germany and Germans. The word says what I want to say, and quickly. If you have a problem with the word, and since the word is not going away, I suggest you avoid the word. Better yet, I hope you come to terms with the word, work on it, then accept it and use it at every opportunity in a positive way. Instead of spending time and energy denying or defending against the word, as our enemy hopes you will do, embrace the word. Be proud of it and the great accomplishments that came with it. Turn what was intended as a negative, as you believe, into a positive. And by the way, I do not care a fig as to who supposedly “invented” the word or what their motives were. FYI, I have found numerous usage of the word during the war, written or uttered by Germans. Apparently, unlike yourself, these people had no problem whatsoever using the word or calling themselves, their neighbors or their leaders, Nazis. read more