When All Trust Is Lost: 75 People and a Cat Who've Been Compared to Hitler

Years ago, attorney Mike Godwin asserted what became known as "Godwin's Law":  "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches." 

Likening those we disagree with to Adolf Hitler, sadly, is par for the course in the extreme political discourse that dominates social media today. Among other things, it demonstrates a basic failure of trust in others. 

The Use and Abuse of Hitler's Name in Online Rhetoric

Why the fixation with Hitler in attacking others online? One reason why Hitler remains a fixture on the History Channel -- and in our online discourse -- relates to the first public relations art: rhetoric.

The original PR practitioners were rhetoricians. The sophists of ancient Greece were thinker-philosophers who taught noblemen seeking public office the art of persuasion through rhetoric. 

From the beginning, rhetoric (which simply means the art of persuasive speaking or writing) has been viewed with suspicion. The sophists were mercilessly criticized by Socrates, and the result is the word "sophistry," meaning the use of fallacious arguments to deceive.

The nature of Hitler's rise and fall uniquely lends itself to sophistry, as is evident in all manner of public discourse today. And sophistry breaks down trust online.

When Hitler Comparisons Lose Their Meaning

I've been tracking Hitler comparisons online off and on in the media for the past decade. Following are just a small portion of the folks who've been compared to Hitler by various commentators, along with relevant links. There's something about seeing the full list at once that demonstrates just how ridiculous the use of Hitler as a rhetorical tool has become.

1. U.S. President Donald Trump
2. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
3. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness
4. Flint, Mich., City Council President Monica Galloway
5. The kid in "EuroTrip"
6. First Lady Michelle Obama
7. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
8. Hallandale Beach, Fla. Mayor Keith London
9. Auckland, NZ, Mayor Phil Goff
10. South African politician Julius Malema
11. Movie director Michael Bay
12. Conservative talk host Glenn Beck
13. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
14. Pope Benedict XVI
15. German politician Björn Höcke
16. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
17. Terrorist Osama bin Laden
18. Concordia University Business Professor Hodai Hemami Shahla
19. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
20. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
21. U.S. President George W. Bush
22. U.S. President Jimmy Carter
23. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
24. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
25. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
26. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney
27. Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin
28. U.S. President Bill Clinton
29. Naturalist Charles Darwin
30. Syrian Dictator Bashar Al-Assad
31. Animator Walt Disney
32. King Leopold II of Belgium
33. Chinese President Jiang Zemin
34. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
35. Climate activist Greta Thunberg
36. Conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza
37. Filipino kleptocrat Ferdinand Marcos
38. Filipino strongman Rodrigo Duterte
39. Poker champion Annie Duke
40. White supremacist Richard Spencer
41. Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
42. Halloween celebrant Bryant Goldbach
43. North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Sung
44. North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-il
45. North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un
46. Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore
47. Roman Emperor Nero
48. Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein
49. Christian Messiah Jesus
50. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
51. Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg
52. U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
53. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
54. Entertainment Software Association founder Doug Lowenstein
55. Financier Bernie Madoff
56. Murderer Charles Manson
57. Conservative Christian activist Ginny Maziarka
58. U.S. Senator John McCain
59. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
60. German Chancellor Angela Merkel
61. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk
62. U.S. President Richard Nixon
63. U.S. President Barack Obama
64. U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
65. Italian comedian and politician Beppe Grillo
66. Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin
67. Rhodesia and Rhodes Scholarship founder Cecil Rhodes
68. Zimbabwean Dictator Robert Mugabe
69. University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez
70. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
71. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
72. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger
73. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
74. Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa
75. Slain abortion doctor George Tiller
76. Leonardo the Cat

Have you found one to add to the list? Share it in comments.