{"id":1742,"date":"2018-06-21T17:06:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T00:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2018-05-25T13:25:25","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T20:25:25","slug":"words-have-meaning-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Words Have Meaning II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You may have had this experience, where your racist, right-wing uncle, the one who shows up drunk for Thanksgiving with his Chinese-knockoff MAGA hat on backward, puts something like the following on his Twitter feed:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNazi means \u2018National Socialist,\u2019 so that means socialism equals Nazism. Checkmate, libtards!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->You probably already knew that your uncle wasn\u2019t very bright but let me detail the depths of his stupidity in this case.<\/p>\n<p>If you believe that simply because the Nazis called themselves the \u201cNational Socialist Worker\u2019s Party,\u201d their ideology in automatically socialist as we understand the term, then you have to also believe that the totalitarian regimes of North Korea and East Germany qualify as \u201cdemocratic republics,\u201d simply because they called themselves that.<\/p>\n<p>Here in my neck of the woods, we have an unpleasant bunch that calls itself the \u201cInstitute for Historical Research.\u201d They are nothing more than a pack of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Holocaust_denial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Holocaust deniers<\/a>, so any \u201cresearch\u201d they might do is not \u201chistorical\u201d in nature, so their name masks rather than reveals their true purpose.<\/p>\n<p>The seeds of the National Socialist Worker\u2019s Party pre-existed Adolf Hitler\u2019s membership, the group having been founded by a man named Anton Drexler shortly after World War I. Even before Hitler joined, many of the hallmarks of Nazi ideology: racism, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nativism_(politics)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nativism<\/a>, antisemitism, anti-Marxism, and anti-Communism were already in place. While their rhetoric included anti-capitalist and anti-business language, this must be understood in the context that both capitalism and big business were associated with \u201cinternational Jewry\u201d in the minds of the likely Nazi recruit.<\/p>\n<p>The original party name was the German Socialist Workers\u2019 Party, but they dropped the word \u201csocialism\u201d when some potential members objected to belonging to a party with that word in the name. Drexler reassured people that the \u201csocialism\u201d in their national socialism only applied to Germans of pure Aryan descent. That is not socialism as your drunk racist uncle understands it, and by understand, I mean he regurgitates what he reads on Breitbart.<\/p>\n<p>So, yes, words do have meaning, but sometimes names can mean the opposite of what the words do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just because the Nazis called themselves &#8220;socialists,&#8221; does that mean they were, and that socialism is inextricably linked to Nazism?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[288,286,287,284,289,283,285,75,233],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-venting","tag-antisemitism","tag-east-germany","tag-holocaust-denial","tag-maga","tag-nativism","tag-nazism","tag-north-korea","tag-racism","tag-socialism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Words Have Meaning II - Paul McElligott Dot Com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Words Have Meaning II - Paul McElligott Dot Com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just because the Nazis called themselves &quot;socialists,&quot; does that mean they were, and that socialism is inextricably linked to Nazism?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paul McElligott Dot Com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/paulmcelligott\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-22T00:06:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-25T20:25:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/20180520-00001.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul McElligott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PaulMcElligott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PaulMcElligott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul McElligott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/\",\"name\":\"Words Have Meaning II - Paul McElligott Dot Com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-22T00:06:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-25T20:25:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Words Have Meaning II\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Paul McElligott Dot Com\",\"description\":\"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible (Vladimir Nabokov)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8\",\"name\":\"Paul McElligott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul McElligott\"},\"description\":\"Author, Writer, Scribe, Wordsmith, Thesaurus owner.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Words Have Meaning II - Paul McElligott Dot Com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Words Have Meaning II - Paul McElligott Dot Com","og_description":"Just because the Nazis called themselves \"socialists,\" does that mean they were, and that socialism is inextricably linked to Nazism?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/","og_site_name":"Paul McElligott Dot Com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/paulmcelligott\/","article_published_time":"2018-06-22T00:06:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-05-25T20:25:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/20180520-00001.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Paul McElligott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PaulMcElligott","twitter_site":"@PaulMcElligott","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul McElligott","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/","url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/","name":"Words Have Meaning II - Paul McElligott Dot Com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-06-22T00:06:54+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-25T20:25:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/words-have-meaning-ii\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Words Have Meaning II"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/","name":"Paul McElligott Dot Com","description":"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible (Vladimir Nabokov)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7046cd03017c72208828f8044a1bdbe8","name":"Paul McElligott","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/075aacd7c1bd61f6addac96bcb712d1c3919ef4d2a1605cc98b3dc5344de75ec?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Paul McElligott"},"description":"Author, Writer, Scribe, Wordsmith, Thesaurus owner.","url":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/post\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulmcelligott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}