{"id":735,"date":"2010-11-11T21:14:35","date_gmt":"2010-11-11T20:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=735"},"modified":"2010-11-11T21:14:35","modified_gmt":"2010-11-11T20:14:35","slug":"say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2010\/11\/11\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\/","title":{"rendered":"Say what you like about the Nazis, but…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s something that occurred to me in the small hours about the argumentum ad hitlerum<\/a><\/em> as it gets applied to the euthanasia dispute.<\/p>\n

Proponents of the argument point to what happened in the Third Reich as a warning about euthanasia, the claim being that the Nazi\u00a0so-called euthanasia programme led to the involuntary deaths of many people deemed to be “useless mouths”, and could all-too-easily do so again. \u00a0The obvious rebuttal to this argument is that the Nazi programme wasn’t actually euthanasia – the word was used, when it was used at all, as a euphemism to cover up what was straightforwardly murder; it therefore tells us nothing about echt<\/em> euthanasia.<\/p>\n

But here’s the odd thing about the argumentum<\/em>: it relies on accepting the word “euthanasia” as being at least a tolerably accurate description of what went on in the death camps. \u00a0And that means that proponents are saying, in effect, that we can say what we like about the Nazis, but we have to accept as reliable their accounts of what they were up to; that they can’t possibly have been trying to cover up the programme.<\/p>\n

And that’s just weird<\/em>. \u00a0I mean:\u00a0granted what we know they got up to, doesn’t a little duplicity seem well within their capacities?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s something that occurred to me in the small hours about the argumentum ad hitlerum as it gets applied to the euthanasia dispute. Proponents of the argument point to what happened in the Third Reich as a warning about euthanasia, the claim being that the Nazi\u00a0so-called euthanasia programme led to the involuntary deaths of many […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563,591,472],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language","category-life-and-death","category-thinking-aloud"],"yoast_head":"\nSay what you like about the Nazis, but... - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/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:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2010\/11\/11\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Say what you like about the Nazis, but... - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s something that occurred to me in the small hours about the argumentum ad hitlerum as it gets applied to the euthanasia dispute. Proponents of the argument point to what happened in the Third Reich as a warning about euthanasia, the claim being that the Nazi\u00a0so-called euthanasia programme led to the involuntary deaths of many [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2010\/11\/11\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-11T20:14:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/11\\\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/11\\\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Say what you like about the Nazis, but…\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-11T20:14:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/11\\\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":225,\"commentCount\":34,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"language\",\"Life and Death\",\"Thinking Aloud\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/11\\\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/11\\\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/11\\\/say-what-you-like-about-the-nazis-but\\\/\",\"name\":\"Say what you like about the Nazis, but... - 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