I crossed paths today with a news report from CBS Channel 4 in South Florida that was headlined, Video Portrays Charlie Crist As Hitler. Immediately, I thought the worst: that I was about to read yet another story of conservative extremists -- recently given to painting Hitler 'staches all over the people and places and things they didn't like, in the eloquent dialogue of Beckian outrage -- had declared Charlie Cristallnacht!Reporter Tim Kephart teed up the report thusly:But while such contemporary invocations of Hitler are cheap and vile and constant enough to warrant a reminder of Godwin's Law, the mention of a YouTube video suggested to me that the piece was about to take a turn. And sure enough, it did:
Ahh. Okay. Wait a minute. This reporter is missing some context. While the news has been filled all year with talk of Hitler comparisons of the worst sort, parody videos involving the movie Downfall are another beast entirely. As they say, KNOW YOUR MEME! And so, here's
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Posted: 10/29/2009
