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Unread 07-17-2019, 04:04 PM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
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To my mind, if we are going to use language precisely (and I believe we should) it is worth noting that the term concentration camp, used by AOC, goes back to the Second Boer War, as Wikipedia notes: "Concentration camps were operated by the British in South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War from 1900–1902. The term "concentration camp" grew in prominence during that period." Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...ntration_camps ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...nese_Americans

In short, they are not exclusive to the Nazis, the term was already in common use by 1939, and for a reason. If we want an exclusive term, we might say death camps or extermination camps. Not a lot of governments have operated those, but the Nazis obviously did. There is political convenience to be had in blurring this distinction: witness the outcry when AOC labelled the camps on the US border as precisely what they are. I object to that political convenience, and the abuse of language on which it depends. It is immoral, to my mind, and I use the term politely.

Cheers,
John

Update: just to add that the term concentration camp or Konzentrationslager , used for camps that exterminated people, was quite specifically a Nazi preference. There are good books on Nazi use of language; here's a link to one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTI_%E...Tertii_Imperii
I don't see why we should favor exclusively - to the exclusion of all analogies - the term the Nazis found suited to their ends.

Last edited by John Isbell; 07-17-2019 at 04:17 PM.
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