In the Arlo Guthrie thread today, someone referred to people who don't like Arlo performing with orchestras as "folk Nazis."

I've seen that term bandied about many times in Mudcat threads, and elsewhere, usually describing people who are traditionalists.

I've also seen such terms as "health Nazis," used to describe anti-tobacco activists, or "gun Nazis," used to describe advocates of gun control.

Such usage of the word "Nazi" is highly offensive and cheapens its meaning. The Nazis were perpetrators of some the greatest evils of history: genocide, religious, racial and sexual hatred, war, etc. The Nazi regime murdered 6 million Jews and more millions of others including Gypsies, homosexuals, and anyone who didn't toe their despicable party line.

Advocates of traditional music, gun control or tobacco control have nothing is common with Naziism at any level.

Mike Regenstreif