Those are just some of the words that come to mind from this passage by Ellen Goodman:
I would like to say we’re at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.
No, Ellen. Let’s not just say that. Denying that the industrialized mass-murder of millions actually happened isn’t really quite the same thing as refusing to believe global warming is real. I believe global warming is real, by the way. But people who “deny” — a bad word to begin with — that global warming is real are unpersuaded by media hype and the constantly moving goal posts of a funding-hungry scientific community. People who deny the Holocaust happened tend to be the kinds of people who are actually sympathetic with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. They tend to enjoy poking Jews in the eye with taunts and smirks. I know people who don’t believe global warming is happening and let me just say they aren’t the same people and to equate them with Holocaust deniers is a reprehensible attempt to dehumanize opponents in an argument. Goodman should be ashamed, as should Al Gore who at least had the good taste to soften his insinuations with literary boilerplate rather than thumblessly shove the analogy down peoples’ throats.
Update: FYI, Today’s column happens to be on global warming.
As for this sort of Holocaust analogy mongering, this has set me off before. See here and here for two examples.