1. Every analogy is by definition a minimization of the true horror of the Holocaust.
In theology it is difficult to convey accurate analogies about God because God is unique, nothing truly compares. Fortunately, the Scriptures contain a number of analogies offered by God, such as that of Father or Shepherd, which we can use without fear that we're straying too far from reality.
When the Holocaust is used as part of an analogy, whichever thing is being compared to it must be of a lesser degree because no event in history can match the Holocaust in terms of the totality of the evil involved, its depth and breadth, its purposefulness {See: The Final Solution}, how many people willingly assisted it {See: Hitler's Willing Executioners}, as well as the danger of those working to deny its reality {See: Holocaust Denial}. There may be no minimization intended by the creator or the one sharing a meme that uses the Holocaust as its point of comparison, but by drawing a connection between two unequal things, minimization will often be the result. In the end, the Nazis and their willing accomplices purposefully and systematically murdered six million Jews, eight million Soviet citizens (including civilians and POW's), nearly two million Poles, hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Roma, and the disabled. Nothing of this magnitude has every happened in human history, whatever thing is upsetting you, it is no Holocaust.
* Exceptions to the rule: Other acts of genocide like that which took place in Rwanda in 1994, against the Armenians during WWI, or those perpetuated against American Indians after 1492. A sober minded and fact conscious comparison of acts of genocide to each other (sadly, the three examples only scratch the surface in human history) can help us understand how and why this inhumanity has occurred and perhaps even work to stop (or mitigate) such evil in the future. Let's be honest, comparisons between the Holocaust and the Cultural Revolution seeking to understand their similarities and differences are not what are flooding social media.
2. No American political leader (past or present) has anything like the vision or will of Hitler's embrace of pure evil.
I get it, you don't like (fill in the blank) politician and you're convinced he/she is plotting to destroy our Republic. Even if that were true (and it isn't) he/she would be a far cry from the next Hitler/Stalin/Mao. Along the same lines, you may despise this or that creator of news/propaganda, but he/she/they are not remotely in the same league as Joseph Goebbels. The truth is, for all our failures as a nation, America has rarely produced people as vile as those who propelled the Third Reich, and even more rarely have such evil would-be villains gained true power here. For example, while there is little positive to say about Senator Joseph McCarthy today, in the end his obsession with finding Communist subversives was defeated through the normal political process and the application of public opinion. For the most part, America has rejected demagogues, leaving men like KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest as a cautionary tale, not a hero. When we jump to the comparison of the person(s) we don't like as Hitler or Nazis, we once again minimize how truly evil they were, and we wrongly associate that evil with fellow Americans with whom we disagree.
3. America is not a few steps away from Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia.
One of the things that these memes and analogies assume is that we are but a few steps away from either a fascist dictatorship or a communist totalitarian state. In other words, they view our Republic as an extremely fragile thing, discount those who would refuse to be led in that direction, and assume that millions of brave men and women that wear the uniform as soldiers, police, and other government agents would go along with the nefarious plans of the liberal or conservative threat that you're afraid of. Those two countries, and others who have fallen prey to authoritarianism, had significant historical and societal differences from the United States, differences that matter.
In addition, if the analogies to Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia were anything close to the truth, the Church in America would need to be an entirely ineffective force, brittle and ripe for takeover. These comparisons are not only a sign of a deep pessimism about our country, but about the Church here as well. Thankfully, pessimism about both America and the Church here is overblown.
4. Holocaust, Hitler, and Nazi memes/analogies shut down dialogue, deepen already existing divisions, and make violence and civil disorder more likely.
Self-fulfilling prophecy is a dangerous thing. The more we declare that our political adversaries in America are evil enemies who must be stopped at all cost before they enslave and murder us all, the more likely it is that somebody will hear that rhetoric and follow through with violence. After all, what is the point of attempting to peacefully coexist with genocidal maniacs? In addition, it is now well known that foreign countries, those who consider themselves to be our geopolitical rivals, are actively using social media to inflame the passions of Americans against each other utilizing fake stories. The sad thing is, they hardly need bother at times as Americans themselves seem all too eager to proclaim that fellow citizens of this nation are so evil they should be incarcerated, if not lynched.
This trajectory is unsustainable. Either we will, as a nation, pull back from this destructive path as we have in the past or we will continue to lurch forward toward making our own fears a reality.
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