Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – Caricature by DonkeyHotey, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

If you’ve been on political Twitter today, you’ve probably seen Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s crazy comments describing border detention facilities in the United States as “concentration camps.” She’s since doubled and tripled down on them.

This makes no sense for so many reasons that it’s hard to articulate. No one is forcing people to cross our border illegally, and they are free to leave at any time. Illegal immigrants in our detention facilities are not being forced to work or being gassed with their families. Everyone being held at the border are being given due process and will have their claims adjudicated. There’s essentially no comparison at all to any historical definition of a concentration camp. If anyone commits a crime in this country, they are typically confined for some period of time while their case is processed. That’s all that’s happening at the border. How any of this is controversial, I don’t know.

No mind, though. The white knights in the media rushed to defend AOC anyway, because that’s what they do.

Here’s Dave Weigel from The Washington Post.

Not going any deeper into Concentration Camp Twitter today, but the term originated to describe British tactics in the Boer War, and was later applied to Nazi tactics. Problem with saying “internment camp” instead is that you remind people that Americans had them before. — Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 18, 2019

She was just talking about the Boer War, you guys! Yes, it’s obvious that AOC, whose knowledge of history ends with the results of last year’s American Idol, was actually giving a call back to a little known war in South Africa. That’s the ticket.

The level of gaslighting being presented by Weigel in that tweet was hard to top, but MSNBC’s resident historian managed to do so.

If you spend a few minutes learning some actual history, you will find out that concentration camps are different from death camps and have a history that both predates and extends far past the Nazis. https://t.co/Bccy3SaXW0 — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 18, 2019

“ACKSHUALLY…”

Telling others to learn “some actual history” while defending a ridiculously a-historical assertion is the most Chris Hayes thing ever.

Even though it’s apparent that AOC meant the Holocaust, we don’t even have to speculate. Why? Because she specifically cited “never again,” which is a direct reference to the Holocaust. There is no question she was making a comparison to Nazi concentration camps, and it’s ludicrously dishonest to suggest otherwise.

Also the specific use of distinguishing 'concentration camp' from 'death camp' is Nazi propaganda so banner day for the brave firefighters in our media https://t.co/N1TOwJtRjN — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) June 18, 2019

Meanwhile, press outlets like The Washington Post decided the real story here was that Republicans were upset, because that’s always the story, right?

Then something amazing happened.

The Auschwitz Museum chimed in and made a polite suggestion to Chris Hayes, CNN’s K-File, and others who rushed to defend AOC’s comments. It’s one of the most incredible “I’m not owned” moments in Twitter history.

@chrislhayes Please consider following @AuschwitzMuseum where everyday we commemorate and educate about the tragic human history of #Auschwitz. — Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) June 18, 2019

@KFILE Please consider following @AuschwitzMuseum where everyday we commemorate and educate about the tragic human history of #Auschwitz. — Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) June 18, 2019

The history of Auschwitz is far more complicated than this as it combined two functions: a concentration camp and from March 1942 an extermination center. See our online lesson: https://t.co/45MCqODtva — Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) June 18, 2019

I suspect “concentration camp” Twitter won’t end here, though. The media are already running to post op-eds by “historians” letting us know that border detention facilities are in fact just like Nazi death camps, just at an earlier stage. I guess the CBP are the Waffen-SS in this scenario, underhandedly building infrastructure leading toward the extermination of illegal immigrants? It’s all so crazy that I’m not even sure what else to say about it.

We’ve reached a level of absurdity in our political discourse that’s hard to fathom.

————————————————-

Enjoying the read? Please visit my archive and check out some of my latest articles.

I’ve got a new twitter! Please help by following @bonchieredstate.