Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Corbyn appears to compare Israeli government to Islamic State [View all]Igel
(35,270 posts)red : color :: dog : animal does not imply an equivalence between color and animal unless you really, really look for it.
If I'm looking for racist dog-whistles, I might say that the person behind that analogy is a racist, and a lot of people who revel in suspicion and like to find grievance everywhere would say, "Amen!" When, in fact, what's being compared is the relationship between red and color versus dog and animal.
Both color and animal are general terms for sets of specific token. They're classes. Red is a color; dog is an animal. The relationship is one of inclusion in a set. Broccoli : vegetable, vegetable : plant, dog : Canidae, proton : baryon, baryon : matter, Obama : president all have the same relationship, but I'm not comparing Obama to a broccoli, dog, proton, vegetable, or baryon (or even "Barry-on" .
Jew : Israeli government :: Muslim : ISIS works. Some X, but not all X, support oppressive government that they don't live under. You can think that Netanyahu's government is oppressive without saying it's as bad as ISIS. Heck, a lot of people consider Obama's government oppressive, but that doesn't mean they think Obama has his cabinet running around lopping off heads. In any event, what you have to compare isn't the terms across the :: operator; you have to compare the terms on either side, that's the : bit, and then compare the results. This is like saying 2 + 3 = 4 + 1 means I think 3 is the same as 1.
As for Hamas and Hezbollah, I need more. Pelosi called Assad of Syria a partner for peace, but that didn't make her into an authoritarian dictator. She played politics, right down to donning a head scarf, and was hailed for it--this was when Bush II declared Syria part of the "axis of evil" and everybody rushed to the defense of the "axis" because it was part of ridiculing Bush II. Perhaps he's an anti-Semite. Perhaps he's just from a high-Muslim area and needs to placate his constituency by showing he values those they value. Perhaps he drank the kool-aid and thinks that Israeli is evil. Can't say. Don't know. Won't assume I know.
The analogy interpretation proffered by those who probably hated analogies on the SAT, though, is just screwball.