History By Analogy

Like Houghton, Jespersen writes of the reasoning behind the

supposed necessity of using history by analogy. However,

Jespersen, more so than Houghton alludes to the mistakes and

misconceptions that are obtained through using historical analogy.

Additionally Jespersen notes how often the wrong analogy is

initially made in the wake of an attack or historical event.

Jespersen claims that immediately following 9/11 many jumped to

the conclusion that this was the equivalent of a modern day Pearl

Harbor. Conspiracy Theorists then illuminated the similarities

between Roosevelt who was seen as a power tyrant, and Bush who

some view as an illegitimate president, not really winning the

election. However time would reveal that this was a far situation

from Pearl Harbor, especially once taken to Iraq. Instead the

current analogy became that of the Vietnam War. Furthermore

Saddam Hussein became compared to Adolph Hitler and North Korea,

Iran, and Iraq were the new ???axis of evil.???

While Houghton explains the reasoning for and methods of making

historical analogies (such as structural and situational

likeness), Jespersen tells of recent analogies that have been made

and instead reveals the ???stretches??? taken in doing so. The