(; Latin for "reduction to Hitler"), also known as playing the Nazi card, is an attempt to invalidate someone else's position on the basis that the same view was held by Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party. Arguments can be called if they are fallacious (e.g., arguing that because Hitler abstained from eating meat or was against smoking, anyone else who does so is a Nazi). Contrarily, straightforward arguments critiquing fascist components of Nazism like Führerprinzip are not part of the association fallacy. Coined by Leo Strauss in 1953, takes its name from the term used in logic called ("reduction to the absurd"). According to Strauss, is a form of , , or a fallacy of irrelevance. The suggested rationale is one of guilt by association. It is a tactic often used to derail arguments because such comparisons tend to distract and anger the opponent. Definition is a form of association fallacy. The argument is that a policy leads to—or is the same as—one advocated or implemented by Adolf Hitler or Nazi Germany and so "proves" that the original policy is undesirable. Another form of is asking a question of the form "You know who else...?" with the deliberate intent of impugning a certain idea or action by implying Hitler held that idea or performed such an action. A comparison to Hitler or Nazism is not a if it illuminates an argument instead of causing distraction from it. Straightforward comparisons can be used to criticize fascist components of Nazism like führerprinzip. However, one could fallaciously argue that because Hitler abstained from eating meat or was against smoking, anyone else who does so is a Nazi. History The phrase is first known to have been used in an article written by University of Chicago professor Leo Strauss for Measure: A Critical Journal in spring 1951, although it was made famous in a book by Strauss published in 1953 Natural Right and History, Chapter II: In following this movement towards its end we shall inevitably reach a point beyond which the scene is darkened by the shadow of Hitler. Unfortunately, it does not go without saying that in our examination we must avoid the fallacy that in the last decades has frequently been used as a substitute for the : the . A view is not refuted by the fact that it happens to have been shared by Hitler. The phrase was