I, too, wondered why the term safety nazi would be offensive. I've heard it
many times as a poke-in-fun at the "cop" (which a safety steward necessarily
must be in a sense), especially for the overzealous one.
Then it hit me ... what if the safety steward himself was Jewish? Now
suddenly it is heard with a much darker meaning, quite unintended but there
nevertheless.
I'm sure the genesis has to do with such innocuous things as the term "soup
nazi" on "Seinfeld" -- how ridiculous a pairing of words, which of course
was the comedic point.
I tend to dislike all this PC crap ... titling someone "chairman" is not
IMHO demeaning to women ... but when you get to something
racially/politically/religiously sensitive, there really is no need for the
needless emotional injury.
I've used the term, meaning nothing more than jest or wisecrack. I hope I
can succeed in avodiding it in the future.
--Rocky
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