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Do I need to add that I am not agreeing with Hitler when describing his opinion about the Jews and Germany?

Source: non-idiomatic meaning of "in terms of"

I was going through some my previous posts on this site and came across the above sentence from Jay's answer. I would like to ask why the continuous form is used instead of just "I do not agree with Hitler". It seems as if Jay was not agreeing with Hitler the exact moment of answering which is not probably true.

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  • That Is exactly what Jay is indicating with the present progressive: as I write this I am not agreeing with Hitler. Here, 'Hitler' stands for both Hitler himself and the ideas, policies, etc expressed by Hitler. The present can rarely mean at this exact moment because by the time you say even that, the present is now in the past.
    – green_ideas
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 21:49

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If you say:

I do not agree with Hitler

You are saying generally, that in terms of your politics and opinions you and Hitler do not see eye to eye

If you say:

I am not agreeing with Hitler when describing his opinion

You are indicating, specifically, that in the process of describing his opinions about the Jews, you are not agreeing with said views, only describing them, and since the author presumably follows by describing those opinions, it is the appropriate time to provide that qualificaiton.

I do not agree with Hitler when describing his opinion

When to use "am not" and "do not" in a sentence

Has a good explanation of the difference

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