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Monday, August 14, 2017

How Nice Should We Be To Nazis?


Here is a reporter on the ground talking about what went on in Charlottesville this weekend. Notably:

  1. The Nazis came ready for battle.
  2. Antifa (and others) showed up and engaged them.
  3. There were some milita types--heavily armed (3%-ers) who were kinda trying to keep the peace.
So The Omnivore got a question: Does us "dehumanizing" our enemies (such as the Nazis, to be clear) feed into their bad behavior? Does someone fighting with a Nazi just add to the problem?


First, Let's Get Some Bullshit Off The Table

Let's be clear about a few things here--just in case anyone is dedicated to hiding behind some flimsy-but-common rhetoric.
  1. Black Lives Matter isn't a domestic terrorist organization  - Oh, a lot of people want it to be. For sure. And there is certainly some stuff to cherry pick. But the fact is that BLM is two things--a loose organization protesting police killings and a slogan that a bunch of people shot. Deftly conflating them for rhetorical points is easy if people don't do any research.
  2. Antifa / Black Bloc are assholes - There are real anarchists or angry momma's boys or whatever who are out there to smash windows and set things on fire. These people are bad--they're violent for the sake of being violent. We should condemn them.
  3. Clenched Fists Of Communism Have A Bad History Too - Modern socialists are pussycats compared to the Cold War KGB--but anyone wrapping themselves in Stalinist flags is doing a version of what the guys with Nazi flags are. Even if they're chanting "Health Care for Everyone," doing it under a banner of millions of innocents dead isn't right either.
So while there were, in fact, several "Sides" in attendance, (1) they are not all created equal. (2) A comparatively small number were Antifa. (3) The Nazis (et. al.) showed up looking for a fight and got one. Without the Nazis there would have been no fight.

If the communists hold a march, spoiling for a fight, under a Stalinist flag, you can condemn them first and foremost too. But that's not happening today (you can see Sheriff Clarke's description of the Women's March in DC as, literally, a "Woman's Riot" if you want to understand how you look talking about Communism in reference to Charlottesville).

So we're clear: The violence came to town because of, and intentionally on the part of, the Nazis. If you say "He started it" doesn't count in grade-school fights . . . you're right.

On the other hand "He started it" is a perfectly moral and legal defense for killing someone in a home invasion.

You will need to decide for yourself where Charlottesville lies. But don't worry too much: The Omnivore gonna help you out there too.

If A Nazi Comes Along, You Must Punch Him! (to the tune of 'Whip It')

The Omnivore will not condemn you for punching a Nazi. 

Where did the Nazi march fall on the scale of escalating threat of real violence to you? Huh--we just don't know, do we? The Omnivore means, it could just be some angry preppies in golf shirts, right? Nothing to be concerned about, right? Right? HOW COULD WE KNOW WHERE THIS COULD GO?
The above is Madison Square Garden, 1939.

You knew that, right? You knew that, didn't you? Okay--so, The Omnivore will credit you with knowing what happened after that. There was this big war that encompassed kinda the whole world. Maybe you heard about it in school.

So--the guys marching this weekend in Charlottesville? Couldn't happen in America? It almost did. They don't really wanna do the ovens thing? Chances are? Yes, yes they do. If they could.

They'll never amount to much if we just don't engage with them? They're in the fucking White House, son. They scored a bigger victory than those guys in the black and white photo up there ever did.

So tell The Omnivore again how you shouldn't "de-humanize" these people? Or punch them? How you should not objectify them Because they literally made soap out of their victims (at least experimentally--but still, being turned into an object is literal objectification).

One Last Thing

The point here is that once someone has sworn in with the Nazis--for real--for sure--out and proud--you can then treat them like a Nazi. If punching is across your personal line? Cool. If you are okay with Captain America punching Hitler? Be inspired. It's all good.

But what if they're only 50% Nazi? Or they're kinda-cadgily being "Alt-Right" or whatever? Well, when those people march in to my town, armed for a fight, talking hate--even if they use the Odin Symbol so as to be Nazi--but--Not Nazi Enough?

Real-Talk 1: When you come looking for a fight. Spoiling for one--and you get one--The Omnivore isn't gonna feel sympathy. That also goes for the antifa girl who was crowing about punching Nazis and found out they could punch better than she could. You bring it--okay--it's brung.

Real-Talk 2: When someone is marching for "free speech" in the service of a regime that would execute or exile various races (and certainly limit free speech) there is a moral disconnect that should make it apparent that they are trying to con you. They want a legal defense for their advocacy of violence--but they won't extend that to you when they have the chance (they want a white ethnostate). They want a legal defense of speech--but will close your mouth with a cudgel when they get the chance.

Why would you give these people the benefit of the doubt? Any benefit of the doubt? This isn't literally a home-invasion--but The Omnivore asserts that when they are marching on your street . . . it's functionally pretty damn close to one.


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