this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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The title's a bit disingenuous, I know: this didn't come out of nowhere. White supremacism is as American as Manifest Destiny and has been heavily intertwined with Nazism from its inception. That overlap with the Republican party, and their gradual slip into the extreme far-right, is evident.

But Seig Heils? Even the most dense among them must know that blatant Nazism hurts their legitimacy in the eyes of the public, even among MAGATs (as is evident right now if you peek at their echo chamber on Reddit). Surely they would have a much easier time pushing their rhetoric and establishing their agenda by keeping a purposeful distance from that sort of indefensible imagery and symbolism. How do they expect to keep cohesion in the military when you imply to the soldiers that they are Nazis now, seig heils and all.

Why Nazis?

Any theories as to where this is coming from? Follow the ketamine-fueled leader? A directive for operative Krasnov, from Putin himself, to implode the country? True Nazi beliefs among the Heritage Foundation, Proud Boys, etc? I just don't understand how they thought this would fly. I don't understand anything anymore lol.

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[–] peereboominc@lemm.ee 37 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

My theory is that they try to push the line on what is acceptable. For example, if you want something say you want 11 but what is acceptable is between 1 and 10. Then an 11 is not possible. But if you normalize 15 and keep pushing that, then 11 doesn't seem so unreasonable after a while.

I see this being done constantly. Say that your plan is to do something extreme (take Canada), everyone panics and then get what you actually wanted. If nobody reacts, do the extreme thing.

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[–] wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Someone that bought his place at the white house did it and didn't get shot by a flamethrower, so all the Nazis hiding literally just below the surface feel ok to talk a little louder now.

Honestly, with sufficient evidence it should be legal to kill them in public and receive any inheritance from their wills. I don't typically enjoy personally hunting people down typically, but these aren't people.

One comment blatantly in favor of it Goodies any human rights in my opinion. It's the only way. They may say it too (vermin, poisoning the blood, etc) but they've only ever been right about themselves.

I would give a pedo human rights before them. And that's saying something.

They're just rabid animals, and I defy anyone to give a reason they deserve a single second of life at all, for any reason, in any context. Maybe with the one exception of using them to find gatherings of others. But that's it.

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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 65 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

What you're seeing is the end of Truth.

Especially in the face of AI generated photos, we're dealing with a future where the youth can easily be misled about what actually happened in the past, or even in the current moment. There is very much an upswing of young people questioning established narratives of the past, often under the guise of "well you weren't there, how do you know for sure?"

Reality is perception, and they are busy managing reality to deny any perception of Nazi behavior.

It's why Musk especially lies so fluidly and easily in the face of hard evidence.

It's all perception management, and as long as they keep talking and keep repeating the same lies, a significant number of people will believe them.

Musk still claims it wasn't a Nazi salute, and a significant number of people believe him. It's kind of like Trump's statement that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue and not lose any support. It's all attack, never back down, never admit fault.

EDIT: It's also Bannon's "flood the zone with shit" strategy at work, too. We've been in an Attention Economy for a long time now (at least since 2007 when the iPhone put a screen in everyone's pocket), and they know people's attention is limited, so they work to force themselves into people's limited time and attention spans. If your message is the only one they have time to hear, they'll probably be more likely to consider yours true. This, for example, is why Musk forced himself into everyone's Twitter feeds, he's force feeding himself the limited attention of millions.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

So how do we combat a DDOS on truth.

Clearly the previous orders of “truth” were not perfect either, and it’s discontent at the elite and coverups which Musk and Trump and other neofacist populists have manipulated to fuel their attacks on the establishment’s regime of truth. Ironically they are replacing something bad with something far worse.

How can leftists take the discontent with the current elite’s regime of truth and use it for the better ie. recruitment?

Regime of Truth DefinitionRegimes of truth is a term coined by philosopher Michel Foucault, referring to a discourse that holds certain things to be "truths". Foucault sought to explore how knowledge and truth were produced by power structures of society.[

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regimes_of_truth

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Astroturfing and boosting on Twitter and other platforms.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 50 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Nazis didn't come around all of a sudden, either. People have always, on the whole, been horrible. What changes is what is culturally acceptable to talk about.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 45 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I knew this was coming after 9/11/2001. That was my first brush with how absolutely vile, ignorant, and racist most US citizens could be.

I used to always say eventually they would bring the tools of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars home and use against their own citizens and god damn it, it sucks to be right.

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Funny you mention 9/11, because with the 2024 election, osama bin laden can finally rest, because his task is complete.

[–] datendefekt@feddit.org 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Godamnit! At that time, we were visiting family stateside. It was like the window let in a chill, like a rug pulled out from under you, it was tangible that something in the very fabric of the USA had changed.

I remember telling my grandpa, who fled soviet Bulgaria in WWII, that if this goes on, they can make anyone their enemy. 9/11 turned the hate siphon on full blast, and I was certain they would turn on their own.

So happy he didn't live to see what the Republicans became.

[–] Skunk@jlai.lu 6 points 1 day ago

*god damn it, it sucks to be right.*

I’m starting to feel the same way. When I was a teenager (more than 20 years ago) I wrote a short science fiction story. Being awesome with titles I simply named it "USA is the new nazi".

Well, fuck.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Yep, we have demonstrated that it's ok by not doing anything. So now they're all proud to show the world who they are. And until they start getting their shit rocked, that's going to continue.

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[–] aarRJaay@lemm.ee 33 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Non-American here. My brother and dad STILL cling the the narrative of "He's autistic, he was excited." and nothing will disusde them from that.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 31 points 1 day ago

What about steve bannons salute? He's neither autistic or excited?

[–] towelie@lemm.ee 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Same with my partner's American family. They dont believe a word about what's happening. And if we can't turn the domestic terrorists in our homes back to reality what chance do we stand turning back the country.

[–] falcunculus@jlai.lu 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I wonder the same, my theory is that this gesture is used both as a loyalty test and a way to further polarize society.

Making this gesture draws clear lines in society: those who say it was fine, those who say it wasn't, those who don't take a stance (ie the media calling it a "controversial gesture" or similar). So Musk & al now have a clearer idea of who stand where. It also cleaves those "for" and those "against" further away, solidifying their base.

Another explanation is this is part of the normalization of extreme rethoric and symbols. I doubt he could have gotten away with it ten years ago; who knows what they'll be able to do and say in 2035?

Yet another possibility, he did it on a whim and the neo-nazis like Bannon are now seizing the opportunity. It's unclear how planned this was and how intentional the consequences were.

(And all might be true at once)

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 30 points 1 day ago

They wrote a nazi manifesto, it got reported on widely, they barely denied it and they won anyway.

Nothing that is happening on their end is the slightest bit unexpected, so I'm just isolating myself from America and Americans as much as I can until I don't get a choice. However, when I see things like this post by accident I do feel a remarkable urge to grab anybody who expresses disappointment or surprise and shake them by the lapels until they pass out.

[–] 7rokhym@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Just a lack of Nazi hunters.

[–] Zier@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Where is Wonder Woman when you need her?

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Turns out she’s a Nazi too. :(

[–] Zier@fedia.io 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I was referencing the Wonder Woman of the 70's TV series (Lynda Carter) who was always fighting against nazis.

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[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

It's always been there. Just now that people in power are the Nazis ppl can come out

But Seig Heils? Even the most dense among them must know that blatant Nazism hurts their legitimacy in the eyes of the public, even among MAGATs

"hE wAs jUSt joKING 😡😡😡" -every magat ever

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

we're in the end stages of a campaign by assholes to overthrow our deomocracy.

It's been getting waged for decades. they've been doing this shit for years, behind closed doors and they now feel comfortable with being nazis in public.

[–] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago

When the Hail Hydra comes out a little too early so they call it a speech impediment.

[–] Deestan@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

They want people to feel like rebels with a cause.

This is a good symbol to make a lot of people your enemies. Your ingroup can now rally against "the establishment".

It couldn't work before, because it made too many enemies for your small ingroup, but we've reached a tipping point where it is feasible to keep a thing going for a while.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 13 points 1 day ago

People become less hospitable in economic downturns, remember the original Nazis exploited that in the Versailles hit Weimar.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 day ago

It wasn't sudden, this shit's been muddying the waters for a decade and the precursors were seeping in for another decade or more before that.

[–] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 day ago

They feel safe, that's why they salute now.

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