A Chart to Help Those on the Fence About Punching Nazis

I love it when Nazis whimper about their freedom of speech, but then openly admit freedom of speech is the first to go when they seize power.

You mean like trying to discredit the press by calling them "fake news"?

Normally I would agree with your first paragraph. Under almost any other circumstances.

But we're talking about Nazis. We have clear, unambiguous, undeniable historical records of what happens when Nazis go unopposed. When their filth is not immediately scoured out of existence. So to be clear, there is never a time when it's not okay to punch a Nazi.

What about the father of the American space program?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Robert Goddard? Not a Nazi as far as I know.

I actually don't want to go that far. Most civilised times call for clear and loud but peaceful condemnation.

But when they're fucking marching through your streets, you punch. Moreover, in a lawful state, you would arrest them. Anyone carrying that flag is openly pledging allegiance to enemies of the United States.

Try member of the Nazi Party Wernher von Braun


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Definitely punchworthy.

von Braun, plus 8 other Nazis critical to the creation of the American space program.

http://www.businessinsider.com/nazi-scientists-space-program-2014-2

Go on, join the dots for us so that you don't accuse us all of jumping to conclusions........

I'm not suggesting that those fools marching with the giant Citronella candles in Charlottesville are future (or present) rocket scientists.

I am suggesting that before you hit a group with an all encompassing blanket condemnation that you realize that it is quite possible (and has happened) to end up joining an organization you find repulsive for reasons unrelated to any endorsement of that organization or its goals.

All things being equal Stalin killed 20 million, can we punch communists and socialists too? Because surely you wouldn't say only the Nazis were evil and the communists are a-ok?

So either we can punch them both or punch neither. I vote both, what say you ?

I think the larger lesson here is that any extreme ideology needs to be stamped out.

...or punched in the face.

Go fuck yourself, Nazi sympathizer.

Punching Nazis is fine. Killing them is bad, unless you do it by failing to point out the plane propeller behind them.

In defending the First Amendment, you completely misunderstand how it operates. The First Amendment does not protect speech that incites violence. The very nature of Nazi ideology is to incite violence against non-whites, and that is exactly what we saw on display in Charlottesville. Why should that be protected, despite decades of case law saying that it should not be protected?

The same people crying about free speech and these domestic terrorists were the same ones who wanted to see Treyvon Martin's stepfather sent to prison for yelling "Burn this bitch down" after his son's killer got off. I think it was him, or maybe it was Micheal Brown's dad. There's been so many in the last five years, I can't keep it all straight anymore.

In any event, within minutes of that, Obama was right on the news to ask that people not use violence to retaliate (but by then, it had already started). He didn't sit back for two days and come back with some mealy mouth "both sides" crap and call out Faux News as being fake. He showed some damn class and dignity befitting of his position.

That's the difference between being a President and being the winner of an election.

Even if you think someone using Nazi iconography or spouting racist drivel is inciting violence, you PERSONALLY are not rightfully empowered to punch them.

Not even in self-defense?

Look, I understand punching Nazis. Violence is the only thing Nazis understand. Reasoning with Nazis just doesn't work, as evidenced by the last eight decades of human history.

But in addition to that, I support anyone who punches a Nazi being charged and tried for their crimes. Let it come out in court whether or not they were justified in punching a Nazi.

(as a pacifist, I would not actually punch a Nazi)

Why would you suggest I sympathize with Nazis?

If you see them as a threat to yourself and others you could act in self-defence. Of course, it takes time to build and herd folk into gas chambers compared to guns or knives, so a judge might say it wasn't an immediate threat. But if you let it GET to that point, punching ain't gonna help.

And everyone that disagrees with your political views is a Nazi, right?

Even if? What else do you think they could be possibly inciting or supporting?

@Paladin hangs out with those types, so he's trying to justify himself by claiming that the iconography is not about racism or racial violence.

The iconography of the fucking swastika?

Speaking of racists...

Yeah, and the problem comes from how loosely the term is thrown around. Also, like it or not, people who actually do call themselves Nazis still have freedom of speech. "Free speech" isn't free if its only speech you agree with.

Even if you thought that (and I know you just got that from that comic and are repeating it), it is up to the authorities to deal with them, not you personally.

Really? I did? Did he end up in prison, out of curiosity?

And I still don't like either Obama or Trump.