i’m loving all this violent response to nazis stuff that’s going around but i also want to say like be careful out there because not all nazis are fucking clowns like richard spencer. most of em carry weapons and will not hesitate to cut your ass up and leave you dying in a dumpster. if you don’t know how to fight, don’t take one on without backup. and even if you do know how to fight, watch yourself. i don’t want to see any of you getting killed
"If you have a problem with punching Nazis, I’m here to collect your copies of Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Hamilton, X-Men, and Firefly. Someone else will be by later for Star Wars, LOTR, Captain America/Marvel, etc. I don’t make the rules; you’re the one who thinks it’s wrong to resist oppression by violent means."
I haven’t quite thought this out enough to have my thoughts totally clear, but I usually clarify my thoughts by writing them down, so I’m gonna try it anyway. For context I am writing as an ethnically Jewish white person.
I have seen some Discourse where person A says something like “We can’t dehumanize the people we’re fighting,” and then Person B goes “Yeah, this was why we shouldn’t have punched that Nazi!” and then Person C goes “Uh, we have to punch Nazis,” and then Person D says “Nazis aren’t people!” and then the whole Discourse Cycle starts up again.
The problem, I think, is that we are taking “don’t dehumanize” as code for “be nice to?” And that’s not what it is. “Don’t dehumanize” means understanding there is not a profound difference between yourself and a person who believes something repugnant. Otherwise, it becomes too tempting to think that a repugnant belief is some kind of monstrous mental defect that we get to just magically Not Have, because we – after all – are people, and Nazis are Not People.
If we believe that we are immune to repugnant beliefs, we become incredibly vulnerable to them. Sorry if I’m being redundant here, but I really want to spell this out: If we think that Nazis aren’t people, we open a door that is going to kill our ability to be useful, effective, intersectional activists. We will absolutely become complacent. Beliefs will creep up slowly in our brains, because that’s what brains do, they gather information and make just whatever crap soup out of it, and we – if we sense the development of these ideas at all – will go “Well, this must NOT be a repugnant belief, because only Not-People have repugnant beliefs, and I am a Person!”
And again, that’s not synonymous with saying that “If you want to punch Nazis in the face YOU’RE JUST AS BAD AS THEM!!!!” That’s crazy and garbage. It’s also not synonymous with “We have to tolerate Nazi beliefs!” I am trying to make a pretty straightforward statement that Nazis are people. They are people, and we have to look that fact dead on, and then we have to punch those people in the face, hard and often.
“They are people, and we have to look that fact dead on, and then we have to punch those people in the face, hard and often.”
Anonymous asked: Honestly? We should all start saying "hey don't tell anyone the person who punched Rick Spencer was me, alright? y'all some good people" because every single person claiming they were is going to be funny
Anonymous asked: Honestly more people should start saying "hey don't tell anyone the person who punched Rick Spencer was me, alright? y'all some good people" to confuse nazis who are hunting for the guy, really cliche "I'm the guy who punched the nazi" stuff but hey its funny
I will point out though that you are not a bad anti-nazi if you’re not able to physically punch nazis. That carries a ton of risks, not only physical but legal/financial, and is best left to, uh, trained experts. You’ll find your own way to bash the fash, and comrade Jeb! will be proud of you the whole way
Document and then destroy their posters, stickers, and graffiti.
Educate yourself about the nature and tactics of fascism. Learn to identify them and when you find one, tell everyone what you see.
Learn from and listen to the communities they target.
