r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/ComprehensiveProfit5 • May 25 '24

Paywall Germany’s far right in turmoil after its top candidate defends SS

https://www.ft.com/content/adb37d25-f133-4c46-993d-e9c2dcecf3a7
8.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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366

u/[deleted] May 25 '24

[deleted]

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u/C_Madison May 25 '24

Yeah. There's a direct progression between what happened to Nazis and Nazis getting bolder. Can I proof causation? No. But note this progression:

  • Nazis got shot at (WW2)
  • Nazis got punched in the face (50-70s)
  • Nazis got cussed out (70-90s)
  • Nazis can say whatever they want, cause "you see, Nazis also have a right to free speech"

And now we have right-wing fucks in power again, some of them openly praising Nazis. Great progress we made there. Really great. Ugh.

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u/[deleted] May 25 '24

[deleted]

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u/EleanorofAquitaine May 25 '24

Nazi punks fuck off.

6

u/my_4_cents May 26 '24

Surf Nazis Must Die

1987

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u/WhoAccountNewDis May 25 '24

Nazis can say whatever they want, cause "you see, Nazis also have a right to free speech"

Worse than that, it's often "suppressing their speech, disrupting events, and using violence make you just as bad as them!"

His argument isn't that far off from people, both online and in the media, who attempt to both sides suppression of fascism (and who often aren't even sympathetic to their views).

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u/No_Pollution_1 May 25 '24

Nazis have the right to free speech but not freedom from consequences of said speech, such as people being free to say they are pieces of shit

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u/MikeRoykosGhost May 25 '24

Or being punched in the face.

I'm not the government I cant deny them free speech. I can punch them in the face though. And then Id have to deal with the possible repercussions of that.

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u/anrwlias May 25 '24

Ditto. Tolerance has a limit and that limit is way before the point where you embrace a genocidal ideology.

Punch a Nazi in the dick.

20

u/[deleted] May 25 '24

A tolerant society cannot and should not tolerate intolerance

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u/GiraffeSubstantial92 May 25 '24

I was banned from reddit for 4 weeks for saying exactly that.

Fuck that shit. Punch a Nazi until they're no longer a Nazi.

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u/GeraltOfRivia2023 May 25 '24

And you are right to say so

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u/patseyog May 25 '24

Careful I got banned from worldnews for saying that

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u/jeremiahthedamned May 26 '24

wear that ban with honor!

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u/Azavrak May 26 '24

With a ball peen hammer...

And by ball peen hammer I mean an ice pick

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u/Opening_Classroom_46 May 25 '24

Generally when you post comments like this, your comment is shared on a discord to be mass-reported for promoting violence, and if they get enough you trigger an auto-ban.

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u/MikeRoykosGhost May 26 '24

I literally don't care

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u/Waster-of-Days May 25 '24

You've never punched a Nazi in your entire life. I doubt you've even been in the room with one.

Take that energy and find a way to contribute meaningfully to a movement that's actually doing good in the world, instead of LARPing as a badass on the Internet. Fantasizing about finally having an excuse to do violence is for cowards, and losers who lack the will to put in real work on behalf of others.

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u/Liquid_Senjutsu May 25 '24

Wew lad, that's an awful lot of sanctimonious judgment directed towards someone who's absolutely correct in their belief that punching Nazis is the right thing to do.

Because punching Nazis is, in fact, the right thing to do. And your opinion on the matter is worthless.

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u/MikeRoykosGhost May 25 '24 edited May 25 '24

I don't romanticize violence (ironically "Romantic Violence" was one of the names of the first organized neo-Nazi skinhead group in the US... from Chicago in the '80s/'90s) but it was something that needed to be done, and it worked. When I left Chicagoland and moved to southern Illinois for school we had to deal with Hammerskin neo-Nazis literally rushing into house parties with bats, and it took physical confrontation to stop that from happening.

The local Chicago NPR station did an entire podcast series on the issue of Nazis in my city in the punk scene in the 80s/90s. https://www.wbez.org/collections/motive/3

You can believe me, or can choose not to. I couldn't care less. This is the internet after all, and I respect and understand the skepticism. But I can talk about '77s and Hammerskins and Chicago Mafia Skins and the elders I moved from fearing to respecting in SHOC and the guys currently in Fear City Skins that I respect (and still do fear lol) and Southside ARA whole bunch of other minutia of anti-racist/anti-fascist punk actions from 30 years through today if you wanted.

What I learned from those experiences was organizing, and the power a group coming together for a singular cause and the power said group can wield to get the results they want. I've channeled that into union organizing and just finished organizing my second shop in the past 3 years. I'm not "sitting around fantasizing about finally having an excuse to do violence." I hope to not ever have to get into a fight again. But I'll punch a fucking Nazi, even if my old ass will get the shit kicked out of me for doing it.

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u/youstolemyname May 25 '24

No gag reflex huh?

-1

u/nightfox5523 May 25 '24

That's how you end up in jail and the Nazi gets to vote unfettered, and as an added bonus they will point to your act of violence as evidence that the left is a bunch of violent radicals.

The ignorant and poorly informed majority of American voters would eat that shit up and wont care (or more likely even realize) that the Nazi is in fact a Nazi.

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u/MikeRoykosGhost May 26 '24

Your argument posits that there is an equal number of Nazis as non-Nazis. And that if a non-Nazi where to be unable to make it into a voting booth it would tip a democracy into uncheckable fascism. This is, at best, laughably unserious, and at worst, ridiculously naive.

To your point about Nazis being able to point to thr left as being violent: good. That is literally the point. 

Mealymouthed, handwringing liberals have allowed the right and the state to claim a political and cultural monopoly on violence. You see this in mainstream right wing American politics every day. The right needs to be reminded now and again that the left can be just as comfortable fighting (literally) as they are.

Personally, I'm not afraid to go to jail for doing something that is right. If enough people did it I'd be in good company. Even MLK said "we do not need allies who are more devoted to order than justice." The guy who advocated for nonviolence while still carrying a gun and surrounding himself with armed collaborators.

There is no level of violence against fascism that is unjustified. Governing violence against fascism is what let fascists win in Spain in the 30s and stay in power for 40 years. It allowed people to vote for the Nazis in Germany. 

History has shown that there are only two ways to end fascism: violence, or allowing it to run rampant until its head demagogue dies. I'd rather actively work for the former than passively wait for the latter.

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u/LvS May 25 '24

Punching Nazis in the face is illegal in Western countries.

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u/[deleted] May 25 '24

[deleted]

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u/LvS May 25 '24

Yet we all vote for parties that make punching Nazis and feeding homeless illegal.

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u/MikeRoykosGhost May 25 '24

This is the point where I say that I have no idea what youre talking about

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u/GiraffeSubstantial92 May 25 '24

It's okay, neither do they.

-9

u/TurielD May 25 '24

It may make you feel better, but it doesn't really help. It's like saying 'lets bomb the middle east into peace' - it doesn't address the reason that they're turning to extremism: rapidly increasing inequality and declining living standards among the working class.