This.
Nazis have a long, pre-internet history of using ridiculous shit to signal to each other.
They know that if it's ridiculous enough, people will laugh at the people who call those signals out.
"Lol, yeah, white shoelaces are Nazi, uh huh"
Nazis have a long, pre-internet history of using ridiculous shit to signal to each other.
They know that if it's ridiculous enough, people will laugh at the people who call those signals out.
"Lol, yeah, white shoelaces are Nazi, uh huh"
"Lol, yeah, making the ok sign is Nazi, uh huh"
"Lol, yeah, ending your email with 1488 is Nazi, uh huh"
"Lol, yeah, that frog in a clown outfit is Nazi, uh huh"
Yeah, it's ridiculous.
That's by design.
"Lol, yeah, ending your email with 1488 is Nazi, uh huh"
"Lol, yeah, that frog in a clown outfit is Nazi, uh huh"
Yeah, it's ridiculous.
That's by design.
They pick ridiculous shit betting people won't call it out, because they'll be afraid of being called ridiculous.
When you chime in to say "haha that's ridiculous" while ignoring or refusing to look at the evidence, that's enabling fascists.
When you chime in to say "haha that's ridiculous" while ignoring or refusing to look at the evidence, that's enabling fascists.
And hey, if you pull that shit as a representative of a platform with 400,000 active fans, and the other folks behind that platform are fine with it?
Your platform is enabling fascists, too.
That's how enabling works.
Your platform is enabling fascists, too.
That's how enabling works.
The CTH fans-- and host-- who come at me pretending like I'm ridiculous for saying Honkler is a Nazi dogwhistle are object lessons in how this works.
They've put more total manhours in defending and normalizing the use of that Nazi dogwhistles than the Nazis themselves.
They've put more total manhours in defending and normalizing the use of that Nazi dogwhistles than the Nazis themselves.
Why?
Because many-- maybe even most of them-- think Nazis are all Deadly Serious People with no understanding of pop culture, and can't imagine them encoding their ugly bullshit in the sheep's clothes of absurdity.
Because many-- maybe even most of them-- think Nazis are all Deadly Serious People with no understanding of pop culture, and can't imagine them encoding their ugly bullshit in the sheep's clothes of absurdity.
They can't wrap their minds around the fact that Nazis pulled one over on them and in such a ridiculous way, so they respond by doubling down on the dogwhistle and taking up the cause of Nazi dogwhistle apologism.
It's wild, and also extremely predictable.
It's wild, and also extremely predictable.
The AITA op being like "fuck you, I'm doubling down on white laces" as an angry response to finding out she's accidentally fallen into wearing a ridiculous Nazi dogwhistle is very common and very human.
"How could I know" turns into "I don't believe you" and then "I'm doing it anyway just to own you" very quickly.
And once a person is at "I'm doing it anyway just to own you," they're actively pushing away/angry at the people warning them, the people who work to counter Nazis.
And once a person is at "I'm doing it anyway just to own you," they're actively pushing away/angry at the people warning them, the people who work to counter Nazis.
And now that they're angry at the people that work to counter Nazis *and* still using/wearing Nazi signifiers, they have TWO things in common with the Nazis.
That's two things that make them much more vulnerable to a Nazi sidling up and starting a converasation.
That's two things that make them much more vulnerable to a Nazi sidling up and starting a converasation.
Because, guess what.
Nazis are ignorant, but they aren't stupid.
They're cunning enough to figure out organizing 101-- start from a place of shared identity/outrage-- and take their time getting to the "and btw, fuck the Jews" part of indoctrination.
Nazis are ignorant, but they aren't stupid.
They're cunning enough to figure out organizing 101-- start from a place of shared identity/outrage-- and take their time getting to the "and btw, fuck the Jews" part of indoctrination.
By the time they get to that part of things, they've formed a bond and a relationship with the target over how "ridiculous" it is of the PC crowd to come for their frog or their shoelaces or their presidential candidate or their edgy jokes.
By the time the target finds out that maybe the "PC crowd" was actually right about that shit being Nazis, the target has a bunch of new friends who juuuuuuuuust happen to enjoy the same edgy shit.
New friends who juuuuuuuust happen to enjoy a particular genre of edgy shit that focuses an awful lot on Black people and Jews.
Edgy shit that started as "jk" and has slowly transitioned to "jk, but also it's kinda true lol"
Edgy shit that started as "jk" and has slowly transitioned to "jk, but also it's kinda true lol"
Eventually "jk" and "lol" become more and more scarce until "lol, that Jewish person is so mad, it's duh shoah, jk" becomes "Jews are mad about made up shit, it's just like when they made up the Holocaust."
It happens very gradually.
But believe me, it happens.
I've watched.
It happens very gradually.
But believe me, it happens.
I've watched.
That's why you don't let Nazis pretend that it's silly to call out their "ridiculous" shit.
That "ridiculous" shit is the dogwhistle they use to locate recruitment targets, coded shit they use to draw new recruits in the door and isolate them from everyone else.
That "ridiculous" shit is the dogwhistle they use to locate recruitment targets, coded shit they use to draw new recruits in the door and isolate them from everyone else.
Nazis trick people into using their dogwhistles.
Getting tricked doesn't make you a Nazi.
If you find out you used their shit by accident because it seemed innocuous, the correct response is "shit, I had no idea and I'll stop. Fuck Nazis and their ridiculous dog whistles."
Getting tricked doesn't make you a Nazi.
If you find out you used their shit by accident because it seemed innocuous, the correct response is "shit, I had no idea and I'll stop. Fuck Nazis and their ridiculous dog whistles."
The moment you get defensive-- the moment you start edging into "I'm too smart to get tricked by Nazis, so there's no way this could be Nazi, so I'm going to keep doing it"-- is the moment you start enabling them, the moment you start knowingly spreading their propaganda.
Study after study has shown that people with higher IQ scores-- people who think of themselves as smart-- are *more* vulnerable to falling for conspiracies.
"Smart" people think they're too smart to get tricked, and they double down when they're warned they've been had.
"Smart" people think they're too smart to get tricked, and they double down when they're warned they've been had.
Nazi dogwhistles are tailormade to set a trap for that kind of thinking.
Their absurdity is a trap set for "smart" people, who get tricked into using those absurd dogwhistles, and whose egos demand they double down instead of admitting to having been had.
Their absurdity is a trap set for "smart" people, who get tricked into using those absurd dogwhistles, and whose egos demand they double down instead of admitting to having been had.
That's what was happening Christman and all those CTH fans becoming the Honkler Defense Task Force.
That's what's happening with people scoffing over the white laces thing.
When you think you're too smart to be had, you end up doubling down on your own fuck ups.
That's what's happening with people scoffing over the white laces thing.
When you think you're too smart to be had, you end up doubling down on your own fuck ups.
That's normal and human and common, which is exactly why Nazis set those traps in the first place.
It's why those traps work particularly well on the people who ought to know better.
Nazis are ignorant, but they aren't stupid.
It's why those traps work particularly well on the people who ought to know better.
Nazis are ignorant, but they aren't stupid.
The fact is, plenty of Nazi shit *looks* innocuous, seems too absurd to be Nazi if you think of Nazis as Very Serious And Easy-To-Spot Bond Villains.
There's a ton of it out there in the mainstream right now, and it's easy to fall for.
There's a ton of it out there in the mainstream right now, and it's easy to fall for.
Just, expect to step in dog shit sometimes.
If someone warns you that you've stepped in it, it's not some massive attack on you personally.
Just apologize for stinking up the room and go clean your shoes.
If someone warns you that you've stepped in it, it's not some massive attack on you personally.
Just apologize for stinking up the room and go clean your shoes.
The moment you start telling them they're wrong and begin stomping around leaving dog shit all over the carpet in a rage is the moment you stop being a temporary casualty and start being complicit.
Don't be complicit.
Don't track dogshit everywhere to prove to everyone just how much you definitely didn't ever step in dogshit.
It makes you the asshole and causes damage.
Don't track dogshit everywhere to prove to everyone just how much you definitely didn't ever step in dogshit.
It makes you the asshole and causes damage.
Apologize, say you didn't realize, and go wipe your shoes off in the grass.
Don't enable the Nazis.
Don't become a dogshit denialist.
Just, clean off your sneakers and go on with your life.
The end.
Don't enable the Nazis.
Don't become a dogshit denialist.
Just, clean off your sneakers and go on with your life.
The end.
