1/12 First the Proud Boys appropriate the classic yellow-black Fred Perry polo, then this other guy covered in Nordic Pagan tattoos becomes the poster boy of the despicable riot storming the Capitol in DC. As a pagan antifascist skinhead, both of these things make my blood boil. 
2/12 Neither real skinhead culture nor real Nordic paganism has anything to do with white supremacy, though both have a long history of having their symbols appropriated by Nazi assholes, thus smearing the image of these whole cultures in the eyes of the often uninformed masses.
3/12 Skinhead culture was born when white working class kids embraced the music of black Jamaican immigrants in Britain, and the core values of Nordic paganism are far more noble than any kind of far-right ideology of pure, ignorant hate and white entitlement.
4/12 Since its inception, the far right has been always stealing, scavenging, appropriating and adopting its symbols and style elements from other cultures, simply because they have always been too dumb and stupid to ever come up with something of their own.
5/12 Obviously both skinhead and pagan/viking culture is appealing to the far right because of their rugged, masculine feel and the ideals of bravery, brotherhood and boldness, misinterpreted by them as a legitimation of sexism, racism, violence and hatred.
6/12 But these symbols, these outlooks are not theirs and the cultures they represent are, in their true nature, just the complete opposite of what these lunatic assholes want and believe them to be. And these symbols can and should be reclaimed.
7/12 Of course the same spectacular hypermasculinity is what makes both the skinhead & viking/pagan aesthetics appealing for a lot of us in the gay BDSM community, a subculture born out of the need to carve out new, empowered gay male identities in the wake of the AIDS epidemic.
8/12 But if we want to be decent human beings AND kinksters at the same time, it's also our responsibility to reach for the best in skinhead and/or viking/pagan cultures and not for the worst, should we decide to adopt them and their symbols in our style.
9/12 After all, despite of our hypermasculine looks we are still gay men, so usually we have better access to our emotions and a better understanding of the oppression of marginalized groups (due to our own experience) than most straight white cis guys.
10/12 So actually we are uniquely equipped to carve out, foster and promote other, more compassionate and positive masculinities while still being skinheads and pagans and maintaining the bravery, brotherhood and boldness of these subcultures.
11/12 Therefore, instead of abandoning these symbols just because a bunch of Nazi assholes like to use them, let's keep wearing them proud and let's educate anyone in a respectful way who might think that the far right has monopoly over these styles.
12/12 But most importantly, let's not just wear them because they're cool and sexy and masculine, but let's also be faithful to the core, original values of these subcultures not just in thoughts but in actions as well and BRING DOWN THE NAZIS TOGETHER! 🔥😎✊🔥
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