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Comment by michannne | Hacker News Reader

This comment highlights how ridiculously politicized HN has become. Just an hour ago this post was downvoted, and somehow has been upvoted despite not adding anything to the discussion

>You know what's even more toxic? Literal Nazis and fascists, the ranks of which have been, if not growing, then clearly emboldened.

What does the word literal even mean at this point? What is fascism to you? What is Nazism to you?

>This group "feels oppressed" because they are not able to exert their will to oppress others.

How is this sentence even appearing on a thread about an app getting removed because they refused to force more stringent moderation onto their users?

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There actually were literal Nazis there though...

> An image of Packer inside the Capitol, whose sweatshirt bore the name of the Nazi concentration camp where about 1.1 million people were killed during World War II, has evoked shock and disbelief on social media. The bottom of his shirt stated, "Work brings freedom," which is the rough translation of the phrase "Arbeit macht frei" that was on the concentration camp's gates.[1]

Apparently the back read "Staff"[2]. While maybe not "literal" Nazis themselves, the people there seem perfectly happy to associate with and receive the support of literal Nazis.

[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/man-camp-auschwi...

[2] https://twitter.com/MrTAchilles/status/1346996921282531328

Not to mention, in recent years there's been a rise in adoption of Nazi symbology: 88, Nazi salute, swastikas obviously, plus co-opting of Norse runes and symbols they perceive as associated with the Aryan race.

But it's not just Nazis that are the problem. They're clearly in the minority. There's growing interest in garden variety fascism. Some of the hallmarks of that are nationalism, militarism, submission to authority, anti-intellectualism, fomenting fear of "the other" and outsiders. Umberto Eco has a list [1] that encapsulates and explains these. And, I'm sorry, but a lot of these describe the trajectory of the current Republican Party, especially under Trump's rule. (note: I think the GOP has largely abandoned what we would call "conservatism". Even though many of those left in the party might self-identify as conservative, they have veered into fascist ideology, they just won't admit it)

[1] https://www.openculture.com/2016/11/umberto-eco-makes-a-list...

What are we supposed to make of people carrying the Confederate flag, as well? The Confederate States of America fought a civil war to preserve the enslavement of Black people (as specifically mentioned in most of the state constitutions of the CSA states)- what message are they trying to send by bringing that flag to the capitol building?

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