GitHub employee fired for saying ‘Nazi’ declines to take his job back | Hacker News Reader

GitHub employee fired for saying ‘Nazi’ declines to take his job back

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21 pointskumarharsh11 comments

I've been guilty of using this term somewhat frequently and have always wondered if it would actually get someone in trouble…now I know.

Put a little more carefully: somebody at a job used the term nazi in a situation where there were people doing things very close to what the nazis did, meant it in good faith about people being safe. A coworker reported them to HR, it went to the head of HR who fired the nazi-invoking individual. After an investigation, the HR head was fired and the individual wisely declined the employer's offer to return.

This not a typical outcome.

Imagine going to Germany and warning that “neo confederates” were planning on storming the capital.

People actually think there is a nazi movement here in the united states. It’s one of the Big lies in our culture and media now. Sad.

There is an actual, dedicated Nazi movement in the US. I don't know how many people there actually are involved in it, but it's dozens. Some of them are True Believers and crazy as saints, and some are just hucksters looking for a quick buck.

IMO, they're neither effective, nor dangerous; the honest advocates of white supremacy and Nazi national socialism just show how flawed those ideas were and still are.

The business of "monitoring nazis online" and fundraising on that effort, I strongly suspect, outweighs the actual Nazis by a factor of 10:1 or so.

I agree with most of that except the dangerous part. I know of some neo-nazi's that harm people physically and their community support it. They are in a rural part of Ohio. I am not part of their circle. I am not going to repeat here some of the things they do but I will say that it would not be allowed on sites like 4chan.

Granted; however are they especially dangerous because they are neo-nazis, or because they are petty criminals? I'm far more concerned about the people that employ tactical lawsuits than those that discuss "tactical gear".

These guys are extremely violent outlaws and lawsuits are not a part of their world. Being a neonazi is part of what reinforces their beliefs but their behavior is inherited from their parents and grandparents. But I agree with you, tactical lawsuits are bad too.

> IMO, they're neither effective, nor dangerous;

Are you disputing that 5 people died in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, or that it was caused by the far right? This is a clear example of "dangerous", is it not?

These were the people that the GitHub employee was referring to as "Nazis", although not 100% literally: I'm sure that not all of them were actual Nazis, many were likely only Nazi sympathisers or other violent authoritarian fellow-travellers.

Four died of health problems, one was killed by the police, and one police officer was killed by the crowd. It’s only fair to say they killed one IMO.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/08/capitol-atta...

At least 25 people were killed during the “peaceful” BLM protests this year. The article implies that 11 is a more accurate number.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/31/americans-kill...

Both of these numbers are minuscule, on the order of people killed by vending machines and bath tubs. So they are dangerous in the sense that bathtubs are dangerous.

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/dec/07/things-l...

> these numbers are minuscule, on the order of people killed by vending machines and bath tubs. So they are dangerous in the sense that bathtubs are dangerous

Comparing the numbers equates the degree of the danger, not the kind. They are dangerous in a very different sense, that of intent: Bathtubs do not chant slogans calling for anyone's death, while carrying out an armed attack.

> Imagine going to Germany and warning that “neo confederates”

So ... you're saying that there's no link, no one in 1940s Germany who could be described as a ""neo confederate" at the time?

FYI: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/how-american-r...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/11/what-am...

https://www.history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-...

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172422/hi...

https://time.com/4703586/nazis-america-race-law/

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