The excuse given by suckless people is that torchlit marches are a common fixture in non-fascist German culture (I don't know if this is true or not).
Everyone you disagree with on the Internet is not, in fact, necessarily a Nazi.
That’s news to me? I thought I was correcting a mischaracterization of one event rather than a different event.
> Furthermore, "Cultural Marxism" has been a political term of art on the mainstream American right for decades. Glenn Beck (remember him? I do my best to forget) was using it on TV over a decade ago.
I don’t know what you think your point is, but the notion that Glenn Beck as a mainstream political commentator is a baseline is horrifying. He might not have realized he was promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, but he’s openly acknowledged he was promoting unfounded conspiracy theories. It’s entirely possible he wasn’t aware of which dogs he was whistling. And with that said…
> Everyone you disagree with on the Internet is not, in fact, necessarily a Nazi.
I quite recognize that. I don’t think you’re a nazi for instance, but I do hope you’ll recognize how the actual nazis organize with plausibly deniable innuendo and inevitable defense by people who aren’t willing to jump to the conclusions they know their compatriots will. But if you think people signaling their intent with obvious reference to historical and contemporary fascist movements isn’t indicative, well. Fortunately for you, they’re probably not targeting you, yet. Unfortunately for everyone else, their barely disguised tactics are obviously effective.
One more point.
> Everyone you disagree with on the Internet is not, in fact, necessarily a Nazi.
I confront nazis in the street. Not the internet. I’ve seen them do horrible things with no consequence and often with support of the state. I am not adept at or interested in confronting nazis on the internet. But I am very interested in confronting where their internet tactics show any signs of mainstreaming where I also interact.
Most people I've met who say things like this are actually the violent, authoritarian, illiberal threat to democracy they claim to oppose. They tend to lie a lot, too. Your utter refusal to admit the mistake or intentional falsehood of your first comment informs me as to your motives and intentions.
I stand by the point that nazis and other fascists use this sort of thing to signal their beliefs to each other and to muddy the water about their meaning and intent in so doing. And after another look I still believe that’s what it was, and that it should be called out.
As far as “violent, authoritarian, illiberal threat to democracy”, I can’t claim to ever have ‘punched a nazi’ or any such thing, although I hardly consider that action illiberal or any threat to meaningful democracy. I was referring to going to places where they gather and unequivocally vocally opposing them. My point was that I don’t need to conjure imagined nazis on the internet, they’re pretty visible in public meatspace.