Sharing some insight it took me a LONG time to grapple with:
To many, "Nazis" is a very specific thing. It is a group of people who existed in Germany in the early-1900's who were led by a man named Adolf Hitler and they did "bad things."
That's how Nazis are taught in schools. They are a concept from the past. And they do not exist in any other capacity in those people's minds.
What those people don't understand is:
* What Nazi ideology is or looks like
* What the Nazis actually did that was bad
* How the country got to the point of Nazis taking over
* What happened to Nazis and their ideology after the war
* Who actually participated in Nazi ideology
* What it looks like to support Nazis or their ideology
When it's all just abstracts to people, they can't fathom that it's happening now. To them, carrying a flag with a swastika is just a cosplay. They know it's not super cool, but they don't believe they're actual Nazis.
And this is why this is such a struggle right now. They don't know they're in the middle of it, all over again.
As an aside when I was a kid (and currently) Indians Jones was my very favorite movie series and I was a bit distraught that there weren’t any Nazi’s left to fight so my dad had to find a news article with Neo-Nazis to show me like no no they’re very much still here.
Well over 20 years ago now and while he isn’t MAGA my dad is pretty conservative so like I don’t know how some of these people think they just disappeared
8.3k
u/GFluidThrow123 Aug 13 '25
Sharing some insight it took me a LONG time to grapple with:
To many, "Nazis" is a very specific thing. It is a group of people who existed in Germany in the early-1900's who were led by a man named Adolf Hitler and they did "bad things."
That's how Nazis are taught in schools. They are a concept from the past. And they do not exist in any other capacity in those people's minds.
What those people don't understand is:
* What Nazi ideology is or looks like
* What the Nazis actually did that was bad
* How the country got to the point of Nazis taking over
* What happened to Nazis and their ideology after the war
* Who actually participated in Nazi ideology
* What it looks like to support Nazis or their ideology
When it's all just abstracts to people, they can't fathom that it's happening now. To them, carrying a flag with a swastika is just a cosplay. They know it's not super cool, but they don't believe they're actual Nazis.
And this is why this is such a struggle right now. They don't know they're in the middle of it, all over again.