A Different Way To Deal with the World’s Scummiest People
Here’s my first-ever attempt at a meme. Now, it’s not lost on me that good memes don’t need explanations, but I have to set the context for this. It’s a conversation with a friend in which I advocate ignoring the Nazis, or better, laughing them out of town, with words like: Guys, we’re kind of glad you’re here. We think you’re hilarious. Just look at those magnificent torches! Hey, let’s make a bad movie about hateful idiots.
If I had been in Charlottesville, I like to think I would have gone up on a rooftop with a glass of beer in one hand and a bullhorn in the other, perfectly poised to delivery one of my favorite lines in filmdom (from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) “Hey. Dude. Yes, you. I fart in your general direction.”
Craig,
I’ve always thought modern neo-Nazis an odd lot. The resemblance between themselves and the original National Socialists is very tenuous.
The original Nazi’s were mostly ex-Servicemen who would not have taken kindly to an ill-disciplined, tattooed, drug fueled rabble. In fact it’s safe to say that the former art student of Linz would have considered this lot as ‘decadent’ and in need of a good stretch in the nearest KZ.
They also prevent any prospect of a sensible debate concerning the removal of Robert E Lee’s statue.
It’s not a simple issue. Robert E Lee remains an important part of US history. A fact modern politically correct, revisionist historians can’t, and shouldn’t try to erase.
The issue of Slavery wasn’t the original, or the most important cause of the Civil War. (although it because the popular cause).
Nor was Robert E Lee considered evil or reprehensible before or after the war. Although a symbol of the southern cause,he would have considered himself a Soldier of Virginia.
More importantly, he’s a symbol of post war reconciliation. What value is political correctness and historical revisionism, if it stirs up old hatreds ?
Yes, the race hatred of White Supremacists is ugly and idiotic, but so too is the motivation of those who wish to inflict only their version of history on everyone else, knowing it will inflame old wounds and long forgotten hatreds.
In their own perverse way, virulent anti-racists can become intolerant racist fanatics.
Martin Luther King Jnr did not fight and sacrifice his life for supremacy, but reconciliation, tolerance, respect and love.
For over 140 years a statue of Oliver Cromwell stands outside the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Cromwell remains a detested figure by most of the population, yet he deserves his place because for all his faults he is an essential part of the nation’s, and parliamentary history.
History can’t be re-written to suit the sensibilities and fashion of later times.
It’s part of the reconciliation process to remember and respect those who fought sincerely and honourably, for a losing cause.