You Don’t Have to Qualify Your Condemnation of Nazis [OPINION]
There are some people out there having a really, really hard time not sounding like Nazi sympathizers. Yes, this is an article from 2017.
Thie tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia have caused some cracks in the foundation of American society so deep that they're starting to expose problems that many were unaware still existed. Take for example Nazism. Yeah, many of us knew it was still a thing, but not something that people would have trouble denouncing, right? Wrong.
The KKK, Nazis, and other white supremacy groups have been widely, but not completely, condemned in the wake of the horrific incident. Almost everyone is putting their feelings about this most unfortunate situation out there, and there are some completely disgusting responses coming back. I don't want to get into too much of that, as I have a hard enough time reading responses like "that's what happens when you protest without a permit" and other equally horrifying remarks, let alone repeating them.
The craziest thing about this whole ordeal is that there are responses like that. We're seriously at a point where people are defending Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists... in 2017... in public forums. As horrible and depressing as that is, that's not the point of this article. Nothing I can say will change the hearts and minds of those lost souls.
This article is about the people who are against those disgusting hate groups (at least I think/hope they are), but are having a hard time explaining that in a way that seems authentic. There's a lot of deflecting coming from this crowd. People who are saying stuff like, "Well, the Democrats started the KKK" or "Soros paid those people to cause problems." Cool story, bro, but this isn't a team sport. No matter what side of the political aisle you fall on -- you should be able to say unequivocally that you do not support Nazis or white supremacists. Period... but that's not what's happening.
What's happening is that some people are having a hard time saying they don't support those groups without lumping in a bunch of other parties, like Black Lives Matter. Again, cool story, bro, but we're not talking about them right now. We're talking about these Nazis and white supremacists. Why are you changing the subject? Can you not just say that you don't support them without lumping in a black group too? Maybe you should do some soul searching and ask yourself why that is.
Groups that fight for equality are not the same as those who fight for supremacy. Granted, every group has bad apples -- that's an inescapable fact of life. However, when your group is predicated on the fact that you choose to be a bad apple and do bad apple stuff with all your bad apple friends in a way that is harmful to all the non-bad apples, that's called a hate group, ladies and gentlemen.
Editor's note: In case that was unclear, the bad apple groups in that scenario are white supremacists and Nazis, not Black Lives Matter.
Honestly, I don't even like talking about this stuff. Am I an expert on racial relations, white supremacists, the KKK, Nazis, and Neo-Nazis? Hell no. I'd rather not mention them at all, but this is where we are in 2017. Hell, last night Jimmy Fallon even made a sincere and heartfelt statement about what's going on, and how disgusted he is by it. See below:
Some of the responses to this video were horrifying. People saying they'd never watch again and much worse than that, unfortunately. Why, because the guy is disgusted by gross displays of racial hatred? If that upsets you, maybe you're not that opposed to these hate groups. Maybe you're one of them.
No one should be upset about someone condemning Nazis and white supremacy groups. No one should have to qualify their condemnation of them by lumping in other groups that don't stand for this kind of hatred and bigotry. These groups drew a hard line in the sand a long time ago. We know what they stand for, and that what they stand for is wrong. If you can't just say "I condemn Nazis and white supremacy groups" out loud without qualifiers, or let others say that without chipping in some kind of combative response or excuse -- well, that says more about you than you know.