This Nazi Stuff

I had to unfriend someone on Facebook yesterday.
I have three rules about friends, as it relates to Facebook.

1. Don't get nasty with my other friends
2. Don't lie about me
3. Don't you ever fucking sympathize with Nazis

Now here's the thing. I don't think this kid realizes he's sympathizing with Nazis, but that's somewhat how Nazis began. The naive, the complicit, the cowards and the stupid, didn't want to ruffle any feathers, so they either went along or stayed quiet. A few years later, six million Jews and many millions of others were killed. This is known. This is taught in school, by our elders and it's clearly understood that while history has a habit of repeating itself, never again will we allow Nazis to be a thing, especially in the United States of America.

So it's 2017 and I have a friend, an ex-friend, because I'd likely lay him out if he stood by his posts, whose comparing some group called Antifa to Nazis. Now, I'm not up on my Antifa knowledge, but hell, you could bring out Vikings and I'm giving them a pass in comparison to Nazis. I'm giving Caeser's Romans a pass, in comparison to Nazis. Hell, Stalin helped with Nazis, so there's that. Nazis don't get a "many sides" pass. There are no two sides when it comes to hate groups, especially Nazis. There are no "very fine" people who are members of, support or sympathize with Nazis. Not ever! 

Here's the thing. My mother was the most important person in the world to me. Her parents were #2 and #3. They were Jewish. I grew up hearing stories about the Holocaust and before I could learn on my own, I never quite believed them. The atrocities were too unbelievable to comprehend as a truth. So maybe that's Donald Trump's problem. Maybe that's his followers problem. They just aren't educated or intelligent enough to perceive that the horrors were real. So how do we impress upon the ignorant, my ex-friend included, that supporting a president who sympathizes with Nazis is in fact, sympathizing with Nazis? How do I let people know that what they view as a harmless Internet meme, touches a part of me they would never like to see. I mean this sincerely.

I love the art of tattoos, but would never get one on my own person, because of Nazis. Out of respect for my mother and grandparents, I would never desecrate my skin, because so many others had it done as identification. I will never forget the day I shook a man's hand and his sleeve rolled up and revealed his number. I shook. I went home and I wept. We didn't discuss it. I didn't let on that I had noticed. I simply felt overcome with emotion. I was 19-20, and in my mind, a tough guy. Here was a somewhat frail older gentleman whose strength is unparalleled in my world. I was humbled to be in his presence. The respect I had for this stranger was greater than of anyone I'd actually known. That's what my feeling about Nazis is. There will never be many sides to hate. There will never be "very fine" people who hate. But I will go one step further. There will never be a place in my world for people who are complicit when faced with hate. Are there times we all let stuff roll off our backs? Yes, of course. That being said, when you take the time to copy and paste or share something that breeds hate for another group, especially Jews, while promoting Nazism, you're dead to me. Luckily for you, it's only via the Internet.

I hope this young man realizes his mistake and I'm not one to easily forget, but I do forgive. I can forgive ignorance, because it's easily cured with education. I can forgive being a coward, because it's easily corrected with conviction. What I can't forgive is never caring enough to learn or never standing up for others, because it's easier to be who you are. An ignorant coward. Because if you're not an ignorant coward, you actually believe in what these white supremacist, white nationalists and Nazis have to say and then, you're in an entirely different category.

As for the rest of society. Let's stop pretending Trump didn't promote their cause in all of 2016. Let's stop pretending he isn't a coward or ignorant. Let's stop pretending he cares about "us." He does care about them, because they elected him. Do you really want to be on the wrong side of this part of history? You may not view yourself as a sympathizer, but history will. Educate, stand up for others and for the love of God, please stop posting and saying things that even hint you believe there are good people on that side and that anyone, I mean anyone, is wrong for standing up to them, with or without violence. They're Nazis!