# Nazi Rune As CPAC Stage- Coincidence Or Not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 28, 2021, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927 "2021-02-28T03:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/41 "2021-02-28T23:38:52Z")
Surely, they’ve heard about the problem by now. Where is the rebuilding of the stage and the apology? If it wasn’t done on purpose, wouldn’t they have said so by now? ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/42 "2021-02-28T23:39:56Z")
I don’t give a fuck. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/43 "2021-02-28T23:44:36Z")
In that case, I’m going to step away for a bit and calm down. I may or may not start another thread in the pit focused on you. I haven’t decided yet. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/44 "2021-02-28T23:51:58Z")
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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/45 "2021-02-28T23:53:14Z")
**Modhat** : Everyone please dial it back. Calm down. More to come as I read through this thread. I have it closed for the time being. I will reopen the thread shortly. @mikecurtis, either calm down a lot or step away from this thread. That is official. You’re the only one that really pushed this beyond P&E with your last two posts. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/46 "2021-02-28T23:59:55Z")
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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/47 "2021-03-01T00:06:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Someone who pretends to be a Nazi because E thinks it’s funny to hurt people who don’t like Nazis is okay with Nazis. And is one step away from being a Nazi. [off-topic] Acsenray, I’ve been wanting to ask for a long time about the pronouns you’ve been using – why is E capitalized? [/off-topic] ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/48 "2021-03-01T00:09:32Z")
> [@mistymage](#): > > saw that here, showed Hubby who is not very political … and when I showed him [https://twitter.com/Amara\_deMachado/status/1365417507788627971](https://twitter.com/Amara_deMachado/status/1365417507788627971) > > He went “Wow!” I looked at it and said “Huh. A stage.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/49 "2021-03-01T00:20:04Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > Someone who pretends to be a Nazi because E thinks it’s funny to hurt people who don’t like Nazis is okay with Nazis. And is one step away from being a Nazi. > > [off-topic] > Acsenray, I’ve been wanting to ask for a long time about the pronouns you’ve been using – why is E capitalized? > [/off-topic] I can’t find the original thread in which I proposed new non-gendered pronouns, _E, es, em, emself_. I suggested various options and several people suggested capitalizing _E_ to be analogous to _I_. Here’s a thread in which there is a brief discussion about them [Non-gendered pronouns and their requested usage - #44 by Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-gendered-pronouns-and-their-requested-usage/921795/44) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/50 "2021-03-01T00:20:26Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > But if y’all want to believe that some obscure symbol that 3/4 of the world had never even heard of before 2 days ago, was built into a stage, knock yourselves out. And if you do, you have to figure out how you’re going to reconcile that with the fact that [just last week CPAC disinvited a speaker for making anti-Semitic remarks](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/539952-cpac-disinvites-speaker-over-reprehensible-views-of-jewish-people). > [@](#): > > The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has disinvited from its 2021 event a featured speaker with a history of making anti-Semitic remarks. > > “We have just learned that someone we invited to CPAC has expressed reprehensible views that have no home with our conference or our organization,” CPAC tweeted on Monday. “The individual will not be participating at our conference.” […] > > But the announcement came after the left-leaning media watchdog [Media Matters for America published an article](https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/featured-cpac-speaker-said-judaism-complete-lie-and-referred-jewish-people) highlighting anti-Semitic and conspiratorial tweets from Young Pharaoh, an online commentator who was initially scheduled to sit on a guest panel at the conference on Sunday afternoon. > > CPAC’s official agenda for this year’s conference, which begins Thursday, has since been updated to remove Pharaoh’s name. > > Pharaoh has posted a number of tweets expressing anti-Semitic views or rejecting the existence of Judaism outright. In one tweet from Jan. 4, he called Jewish people “thieving” and “fake.” In another posted in July, Pharaoh falsely blamed Jewish people for “censorship” and “pedophilia” on social media. […] > > Pharaoh confirmed to The Hill that he had been disinvited from the event. Given that the official theme of CPAC 2021 is “America Uncanceled”, they’re taking quite a hit on the hypocrisy meter by disinviting a featured speaker for merely exercising his right to free speech. Yes, it could very well be that CPAC officials are willing to penalize a black rapper for openly expressing anti-Semitic views, while simultaneously being willing to “troll the libs” with a “coincidental” Nazi-rune stage design. Nobody ever accused CPAQers of being logically consistent or non-hypocritical, after all. But I think this supports my previously expressed opinion that CPAC is not in fact deliberately using this debatable bit of iconography to explicitly proclaim their solidarity with Nazi beliefs. If they wanted to explicitly proclaim solidarity with Nazi beliefs, they could have kept the anti-semite on the panel (and avoided the embarrassing optics of “canceling” a featured speaker from their ostensibly anti-“cancel culture” conference). ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/51 "2021-03-01T00:20:36Z")
Didn’t notice. I watched bits overall, after tonight it’s confirmed a huge CPac snoozepac. Thanks to his pollster 😆 Same old songs and rehashed phrases. Guilfoyles playlist is appropriately questionable. Macho man, Billie Jean? Afterwards, dancing. The young Republicans contingent college coeds tried to remain engaged and excited until dismissal time. Odd conference ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/52 "2021-03-01T00:35:23Z")
So, if you turn the stage upside down and reimagine it with differently-angled legs, _it becomes an obvious Nazi symbol_ that conservatives are using to recruit a new SS. This is the most shocking revelation since Jerry Falwell outed Tinky Winky. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/53 "2021-03-01T00:41:45Z")
By “reimagine it with differently-angled legs”, you mean “imagine it exactly the same, with the same angles”? I mean, all the angles involved here are 90º. There are no “differently-angled legs” here. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/54 "2021-03-01T00:58:54Z")
> **[Hyatt calls hate symbols 'abhorrent' after CPAC stage compared to sign used...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/hyatt-calls-hate-symbols-abhorrent-223344644.html)** > > Hyatt Hotels Corp called symbols of hate "abhorrent" on Sunday after the design of a stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference at one of its hotels drew comparisons to a Norse rune used by Nazis during World War Two. High-profile... For those who don’t want to read this short article. The stage design was done by the American Conservative Union. Hyatt has denounced and repudiated ‘all hate symbols’. Matt Schlapp, ACU chair made a Tweet about it. I’d really like to see that Tweet, but I’m not on Twitter and don’t know how to search Twitter. ETA Jackmannii as has been said, there’s no need to do anything but turn the stage and its legs upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/55 "2021-03-01T01:04:18Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > But I think this supports my previously expressed opinion that CPAC is not in fact deliberately using this debatable bit of iconography to explicitly proclaim their solidarity with Nazi beliefs. If they wanted to explicitly proclaim solidarity with Nazi beliefs, they could have kept the anti-semite on the panel (and avoided the embarrassing optics of “canceling” a featured speaker from their ostensibly anti-“cancel culture” conference). That is exactly the point. They don’t want to “explicitly proclaim their solidarity with Nazi beliefs” (or with white nationalist, or conspiranoids, et cetera) because it will alienate the more moderate Republicans that are not sufficiently conditioned to accepting this. By explicitly rejecting an overt anti-Semite, but then “dog whistling” with what is transparently a symbol associated with both old school German Nazism and modern neo-fascist movements (and is not remotely obscure, particularly among the groups such a signal would recruit), it gives plausible deniability in mainstream views while giving the QAnon types plenty of encouragement. Read [_The Coming of the Third Reich_](https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/0143034693/), chapters 1 through 4, or if you don’t have time for that, [_The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic_](https://www.amazon.com/Death-Democracy-Hitlers-Downfall-Republic/dp/1250210860/) to get a sense of how this played out in Germany between 1925 and 1933, and you’ll see how the foundations are being established for the same thing here with the 6 January insurrection is the equivalent of the Munich ‘Beer Hall’ Putsch. This wasn’t some comic bumbling oversight by a bunch of amateurs out of _VEEP_ who didn’t look at the stage layout and realize that it portrayed a fascist symbol; this was an expensive and deliberate effort to let the future cultural shock troops that they have been heard and should “stand by”. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/56 "2021-03-01T01:08:14Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Matt Schlapp, ACU chair made a Tweet about it. I’d really like to see that Tweet, but I’m not on Twitter and don’t know how to search Twitter. Guessing that it’s a reference to [this retweet by Schlapp](https://twitter.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/1365886593328951297) of [this article](https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/02/27/leftists-cook-up-crazed-fever-dream-to-see-nazi-symbolism-at-cpac-n1428923)? > [@](#): > > # Leftists Cook Up Crazed Fever Dream to See Nazi Symbolism at CPAC > > Leftists are convinced that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is a nefarious conclave of secret Nazis plotting an insurrection. Many activists on Twitter have seized on the shape of the CPAC stage at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Fla., claiming it is shaped like a secret rune to cater to Neo-Nazis. […] > > Even the connection to this symbol is extremely tenuous. The CPAC stage looks slightly like the _inverse_ of the symbol, but it seems organizers set up a stage for multiple speakers and panels, as CPAC has hosted this week. In previous years, CPAC stages have often had two wings on the right and left, with two pathways by which speakers enter the stage. The wings allow for multiple panelists on either side of the stage. > > Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union (ACU), which organizes CPAC, definitively debunked this absurd conspiracy theory. > > “Stage design conspiracies are outrageous and slanderous,” Schlapp tweeted. “We have a long standing commitment to the Jewish community. Cancel culture extremists must address antisemitism within their own ranks. CPAC proudly stands with our Jewish allies, including those speaking from this stage.” That quoted original tweet by Schlapp is [here.](https://twitter.com/mschlapp/status/1365765584810565636) I mean, if that stage design really was intended by CPAC to reach out to conservative neo-Nazis, they’ve undone all that good work with this rhetoric about their commitment to the Jewish community and Judeo-Christian values and what not. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/57 "2021-03-01T01:18:55Z")
Thanks for the link. I’m not on Twitter and my Google fu is weak. As for the rest, I don’t know. IIRC Hitler had help from a bunch of openly gay brownshirts. When he decided their usefulness was up, they were killed in the Night Of Long Knives. Remaining ‘sexual deviants’ were marked with badges (the pink triangle being the most well known) and sent to the camps. If somebody wanted to emulate Hitler, they might well keep Jewish allies while dog whistling to neo Nazis that another Night Of Long Knives will come. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/58 "2021-03-01T01:42:02Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > If somebody wanted to emulate Hitler, they might well keep Jewish allies while dog whistling to neo Nazis that another Night Of Long Knives will come. Sure, they might. I’m definitely not trying to argue for the CPAC folks’ intrinsic integrity or principle here; as I said, I think lots of American conservatives would be just fine with “trolling the libs” with Nazi symbols or accepting support from actual Nazis. I just don’t think that that’s the message that the CPAC leadership is deliberately trying to send with their stage design. Have you seen their [Board of Directors](https://foundation.conservative.org/board/), for instance? They could practically be a bunch of Obama appointees in terms of their demographic diversity. Yeah, they might be a core of devoted fascist neo-Nazi white supremacists with some co-opted useful idiots, but considered as devoted fascist neo-Nazi white supremacists they’re kind of undermining their own efforts, is all I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/59 "2021-03-01T01:54:28Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I looked at it and said “Huh. A stage.” That’s the point of it being a dog whistle. It’s like a secret handshake. If you’re part of the group, you’ll recognize it and be aware of its meaning and the fact that the person who used it is a fellow believer. But if you’re not part of the group, it looks like it has no meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927/60 "2021-03-01T02:02:48Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Have you seen their [Board of Directors](https://foundation.conservative.org/board/), for instance? They actually found a black guy whose name is Niger? They are definitely trolling. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Yeah, they might be a core of devoted fascist neo-Nazi white supremacists with some co-opted useful idiots, but considered as devoted fascist neo-Nazi white supremacists they’re kind of undermining their own efforts, is all I’m saying. I think the core belief of CPAC is that powerful rich people should get richer and more powerful. But I have no problem with the idea that they’re willing to give a wink to white supremacists to convince them that CPAC is on their side. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-rune-as-cpac-stage-coincidence-or-not/933927.md?page=4)