Also of note in the OP, but glossed over in the rest of the thread, is that OP noticed once, after x amount of time, a tattoo that is normally hidden. It isn’t as though this guy is proudly parading his Nazi souvenir; OP chanced to see an apparently faded, decades-old tattoo, that the tattoo owner normally covers.
OP, does he look anything like Ian McKellen?
+1
I don’t have to tolerate the admiration of genocide.
I don’t have to be okay with any and all speech.
I get to speak in opposition to certain viewpoints.
I have never claimed to be without judgment. I try not to judge people for things they have no control over, for accidents of birth, for choices that harm no one, or for things that have nothing to do with me.
Genocide, shockingly enough, does not fit any of these categories.
If you’re already on friendly terms, I’m with those who would say “I’ve been meaning to ask - what’s the story with your tattoo?” No need to make assumptions before letting him explain.
I’d continue as normal, but I would make a mental note and I would probably hold back on anything more than “casual gym related chat”, that is, if I felt we were getting friendlier than just talking about exercise than I would want to have it out.
My WAG, seeing as this is the UK, is a punk past of to wanting shock, rather than a real and current political belief.
And this reminds me of something similar that has happened to me. I was running a harp workshop and was warned about one of my students. She turned out to be a seemingly normal and reasonable person. However, one of my friends had befriended her on FB and had had a look at older posts. She is an animal rights extremist and regularly puts up gory pictures of slaughtered animals etc. Not my thing, but it’s not completely indefensible. However, in one of her animal rights rants she ends up defending Hitler for having great policies on animals and how the rest of his policies were just “misunderstood, he was only trying to defend his country and culture”. Eek.
I’m till this day not sure what to do about it, since we are FB friends. She only did the Hitler thing once, never at me (I wasn’t even FB with her when she said it, though I found the conversation) and I think it with her she will defend anyone who is good for animals - I don’t think it comes out of an Anti-Semitic or fascist sentiment with her. But still. Thing is though, we can’t really stop her from taking the harp workshop (which is annually) again, so I’m still FB friends with her, but have her on “hidden” and I try to avoid contact as much as possible. It makes me feel icky, though.
Holy Christ on a fishstick. I was going to say that your earlier comparison of disliking Nazis with advocating genocide was the stupidest manifestation of the “Y U NO TOLERATE INTOLERANCE” idea, but you just outdid yourself. That’s phenomenal.
Seriously, you just paraphased my advice of saying “Fuck, dude, that’s some shameful ignorant racist bullshit and I’m out” as advising the mass-murder of swastika owners. That’s really a remarkable achievement.
Again, YOU’RE THE ONLY PERSON WHO’S ANTI-JUDGMENTAL around here. I love the idea that you say “anti-judgmental (or fascist or what not)” as if being judgmental is the same thing as being fascist.
It’s one thing to stop digging when you find yourself in a hole. But you’re in free-fall from outer space.
See, this is worlds different to me. That’s someone making a public proclamation in favor of Hitler (and one that sounds very much like what modern white supremacists usually say, with the whole “defend his country and culture” bullshit) since you’ve known her.
Why is ‘gets along with South Asians’ incompatible with being a racist?
There were quite a number of South Asians in the 1930s and 1940s who got along very well with the Nazis and Japanese. South Asians themselves can be extremely racist (the Hindu caste system is essentially a form of proto-racism, inasmuch as higher and lower castes are to some extent racially distinct). And it’s entirely possible to, say, have animus towards Black people and get along well with South Asians, and vice versa.
I think ‘racism’ is greatly overdiagnosed in America today, but I can’t think of too many good reasons to have a swastika tattoo.
LOL. You put a lot of energy into this, don’t you?
Well, after I’ve known her actually. I was just able to go back to the bit on FB where she said it, because we became FB friends before I heard about this. Then someone told me, I went back to check to if they had misunderstood or exaggerated and I found the post. But you’re right that it isn’t something from her youth that she now regrets - AFAIK these are still her current beliefs.
Rant much?
It would unwise to get too close to an adult (especially a White male) who doesn’t have the common sense to realize that a swastika tattoo might give others the perception that he is a racist. That lack of perception is a clue that this person probably isn’t operating at normal levels of functionality.
Assuming that this person is anything other than inoffensive on a casual level is often why many people find their homes burglarized and themselves assaulted. Bad people don’t wear signs proclaiming the unsavory nature of their character.
Nah, I type fast. What a wonderfully droll and original response, though: your wit shines with the light of a thousand camels.
You could try to slow down your typing, I suppose.
Or you could put sufficient thought into your posts so they weren’t so ridiculous. I am, after all, the eternal optimist.
I don’t think many modern racists here in Britain are that historically aware of India’s connection with the Axis powers, the vast vast majority of racism I hear here is directed towards those of Pakistani or Indian extract (‘pakis’ is the usual slur).
He does have a few tattoos on his arms, some look newer than others. I’ve not looked that closely, just seem to be the usual artwork and patterns; no SS runes or anything.
Magneto’s tattoo was of a somewhat different type, if I recall.
Seems opinion is split between do nothing or asking about it, which where the two options I was tossing around in my head - the former having in its favour that he’s not actually done anything objectionable, the latter that I don’t want to freely associate with someone could be, well, a goddamn neo-Nazi.
N/m. Ninja’ed by the OP.
An estimated late forties could easily be mistaken for early fifties, which would fit the timeframe.
Mr. K, it’s hard to know without meeting the guy, but from what you’ve said about him it would seem a bit harsh to judge him on what would seem to be a youthful indiscretion.
I absolutely adore your optimistic take on some random nice dude who has an old swastika tattoo.
Or were you being facetious?
You’re not very good at this. You should probably return to the “Gosh, you’re investing so much energy into this!” tack. It’s an oldie, but a goodie!