he is going mask off Adolf Hitler mode recently (since a few years) and apparently it’s causing a split in the party with most preferring to remain cryptofascist lol. they don’t have any real mass support yet thankfully but still, sucks that nobody has killed this guy yet and the state just lets him do this shit.

  • sweatersocialist [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    24 days ago

    its crazy how much lifting “anti-communism” does for white supremacists and nazis. imagine if these people couldn’t just launder their image and arguments by saying they’re “fighting communism/communists”

    if people werent brainwashed to hate communism 99% of right wing bullshit would just sound entirely unappealing to a lot of people

        • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          This kinda illustrates the utility of Holocaust denial: if you take away the Holocaust, you could pretty much just take Nazi rhetoric and it adapts 1:1 to a message that many people want to hear today, and if you make communists the bad guys in that story it’s even easier to sell.

    • merthyr1831@lemmy.ml
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      24 days ago

      Without communists they’d have no one to compete against for working class liberatory rhetoric which would probably be better for them, though the generation of fascist/neolib anticommunism probably helps too

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      These complete goobers are probably using it for visual symmetry with swastikas, but the symbol itself is a shield knot, which is like, a super common and basic knot that’s been around for ages. It’s a ward knot, and was often used to decorate, you guessed it, shields.

      Unfortunately (and this is true outside of Ireland as well), a lot of fascists love Celtic knotwork (almost as much as they love Norse motifs).

      • merthyr1831@lemmy.ml
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        24 days ago

        There’s also the Brigid’s cross that’s a popular Irish/Celtic symbol during Imbolc and uhhhh

        Obviously in Ireland this is still super popular and not even remotely associated with swastikas but I was still slightly apprehensive about my sister in law posting a cocktail with one in the foam because that woulda looked REALLY sus if it landed outside its target group

    • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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      24 days ago

      for sure lol, that’s relatively new from what i know. they definitely weren’t using it two or three years ago. they’ve never been “mask on” if you’re remotely politically literate but Barrett’s trajectory the last few years is just something else.

      • Justice@lemmygrad.ml
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        24 days ago

        Yeah… unfortunately common among the full blown Nazi types

        These people are insufferable nerds of the worst type. They realized they get censored for saying “Jewish question” (as they should. Not a normal thing to say except in the specific context of discussion of Nazis/the Holocaust) or “the 14 words” or “heil…” you know. Don’t even wanna type that one (probably gets censored and I won’t disagree with that). So they started doing “cute” little codes to each other. “1488” is probably the most infamous. 14 for “the 14 words” and 88 for “heil…” you know.

        It’s just so pathetically nerdy and loser ass behavior to go around tattooing 1488 on your body because you know 99% of the world’s population will recognize swastikas or death’s head or SS lightning bolts.

        I am just always reminded of that asshole Nazi who shot up the mosque in NZ who kept “memeing irl” That guy is most of these people in essence. They all want to do that type of violence while yelling “1488! Lol! Pewdewpie!” And whatever else. There really aren’t proper words to describe how broken and… just pathetic they are

        • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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          24 days ago

          of course, the limits of what you can say on twitter specifically now have been pushed to a wild extreme due to it being a nazi website. see Kanye tweeting straight up blood libel the other night

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            Shit’s really been on a exponential growth curve recently… not really sure there’s any slowing the train down either. The US appears to teetering on the edge of economic implosion and the fascists are just rubbing their nipples publicly while screaming how much they “loooooooove Hitler.” Shit’s so incredibly fucked.

            • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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              yeah, fascism has more or less become mainstream in the last 10 years in the “west”. totally normalised. I’m on the younger side and it’s still been a wild shift for me to take in. academically understanding why it happens is one thing, seeing it with your own eyes is another.

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    24 days ago

    Felt a bit masochistic and listened to this speech and holy moly was this awkward.

    Just zero charisma, nothing. He tries to make a bombastic speech (like his idol I suppose) but it completely falls apart because he constantly needs to make pauses to look down and read his script again, sometimes after just one sentence. And don’t even get me started with his weird voice and delivery. Just urgh. visible-disgust

    • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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      lol yeah that doesn’t surprise me, they’re really not sending their best here. he is very much still a fringe figure who doesn’t command much respect aside from a small dedicated band of other pathetic fascists. and hopefully the pivot to mask off will shake out to be a politically bad decision, not that we’re immune or anything but the Irish masses aren’t exactly chomping at the bit for national socialism.

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    This man’s Wikipedia talk page has a discussion about whether or not praising Hitler as the greatest leader in history and constantly quoting Mein Kampf makes you a Nazi and they landed on no. Until the NYT calls him a Nazi, he’s a far right activist.

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    24 days ago

    I hate to say this because it’s very treatbrained but that picture is perfect. His head in the little symbol with the ring around him? That’s him!

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    “At least we’re not COMMUNISTS! Middle school history classes in the west said that communism was bad. Ergo, nazism is good.”

    I always point out that they are “national SOCIALISTS”. If CHUDs keep trying to say leftists are the real racists, I’ll just claim they’re “the real communists”.

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    24 days ago

    So what’s the stance on freeze-peach in Ireland? I know not every country is as stupid about it as the US, but if saying “Hitler was right” isn’t over the line then I guess it’s just another case of liberals being closeted fascists themselves.

    • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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      most people are liberals (of course) who don’t necessarily, or consciously, uphold free speech as part of their ideology but suffer from severe political apathy. because things have been so bad here for so long due to speedrun neoliberalism, most people (predominantly homeowners, so it’s quite a generational thing here. young people are much more likely to believe in the possibility of change) are totally jaded about the state of things, corruption etc. as well as having been raised on a neo-catholic individualist mindset. in terms of the liberal ruling class, they have had a “head in the sand” approach towards these growing fascist movements for years, refusing to suppress or even acknowledge them, so you see how it starts to get out of hand. it’s basically what you said in that case. the good news is these are still relatively fringe movements which i would say don’t yet out-compete the left in terms of mass support or organisation, only in terms of willingness to do violence and tacit support by the govt. which is bad, but i have faith that as they grow in prominence we do have a growing militant left ready to rise to the task of violently opposing them (already happening to some extent).

    • imogen_underscore [it/its, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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      not very popular thankfully. i would say in terms of mass support they are still relatively fringe, but have had a scary gain in support/prominence over the last decade where before they were practically invisible. hardly anybody is voting for them. but if you read about the Dublin riot in 2023, that was a mass fascist riot in reaction to someone who happened to be an immigrant committing an (admittedly horrific) violent crime in the city. hundreds of fascists roamed free around the city centre wrecking shit and assaulting brown people and the govt/cops were completely unprepared to do anything about it. so it’s still a fringe movement, but white supremacy is absolutely on the rise here the last 10 years and i wouldn’t be surprised if they try for a march on Rome moment before too long. they are a small group but well organised and committed, and crucially they go largely unsuppressed by the liberal state.