Nazis, I Hate Those Guys
DANIEL WILKS spends one thousand words stating the obvious
The gaming world hasn’t been the most welcoming place over the last few years. GamerGate left a toxic smear on the landscape that will probably never fully go away, with little pockets of hate popping up now and again to remind people that some gamers have a problem with women in general and anyone who thinks diversity might be a good thing in particular. The real world at the moment is horrible enough, without having some of that horror replicated in the virtual world through threats and abuse.
Discord is a third-party gaming chat client in which users can set up channels to facilitate in-game chat, messaging or even a virtual space in which to play tabletop roleplaying games online, thanks to dice rolling macros and the like. The channel-based nature of Discord, and users having to be invited by the creator of a channel, and the secure nature of the chat client, means that for the most part Discord is a safe and private service free of harassment. Mostly. Although there is no evidence that they harassed other users of the service, a number of servers and users identifying with white supremacist and Nazi ideologies were shut down in the wake of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally and subsequent vehicular homicide. In a statement posted to Discord’s official Twitter account. “We will continue to take action against white supremacy, Nazi ideology, and all forms of hate.” People, of course, have countered that somehow not allowing the white supremacists to use the platform is censorship at best and fascism at worst, somehow equating opposing a hate group as
Nazis have, since WWII, been the perfect villain for nearly all forms of entertainment
being as bad as a hate group.
On the home front, the far right is becoming more vocal. In mid-August, the group Antipodean Resistance, a selfproclaimed Nazi organisation plastered two Melbourne high schools with posters calling for Australia to “keep Australia white”, “stop the hordes” and even for the mass extermination of Jews. You’d think that such an act would get universal condemnation in Australia – if people get so up in arms about Safe Schools then they should be railing against actual goddamn Nazis calling for genocide – but sadly that isn’t the case. In the comments section of the Herald Sun writeup of the event, the very first post by a man posting under the name Malcolm reads, “This could easily also be a staged incident by the left. They’ve done worse.” A little later in the thread Paul writes, “Logical reaction to people being ignored on immigration and multiculturalism.” Next up is Pete with, “What did anybody expect. The agendas of the left, PC and the like has changed this country forever, this country was never like the rest of the world, we were far enough and kept our identity and culture sacred, we are becoming no different to Germany or France. We couldn’t leave well enough alone could we. I hope the left hacks are happy with the results. Western civilization and --------------- can’t and will never co-exist, we have invited terror and hatred into our own backyard.” There are more comments defending or excusing a Nazi organisation, but you don’t really need to read more accusations of false flags, that calling for genocide or expelling non-whites is a logical reaction to multiculturalism. The fact that these posts were made at all speaks volumes.
Nazis have, since WWII, been the perfect villain for nearly all forms of entertainment due to the fact that the Nazi ideology is clearly evil and few people feel bad about shooting or punching them in the face. Unfortunately, not all people feel this way. When the second trailer for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was revealed, a number of brave warriors for the white race took to YouTube comments to complain about how it is an attack on white people and the good name of National Socialism. A few choice examples include Pepe Von Europa replying to another user talking about how he looked forward to killing as many Klansmen and Nazis as possible with, “One day I hope you wake up and understand that they are in fact the good guys and you have been lied to your entire life through massive propaganda campaigns and constant brainwashing techniques”. Whether Pepe means that the Holocaust never happened or whether it was somehow justified is unclear, not that either option is less than odious. Steve Black didn’t like the fact that one of the new characters introduced was a black woman. “This game looks like an SJW’s wet dream. Fighting (actual) Nazis, black women being racist towards white people and an actual “resistance” that will probably succeed in this fictional world”. Leaving aside the fact that the actual resistance succeeded in the very real world when actual real Nazis were being fought, one would hope that the heroes would somehow win in the game and not lose to Nazi invaders.
It could be argued that the word Nazi has lost meaning with Godwin’s law, internet trolls and reactionaries of any political slant being all too willing to label people of opposing ideologies Nazis. There may be a kernel of truth to this but words still matter, and hate can’t be tolerated. Nazis are for shooting, not for defending and certainly not for emulating. While I’m still perched atop my high horse and stating the obvious, marriage equality now, climate change is real and refugees should be cared for, not used as a political football.