@NounVerb
The “Paradox of Intolerance” is quite simple: the very freedom you enjoy
will be used by the fascist to take it from you; by tolerating them, you inevitably wind up under the jackboot of their tyranny because tolerating them means doing nothing to stop them. Therefore, to avoid that, you must be
intolerant of them. Because they have demonstrably done great harm to every society they’ve come to power in and it’s only in denying them the chance to do so again that we can avoid repeating history. It’s paradoxical because to ensure a more tolerant society, you must be
intolerant of those who would destroy it. It’s an argument against the kind of idiotic naivete that demands we don’t live in the real world where that has actually really happened before and we cannot possibly learn from history.
I’m not going to get my knickers in a twist but at the same time, it’s a bit… unnerving how some people so apoplectically rush to the defence of Nazism and/or its supporters. Again, it’s demanded that we naively believe that no one could possibly be a neo-Nazi, that they don’t try to cynically use human psychology to manipulate others, and that taking
any steps against them pits you as the real one at fault.
Again, cynical manipulation of people - it’s something they’re great at.
It’s been well documented that they repackage their arguments in ways that make them seem innocuous but if you pull at the thread just a little bit, it starts to unravel. Then they (and their patsies) get mad and start screeching that it doesn’t prove anything because we have to pretend no one could possibly see through their euphemisms.
Speaking of euphemisms, the massive uptick in the use of ‘Marxism’ and more pointedly ‘Cultural Marxism’ is just a little bit on the nose as regards being a flimsy attempt to rename
‘Cultural Bolshevism’. Then you see the same and similar people wailing about
‘degeneracy’ … well, being asked to ignore the glaring commonalities becomes just a bit fucking much, frankly.
Nazi horses is just a way to get the foot in the door. A lot of these movements have been trying to capitalise on disaffected young men and I wouldn’t say it’s any great stretch to say many exist in the fandom. Because it’s not about Nazi horses, it’s about normalising the concept of Nazism, as something kitschy and cartoonish - harmless. Except not really harmless because then it starts being about the ‘normies’ or whatever they call it these days. It starts being about how
you are the victim in society, no matter your own responsibility for your situation, and more importantly that
they are the ones responsible for your status. Once
they are removed,
you will assume your rightful place.
And not-at-all-suddenly you have people marching through the streets chanting “the Jews will not replace us”.
But it doesn’t start out like that. Not everywhere. To the faithful and true believers inducted into it, that’s what they’re told explicitly. But to the witless and the disaffected? Package it up in something that appears somewhat innocuous (you don’t have to try that hard).
If you see the potential for a fire, do you wait until it’s started? Or do you take steps to prevent it?
That is what the ‘Paradox of Intolerance’ gets at. We know the warning signs. Some people are just angrily demanding we ignore them.