How liberating

In post-war France, alleged collaborators ended up getting beaten, raped, or murdered. I say alleged, because many of the people doing the murdering were themselves former collaborators who were trying to prove to everyone else that they were always totally patriotic Frenchmen, and many of the victims were sex workers who actually had been assisting the French resistance.

That's why civilized society relies on courts with lengthy procedures and not mobs to enforce justice.

@CorruptUser TBF if they're wearing the armband, with the flag on their wall, can we just count that as an admission of guilt?

@CorruptUser The reason speaks through this comment.

@CorruptUser

And yet that Vicious Vichy Bitch Coco Chanel still made out like a bandit.

By August 1944 at least 89% of all French had become members of the Résistance (as stated by themselfes, so it's a safe source). So there were only a handfull of collaborators.

Nazi hunting may not be entertaining in the traditional sense, but people made entire careers of it. And punching Nazis is the kind of patriotic, civic duty that everyone can get behind.

@Sorflakne Sir Christopher Lee started out as a Nazi hunter before he became an actor.

@Sorflakne
Punching someone who you believe to be a nazi is assault and can get you into quite a heap of trouble

We'll punch a NAZI here in America in your honor, guys. ❤

@longtail4711
I think they call themselves the Alt-Right now. (Among many, many other racist groups.) Your fist is going to get exhausted!

I live in Berlin, we had for the first time in history a holiday to celebrate V-E. I support the idea to make it permanent (change org: http://chng.it/L7xfw89g ). Above all because our neo-nazis strongly oppose it .

@EduardoSilva Is the death of millions of Germans really something to celebrate?

@Astrid_95 No. But the liberation of millions of germans AND billions of europeans from an oppressive fashist regime is.

It's not the celebration of killing, it's the celebration of ceasing to kill.

@Astrid_95 No, and that's why we don't celebrate that. I am sorry but absolutely every event you would like to celebrate has had some negative aspects attached on it. You celebrate nonetheless because the positive aspects are overwhelmingly more relevant. And in this case, in my opinion, they are.

@Astrid_95 PS: Not only Germans died. I know that this page in about country stereotypes but still in my opinion we should care the same for all lives, in all countries. It would be better if our celebrations would not be national. A dreamer, I know...

I feel like Denmark is on to something here...

@hikariuk Truly, Denmark is a genius ahead of his time

Meanwhile, back here in the United States, we have more Nazis than we had 80-odd years ago during the war. Not exactly something to celebrate...

@Tarmaque
Not celebrating. Denmark is implying they should go murder them all.

So, how about you?

Time to start spreading a rumor that neo-nazis in the USA created Covid-19 in a bathtub as germ warfare to unleash upon the non-white races, and that their first testing ground was China? Only it doesn't work at all like they thought, is killing people of all skin colours indiscriminately, because the reality is that different "races" are only separate species in the magical realm of their imagination, and that viruses can't see colour?

Might be worth a shot.

@Tarmaque You can thank the media for their increasing numbers. They care so much about making the idiot-in-chief out to be racist that they've failed to see how claiming the pres supports racists and showing rallies is a friggin recruitment drive for white nationalists. <_<

@Tarmaque
Not true. One of the biggest names in mass media at the time was Father Coughlin, who outright advocated we support the German side of the war. People were able to hold pro-Nazi rallies without any fuss. We like to think that in the 30's and 40's, the US was entirely anti-fascist and dead set against Nazism, but entire swaths of the country were not. When the war began, patriotic fervor tended to squash any public displays of support for enemy nations, and after the war the nation took a hard look at what the results of Nazism actually were and it has basically become the secular equivalent of Satan.

While it's certainly fun to joke about, I think teaching people that genocide is a solution to anything is a very dangerous idea. No group deserves to be killed just for what they believe in or identify with, no matter how abhorrent it is. I'm glad we've moved on from that.

@RalphieRaccoon ...unless that believe is systematic genocide and senseless wars, in which case, it becomes preemptive without any real moral quandaries. That is, if they are going to live by the sword, they best be ready to die by it.

@Malcadon Agreed. I will happily have the “intolerance of intolerance is not intolerance” speech with anybody... under the age of 12. Everyone else gets mercilessly mocked, possibly smacked upside the back of the head if they’re close enough.

@TuxedoCartman

In general agreement provided that the neo-fascists are actually that rather than an insult thrown by opponents. You get a lot of people branded with such terms and similarly liberals as communists by people who would rather throw abuse and seek to dehumanize opponents that actually debate with them. Hard line bigots need to be kept under control, although outright murder either organised or by mob violence is not a good move by a society that seeks to maintain human rights,

As always the devil is in the detail.

@stevep59
Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about.
I've seen videos of antifa groups rioting the streets, defacing stuff, causing property damage, armed with bats and the like, sucker-punching people who have opinions they don't agree with, and now I'm hearing of full blown organized murder.. Antifa is a terrorist group, plain and simple.

@Zenon

The problem is bigots and fanatics on both extremes and their desire to paint everybody but themselves as evil bigots. A desire to do violence simply because someone disagrees with you is definitely crossing the line.

@stevep59 Hardline bigots should be prevented from harming others, that means close monitoring and acting on any credible threats. We can't force them to change their thinking, and we certainly won't by violence or intimidation (if anything that will probably make them more violent). If they want to live in their own hateful little world, in a free society there's really not much we can do about that, other than try and persuade them to change.

@RalphieRaccoon

Fully agree. Pretty much what I meant.

@Malcadon If said person is genuinely about to commit murder and killing them is the only (and I stress the only) way to stop them, then sure. But if someone went around murdering Neo-Nazis just hanging out in their clubs, that's never justified or moral in my book, it's still murder and if you kill a lot of them it's genocide. If they have committed crimes, they should be arrested and put in prison.

The idea of killing your way to a better world is a terribly dangerous concept. It might start with Nazis, and then lead on to other groups.

@RalphieRaccoon Well, since it’s your opinion I guess we should respe.... WAIT, NO THEY’RE NAZIS!!! KILL THEM!!! Seriously, anybody who makes a conscious choice to become a member of an organization whose goal is to murder “inferior people” needs to be removed from public by any means necessary! Jesus fucking Christ, you little demon, these aren’t people who like different color schemes or food than us... THEY’RE MURDERERS.

@TuxedoCartman
They are only murderers if they've actually murdered someone.
By opting to kill people, simply because of their beliefs and opinions, that makes you no better than the worst of the nazis who actually took part in the slaughtering of defenseless jewish people for their beliefs.

@TuxedoCartman

No, they are not murderers, unless they actually murder someone, no matter how much their ideology promotes it. And besides, last time I checked, we don't consider mobs going around killing suspected or potential murderers a part of civilised society either.

In the end, extremist ideologies like Nazism and Islamic Extremism will likely continue to exist in our society, and no amount of violence will defeat them. You can kill the person but not the ideology. Our #1 priority is protecting others, and that means monitoring and uncovering planned violence against others. We can try putting them in prison, and many places do, but that's not always effective. You just have to accept that there's no simple solution.

@TuxedoCartman

"Seriously, anybody who makes a conscious choice to become a member of an organization whose goal is to murder “inferior people” needs to be removed from public by any means necessary!"

Isn't that what your saying about yourself? That you have the right to kill people who you think of an inferior because you disagree with them? As others have said if their spewing out hatred there are legal means to handle that. If they actually engage in violence ditto, although in that case there is the right to use violence to protect yourself and others. However anyone say group X is wrong in their beliefs so they should be killed is themselves preaching murder.

@RalphieRaccoon As an '80s Punk Rock guy, I can tell you that Neo-Nazis are really nasty people. Punk Pock was always an anti-authoritarian genre of hard-rock enjoyed by a rather ballsy and outspoken lot who generally sides with social justice. Then Neo-Nazis came along wanting to hijack the genre, pretend that black people had nothing to do with Rock-N-Roll, and change the meaning of "Punk Rock" to "White Power Rock". They also like to do (which is wholly un-punk rock) is to cry crocodile tears at naive moderates (the local news, daytime talk shows, centrists politicians -- basically, anyone who likes to spout "Can we all get along?" or "If you cant say nice things...") to garner public sympathy.

While a punch in the face between two-people (even between friends) is considered "free speach" in the punk rock community, Neo-Nazis like to go further with it. They like to gang-up on someone and "curb-stomp" (using the street curb to brake teeth and jaws) on random people they do not like, and they will actively kill non-white people to earn their "bloodlace" (red shoelaces that denotes a deadly hate-crime). Everything always gets escalated when they rear their ugly heads, and punk-fans had to take drastic actions (short of murder) to keep them away from the scene.

With everything I know and see of them, I have zero sympathy for Nazis. They are nothing more than murderous, delusional bastards with nothing to offer to this world then lots of needless and pointless death, destruction, subjugation and conformity.

@Malcadon The world is full of really nasty people. You can find plenty of criminal gangs who are violent like you describe. You can find people who want to blow up buildings or gun down dozens of people in the street because they see them as heretics or enemies. If there's a credible threat police can act on it, some groups (like Neo-Nazis) can in theory get you arrested just by association in some countries, though that's often very difficult to enforce. Sometimes the police aren't as effective as they could be, sometimes people are killed and that's unfortunate. But we can't use that as an excuse for mob justice or to deny these groups their right to a fair trial within the legal system.

@Nazi-hunting isn't genocide. Nazis are not an ehtnic or religious group. At worst, it would be mass-murder, but I would consider it justifiable mass-homicide. And I'm not joking. We should START by hunting down every last filthy piece of garbage aligned with the American Nazi party, then move on to executing anybody with a swastika tattoo. Throw in all registered members of the KKK and we'll be well on the way to a better world.

No no, Denmark makes a good point here. Some traditions should be kept alive

@Icalasari
I disagree, the risk of getting Covid-19 is still too great
Drink up, lads ;D

@Zenon In fairness, a long range rifle still abides by social distancing guidelines.

@Whaleologist
Sure it does.
A nice friendly wave does too

I mean if you have a stick long enough to hit them but also respect social distancing, why not?

@Lostdaydreams It's called a sword, but why not a gun?

@cassert To be fair, a lot easier to hit a bystander with a gun than a sword.

@Tsapki It is with that attitude!

@cassert Both are expensive tho. How about a spear? Its mostly wood so it should be cheaper !

@Lostdaydreams Just sharpen stick, you get spear. And if enemy is wearing armor, just stab his brains out through his eyes,,,,

@cassert No, swords are too close-range. Pikes are better social distancing weapons.

But... but... traditions are IMPORTANT! Get up, you two-- c'mon, off your asses and go celebrate like real Scandinavians! Defenestrate those neo-Nazis! And then it'll be time for cake! And beer! And cake and beer! HURRAY!

@Ysabet
What if the nazis provided the cake and beer? No catch, no strings attatched, no poison or anything like that. Who doesn't like cake and beer

Defenestration is more a Czech tradition.

The true Scandinavian tradition would be the blood eagle.

@Greenhorn
Looking pretty Russian at the moment.