Yeah. I can't say I ever understood it, but that's right.
Basically, I knew them from a webforum in the oughts and early tens, and we reconnected just before the pandemic hit. I noticed a lot of Jewish merchant memes, which kind of surprised me from the person I knew they used to be. The more I watched, listened, and followed up, the more they leaned into the whole "I'm an ironic Nazi" bit. Of course, we all know that there's no such thing as ironic Nazis. I've always fantasized about bullying fascists IRL, so I took it as a chance to learn more about the enemy, and I would say that I benefitted greatly from that experience.
It's nothing new these days. Basically, it taught me about the YouTube/podcast/male-coded media to Nazi pipeline. Basically, every time I started to defuse their bullshit, they'd just share a video at me by some rightoid influencer. It also taught me about the whole "ironic Nazi" thing. Probably the biggest thing I got out of it was being able to quickly pick up on the tells of nazi-coded speech. Stuff like hiding behind 'jokes', hiding your power level, etc. I find it a little difficult to convey, I guess it's a little like the difference between reading about the planets and seeing them through a telescope (but a lot less beautiful). It just isn't the same, and not matter how much reading you do, it's not going to really prepare you to actually experience it.
Wait they became trans and a Nazi concurrently?
Yeah. I can't say I ever understood it, but that's right.
Basically, I knew them from a webforum in the oughts and early tens, and we reconnected just before the pandemic hit. I noticed a lot of Jewish merchant memes, which kind of surprised me from the person I knew they used to be. The more I watched, listened, and followed up, the more they leaned into the whole "I'm an ironic Nazi" bit. Of course, we all know that there's no such thing as ironic Nazis. I've always fantasized about bullying fascists IRL, so I took it as a chance to learn more about the enemy, and I would say that I benefitted greatly from that experience.
Share your knowledge, please.
It's nothing new these days. Basically, it taught me about the YouTube/podcast/male-coded media to Nazi pipeline. Basically, every time I started to defuse their bullshit, they'd just share a video at me by some rightoid influencer. It also taught me about the whole "ironic Nazi" thing. Probably the biggest thing I got out of it was being able to quickly pick up on the tells of nazi-coded speech. Stuff like hiding behind 'jokes', hiding your power level, etc. I find it a little difficult to convey, I guess it's a little like the difference between reading about the planets and seeing them through a telescope (but a lot less beautiful). It just isn't the same, and not matter how much reading you do, it's not going to really prepare you to actually experience it.
It happens, unfortunately.