The Barbara Pit was a derelict mineshaft that Nazis and collaborators were herded into along with some dynamite. They are being hyperbolic (in a rather unhelpful way) but communicating that this person is a lost cause.
A re-education camp might help him, but we don't have any of those. I personally say you should probably cut your losses and find a better friend, but if this prick is really important to you (and maybe he is, and with good reason, idk) then I'd suggest trying to talk to him as a human rather than as someone trying to recruit into their syndicate. Maybe say "I'm uncomfortable with you sneering about Jews like that" perhaps with reference to a Jewish person you both know who is cool. Fundamentally, trying to come at it from a standpoint of kindness is I think the best option. I saw you say they are from a wealthy enough family, but perhaps something else is going on. Are they lonely? Struggling with a disability? Usually people have some sort of turmoil that causes them to turn like this. To me, it looks like performative edginess, like the sort of thing a mentally unwell person might engage in in a sordid attempt to claim agency or just provoke a reaction.
Complete aside, Marx's professional career was pretty interesting. He knew he had no chance espousing radical politics in academia, so he mostly tried to write for newspapers, but the papers he wrote for (being radical leftist) kept getting shut down for insulting whichever King or the like, and there were at least three instances Marx had to flee the country he was currently in or flat-out got exiled. People talk about him like he was a bum, and he did have at least a phase of his life where he was a rather miserable alcoholic, but for the most part he was quite a busy guy.
Reeducation camp?
The Barbara Pit was a derelict mineshaft that Nazis and collaborators were herded into along with some dynamite. They are being hyperbolic (in a rather unhelpful way) but communicating that this person is a lost cause.
A re-education camp might help him, but we don't have any of those. I personally say you should probably cut your losses and find a better friend, but if this prick is really important to you (and maybe he is, and with good reason, idk) then I'd suggest trying to talk to him as a human rather than as someone trying to recruit into their syndicate. Maybe say "I'm uncomfortable with you sneering about Jews like that" perhaps with reference to a Jewish person you both know who is cool. Fundamentally, trying to come at it from a standpoint of kindness is I think the best option. I saw you say they are from a wealthy enough family, but perhaps something else is going on. Are they lonely? Struggling with a disability? Usually people have some sort of turmoil that causes them to turn like this. To me, it looks like performative edginess, like the sort of thing a mentally unwell person might engage in in a sordid attempt to claim agency or just provoke a reaction.
Complete aside, Marx's professional career was pretty interesting. He knew he had no chance espousing radical politics in academia, so he mostly tried to write for newspapers, but the papers he wrote for (being radical leftist) kept getting shut down for insulting whichever King or the like, and there were at least three instances Marx had to flee the country he was currently in or flat-out got exiled. People talk about him like he was a bum, and he did have at least a phase of his life where he was a rather miserable alcoholic, but for the most part he was quite a busy guy.
how much can you learn on your way down a mine shaft?
Depends on how deep it is.