Nazi: Punching them, looking for them, and identifying them

The term Nazi appeared in Germany in the early 20^th century and meant someone who was a member of the national socialist workers party. The word quickly grew into one that brought dread to those that heard it as Hitler rolled across Europe. After WWII the word took on even a more horrific meaning when it came fully into the light what Hitler and the Nazi’s had done. Since then Nazi has been used to disparage people who show fascist tendencies or anti-Semitic views. Lately in America the term Nazi has been used to describe the other party’s candidate, usually the winning candidate. Currently the mainstream media, protesters, college students and Democratic politicians have been calling Donald Trump a fascist and his followers Nazi’s.

            Richard Spencer was punched in the head by an Antifa (Antifascist) protester. Richard Spencer is a white nationalist. He believes in a white ethno state but has not come out and said he wants violence against people of other races. Instead he just wants them separated, basically think segregation. That’s enough attention to that guy, the real story here is what happened afterward. People came out and said it is okay to punch a Nazi. They would use excuses like Holocaust happen if you don’t punch Nazi’s or people on believe Nazi stuff because they did not have that punched out of them as a kid.

What makes this terrible is since the National Socialist Workers Party does not exist anymore how do you determine who is a Nazi and who isn’t. This line of thinking can lead you to look at someone’s actions to see if they are a Nazi. But what are Nazi actions? Is having a different opinion then you a Nazi action? Or is beating someone up who had a different opinion than you a Nazi action? This line of reasoning, which a lot of people in my home state subscribe to either as okay to do or okay to ignore, can lead people to just think that those who disagree with them politically are Nazi’s. Since they are Nazi’s they are okay to punch.

            In the end you cannot just know who is a Nazi. In truth very few people are Nazi’s or subscribe to Nazi ideas. Do not punch people unless you are being physically assaulted or are about to be physically assaulted. You cannot punch people just because you disagree with them and think they are Nazi’s.