We read Graham Platner’s whole Reddit archive. The vilification of the Maine candidate for Senate doesn’t square with what he actually wrote in his posts.
This whole Graham thing comes down to a single issue for me. Did he have a nazi tattoo? If yes, and it does appear to be a yes, then id never support him. No nazis or nazi sympathizers. Thats a hard line for me.
The right doesn’t eject their own when pictures surface of them wearing drag. They unify towards a narrative even if their members aren’t picture perfect representations of the values they pretend to hold.
I can’t make political decisions on someone’s blurry tattoo that they own up to and have covered but are also people trying to do the right thing. It’s ridiculous and it’s why the left loses elections and why we’re going to be overrun with ACTUAL fucking nazis… I mean more so.
The right elects rapists, they arent the golden standard we should hold ourselves to.
And this isnt a blurry tattoo. Hes admitted the tattoo hasnt he?
Look Im not saying to arrest the guy or deport him or anything drastic. He just shouldnt be in the running for a govt position. A nazi tattoo, intentional or not, disqualifies him. Its that easy. Any way you cut it getting such a tattoo should mean he cant hold a govt position.
Why is this so easy for some people to sweep under the rug?
Intent matters. Did he knowingly choose a Nazi tattoo? All of the evidence suggests he did not, and that as soon as he found out it was associated with Nazis he immediately took action to get rid of it.
To add, the election Platner is running in has their primaries in June 2026, general in November 2026.
Platner has A LOT of work to do between now and then to prove what kind of person he is and what ideas he has, but he also has A LOT of time to do it.
I understand anyone’s hesitation in supporting him. It’s a reasonable view. Platner may never recover from this. Maybe he can. Platner is going to need to work hard to overcome this. Other candidates may be better.
Even if, as he claims, he didnt know it was a nazi symbol then that means hes a moron. Being simply unaware is excusable, not everyone can know everything, but getting it as a tattoo without knowing?! That means he either was/is a nazi or is/was a massive moron. Either option disqualifies him in my eyes.
Now I dont live in Maine so it doesnt matter politically. But if I did I wouldnt be voting for him
Marines getting dumb ass tattoos while drunk in a foreign country is a story as old as time. He definitely used to be a moron, getting a tattoo under those circumstances was obviously a terrible decision.
It really doesnt matter how or why he got it unless it was against his will. Id never vote for a politician that has or had a nazi tattoo. Its just a hard stop.
What the fuck? Do you know every hate symbol and slur in the world? Why would you expect your average person to casually know this sort of thing? Not knowing obscure Nazi symbols doesn’t make one a “moron;” I for one have much better things to do than learning how fascism group#3011 decided to tell everyone they hate Jews.
If you get a tattoo and dont know what it is then you are a moron. If that tattoo turns out to be a nazi symbol then you are a giant moron. Both of these disqualify you, in my mind, from being an elected leader in any sense.
Its not a hard concept to grasp here. Leaders should not be morons and the should absolutely not be nazis
Sure, but if you saw it not knowing it’s not just a skull and crossbones, you’ll only think “oh, skull and crossbones.” No amount of knowledge will protect you from this kind of false positive, because you can’t know what you don’t know.
Except that specific symbol is one I do know, so maybe you and others can move past it. I could not. Platner shouldve known, his tattoo artist probably knew, and others did notice hence why we are even talking about it now.
A LOT of people in the military just get their “unit tattoo” or whatever without any thought. In large part because the people who tend to be the hardest on that are the psychopaths who get off on murder and might think it is a funny joke to rape you in your sleep (as a joke). Captain Roman Salute isn’t wrong about that: There are a LOT of black guys and hispanic dudes who end up with SS skulls and lightning bolts all over their body by the time they get out.
And most of the people who have those, upon being told “… is that a god damned SS skull?” IMMEDIATELY have a panic attack and go get it removed or covered up.
Which is where Skorzeny Of The Blackwater is, at best, a complete and total moron. In the 15 years after getting it, not a single person who saw it ever said “da fuq?”. And he, as a self proclaimed military history buff, never drew any connections with some of “the most elite troops of World War 2”. And then, when he explained why people have “punisher skulls” in a thread about SS soldiers with totenkopfs, he STILL never drew the connection to the thing that is on his body staring at him every time he showers and kept it for the next 5 years.
Pretty much all inclusive ors:
He is a complete and utter moron and is not fit for office
He is a neonazi who just mostly stuck to dog whistles rather than replying to Always Sunny meme posts with “sieg heil! THE FOURTH REICH SHALL LIVE!!!”
Every sexual partner and person he hung out with at the beach or pool or while he was stripped to his underpants in a bar has no issue with nazi imagery: Which speaks poorly of him
He thinks The American People are dumb enough to believe his blatant lies… okay, that might actually be a statement in favor of his judgement but… yeah
But hey. The Left needed their own “it is not a nazi salute. Elon was just giving a roman salute” moment. And you can never have too many Fettermans running cover for the centrists who don’t actually want to support a progressive policy.
Well either he didnt know what the symbol meant, which makes him a moron, or he did and that makes him a nazi (or if im being generous, a sympathizer). EITHER scenario disqualifies him in my mind. I dont want a moron representing me and I definitely dont want a nazi in govt.
Well either he didnt know what the symbol meant, which makes him a moron,
Yeah you keep saying that but that doesn’t make it true. Ignorance, especially of obscure knowledge, does not equal stupidity. Also you’re talking as if establishment dems on the other hand aren’t tautologically morons.
It is a true opinion of mine lmao. Anyone getting a tattoo without looking into the symbol is a moron lol. Its a permanent mark on your body, and anyone willing to get one without doing a little due diligence is dumb. Its not the end of the world but it absolutely disqualifies you from my support in any govt position.
I cant believe so many people are coming out of the weeds to defend this. If it was just some dude not seeking a position of power then itd be whatever, but this guy wants to be in charge of stuff but has already shown massively questionable judgement,
Not only had one for 20 years. Confirmed he understood that it was an SS tattoo 5 years ago (in the reddit posts that jacobin dot com clearly read) and continued to have it and lie about up until AFTER he came out of nowhere a few months back to run for Senate.
But apparently “Woman who laughs” is unacceptable. But “blackwater merc with a nazi tattoo” is the great hope of all White Leftists. Who would have thought that trump and musk going mask off meant the Left would too.
Okay, anyone who isn’t a white cishet male would. But we try to not think about it.
Ah well. We’re massively fucked but at least I can get a chuckle out of all the idiots insisting he is anti-establishment as so many of the establishment Democrats are glazing the fuck out of this man. Basically the same “He’s gonna fight the deep state” that we keep hearing about trump.
I think we’ve really lost the plot if we think effective politics and supporting someone for having effective politics is “glazing.”
The left is a thousand times more critical of their candidates than the right will ever be. We’ve had pictures of nearly every powerful Republican surface wearing drag or changing positions from things they now consider woke and evil and toxic, and this is why they are winning and going to overrun our land with ACTUAL fucking nazis. I don’t get how pearl-clutchy this generation of so-called progressives are. It’s entirely performative.
Person A: The totenkopf on the dude first on the left is a good clue.
Person B: has literal human skulls on uniform (…)
Person C: Many soldiers still use the skull as an emblem (see the Punisher skull for the SEALs) or regiment emblems all around the world. It’s a way of making others fear them and all. (…)
Person D: (…) Punisher is a kind of unofficial emblem and it’s more something some individuals do. I’ve seen it more on civvy and moto stuff than on actual servicemen.
And, reproduced without edits, Lil Skorzeny himself
When I was in Ramadi in ‘06 as a Marine grunt, the SEAL platoon we worked closely with for the deployment all had the Punisher skull spray painted on their armor carriers.
There’s no question it’s far more prevalent on all the dumbass Grunt Style and Nine Line shirts these days, but the teams definitely adopted it for a while.
Confirming he understands that the punisher skull usage is in the same vein as the totenkopf. And considering his tattoo is much closer to the latter and he outright mocks the former?
So… try again. Maybe argue that him knowing how stupid it looks is an indicator that he always hated the nazi tattoo he had for 20 years and is thus a hero. Or just scream “fake news” until you go blue in the face.
So, to save us all some time: Here is where the bad actors insist that he was just posting to the internet and not actually reading what thread he was in or what the people he was responding to were saying and we really can’t judge him based on that.
acobin obtained the full archive of posts under Platner’s Reddit username, P-Hustle
So maybe look for “P-Hustle” in the link I provided?
Also, if you need a primer on who platner is, I recommend wikipedia for that. Maybe try to know a few things about what you are discussing. It makes it easier for everyone
When I was in Ramadi in ‘06 as a Marine grunt, the SEAL platoon we worked closely with for the deployment all had the Punisher skull spray painted on their armor carriers.
There’s no question it’s far more prevalent on all the dumbass Grunt Style and Nine Line shirts these days, but the teams definitely adopted it for a while.
That, in your mind, is confirmation that he knew his own tattoo was an SS tattoo?
I do see the context. I see people talking about skulls and crossbones on a lot of different military decorations and how it’s not necessarily an indication of something bad even though the Nazis also had skulls and crossbones, because it’s just badass stuff that military people like to put on their gear for obvious reasons.
I mean, if he had scrolled up to where people were talking about ‘totenkopf’ up in a different place, and replied to that saying “oh btw I have one of those on my chest, I zoomed in to this picture and verified that the skull and crossbones on the right lapel of the guy on the left is the same as my tattoo,” it would mean that he was aware that his own tattoo was a totenkopf which is an SS symbol. That still wouldn’t mean he was a Nazi (or counterbalance the abundance of not-Nazi views he expressed during this big window we have to his private communication), but it would at least be backing for this somewhat different thing which you are now trying to claim.
Yeah. I mean I do feel like it’s good if there is some vigorous pushback against the nonsense. I am honestly heartened and encouraged by how the Lemmy immune system against bad-faith bullshit seems to be getting stronger since last year. I was honestly really unhappy about how these narratives seemed to dominate when I first joined, it has been getting better.
Like a few days ago, there was a “Nazi tattoo” story, and all the first 1-2 dozen comments were applying some kind of skepticism to it or asking questions. The bullshit brigade arrived soon after that, and the comments section immediately devolved into something about like what we’re seeing surrounding us now, but I definitely think political Lemmy at this point has a certain level of bullshit-meter activated.
(I feel like seeing the exact same tide of people swearing that there wasn’t much difference between Trump and Kamala, and they were going to save Palestine by refusing to vote for Democrats, and then the bloody aftermath we’re living through now, might have had a certain amount to do with it honestly. Of course, I am sure it will go through its next evolution at some point, I feel like just deliberately disrupting the comments with hostility and angry noise may start to take over more and more soon if bullshit keeps not working, but that’s just one random guess.)
Check out the exchange where I ask for details of the “confirmation,” it’s fucking wild lol
“He OBVIOUSLY knew, for fuck’s sake he was commenting under this picture showing the exact same symbol on the SS uniforms!” I’m only very slightly exaggerating. Try to find the symbol, it actually is there…
He also uses the seldom seen turbo fallacy “little did you know that by responding to my argument you have SAID EXACTLY WHAT I SAID YOU’D SAY AND SO I WIN!” It’s so fuckin’ bizarre… in fairness I knew these dudes would be here as soon as I saw the post topic and knew we’d be talking about some bullshit, but honestly I am surprised by the nature and ferocity of it.
I looked at this picture the first time around and gave up trying to find it. Still can’t. The far left has something blurry on his collar that looks like it could have the right profile, but that’s only because this whole story has refreshed me about a Nazi symbol I think I’ve possibly only seen in that one “are we the baddies” skit. Feels like it would probably be in some Indiana Jones movies too, but if it was it wasn’t anything that left an impression.
I have a hard time taking anyone who’s really going hard on this seriously. The guy obviously wasn’t being careful with his words from that Reddit account and nothing in there even suggests he’s some secret Nazi, and if he’s not a secret Nazi this is just a dumb fuck up from some Marines on leave. It’s not a good thing, but not a campaign ender warranting a posting crusade. Feels like anyone trying to make this a big deal must be after him for some other reason.
So I’ve said this before, and this is actually a perfect example: The tell for these people is how lazy the argument is.
This dude doesn’t actually believe that this Reddit discussion about Punisher skulls under this particular picture is proof that Platner knew he had a Nazi tattoo. He doesn’t even seem to be trying very hard to make you believe it. He’s just… kind of “marking time,” it seems like. Making words go together in the vague shape of an argument, with a lot of confident aggressive energy and leading to the conclusion that puts “Platner” and “Nazi” vaguely into the same landscape, and then moving on.
I have talked with people before who I disagree with (obviously) and even on Lemmy some people who I really strongly disagree with. Usually it’s fine, we just talk. But the particular bizarro-world conversational flow of something like this exchange is very unique to a particular type of Lemmy interaction, and it always comes in conjunction with some very specific political messaging.
Absolutely. It’s telling that in this new oppo campaign they’re pointing to the same Reddit comments to say he’s both a communist and a secret Nazi. Those things aren’t remotely compatible and it kind of reveals the goal isn’t to present a real critique of his past and they just want to use some combination of throwing everything against the wall and hoping one of the options strikes a chord with each individual and trying to get people to think that if there’s a lot of accusations, something must be real. You don’t have to “summarize” things that didn’t happen if you’ve got a real argument. But having a real debate wasn’t ever the purpose.
He didn’t get a Nazi tattoo. He got a skull and crossbones tattoo. Does it look a bit like the Nazi version? Sure. But the Nazis just took a form for it that had been used for centuries.
It wasn’t a damn swastika. It was a military tattoo of the kind no way specific to Nazis. And you’re surprised a damn marine gets a tattoo that evokes centuries of military tradition?
Would you refuse to vote for someone that was a vegetarian? Because vegetarianism is a “Nazi diet” in the same way this is a “Nazi tattoo.” Hitler was vegetarian at the end of his life.
In fairness, it is very precisely and exactly the Nazi rendering of the death’s head from the SS uniforms. I don’t think it’s a “Nazi tattoo” any more than some Hindu temples with backwards swastikas on them are now retroactively covered in “Nazi symbols.” I completely believe his explanation, among other reasons because some of his private communication has been exposed and literally 0% of it is Nazi and a lot of it is violently anti-Nazi. But their argument that it’s a Nazi symbol is technically accurate, I think.
It is close to the form used by the Nazis, but that exact form was used by many people other than the Nazis. The Nazis were not the only ones to use this variant of a death’s head. That’s why it’s not a Nazi symbol or a Nazi tattoo. To be so, it would have to be a symbol almost exclusively used by the Nazis, or of a form associated always universally with the Nazis. A swastika would be a Nazi symbol, as everyone knows that it’s primarily a Nazi symbol, even though the swastika has roots preceding the Nazis. But the death’s head? Before this, if you asked the average person what the symbol meant, very few people say it’s an SS symbol. Some history buffs might. But in the eyes of the people, very few would call it a Nazi symbol.
I mean, yeah, I agree with pretty much all of that. And it’s obviously a little bit of a success for the bullshit brigade that we’re even talking about this question instead of the question “Is Graham Platner a Nazi?” to which the answer is resoundingly no.
I am honestly pretty surprised by how vigorously they are active in this comments thread. I kind of knew they felt strongly about it… it’s also notable to me how the people swearing that it’s a Nazi symbol and he’s a Nazi for wearing it, are not arguing with the people swearing that it’s not a Nazi symbol and it’s all a Democratic plot to paint him as a Nazi but it’s all lies. They’re arguing, but not with each other.
This whole Graham thing comes down to a single issue for me. Did he have a nazi tattoo? If yes, and it does appear to be a yes, then id never support him. No nazis or nazi sympathizers. Thats a hard line for me.
He could apologize. And not just for the tattoo, but also for being in the military.
I haven’t read a statement like this…
Even if he apologizes Id still never vote for him.
The right doesn’t eject their own when pictures surface of them wearing drag. They unify towards a narrative even if their members aren’t picture perfect representations of the values they pretend to hold.
I can’t make political decisions on someone’s blurry tattoo that they own up to and have covered but are also people trying to do the right thing. It’s ridiculous and it’s why the left loses elections and why we’re going to be overrun with ACTUAL fucking nazis… I mean more so.
The right elects rapists, they arent the golden standard we should hold ourselves to.
And this isnt a blurry tattoo. Hes admitted the tattoo hasnt he?
Look Im not saying to arrest the guy or deport him or anything drastic. He just shouldnt be in the running for a govt position. A nazi tattoo, intentional or not, disqualifies him. Its that easy. Any way you cut it getting such a tattoo should mean he cant hold a govt position.
Why is this so easy for some people to sweep under the rug?
Fuck off, I am talking about effective politics. I don’t need to read the rest if you start that bad-faith.
You started by invoking what the right does, not me. And you are talking about “the right doesnt care if their candidates are perfect”
Well neither do I. But a nazi tattoo is a line too far. No nazis, accidental or otherwise.
You want to lose, that’s fine, I get it. Many people thrive better emotionally if they’re on the losing side.
I just wont support nazis or morons. If we cant win without either of those then we dont deserve to ‘win’
Intent matters. Did he knowingly choose a Nazi tattoo? All of the evidence suggests he did not, and that as soon as he found out it was associated with Nazis he immediately took action to get rid of it.
To add, the election Platner is running in has their primaries in June 2026, general in November 2026.
Platner has A LOT of work to do between now and then to prove what kind of person he is and what ideas he has, but he also has A LOT of time to do it.
I understand anyone’s hesitation in supporting him. It’s a reasonable view. Platner may never recover from this. Maybe he can. Platner is going to need to work hard to overcome this. Other candidates may be better.
Nah he’s not stupid.
He covered it up with what again? Anything else that can be linked to white supremacy, maybe?
Hrm
Care to enlighten us!?
Performative outrage for Lefty Points, which can be redeemed for social credit and smug expressions while we’re all being herded into train cars.
What are you even talking about? You implied the cover tattoo is just as Naziesque, I am asking you to explain that.
Edit:oops
Different person
I am not the person you replied to
Even if, as he claims, he didnt know it was a nazi symbol then that means hes a moron. Being simply unaware is excusable, not everyone can know everything, but getting it as a tattoo without knowing?! That means he either was/is a nazi or is/was a massive moron. Either option disqualifies him in my eyes.
Now I dont live in Maine so it doesnt matter politically. But if I did I wouldnt be voting for him
Marines getting dumb ass tattoos while drunk in a foreign country is a story as old as time. He definitely used to be a moron, getting a tattoo under those circumstances was obviously a terrible decision.
It really doesnt matter how or why he got it unless it was against his will. Id never vote for a politician that has or had a nazi tattoo. Its just a hard stop.
What the fuck? Do you know every hate symbol and slur in the world? Why would you expect your average person to casually know this sort of thing? Not knowing obscure Nazi symbols doesn’t make one a “moron;” I for one have much better things to do than learning how fascism group#3011 decided to tell everyone they hate Jews.
In his defense, I also didn’t know what a totenkopf was before all this drama.
However, not in his defense, I don’t have one fucking tattooed on my body.
Exactly that’s my point.
K? I’m not sure what your point here is.
If you get a tattoo and dont know what it is then you are a moron. If that tattoo turns out to be a nazi symbol then you are a giant moron. Both of these disqualify you, in my mind, from being an elected leader in any sense.
Its not a hard concept to grasp here. Leaders should not be morons and the should absolutely not be nazis
Uh… it’s a skull and crossbones? Nazis didn’t invwnt those.
it wasnt just a skull and crossbones though
Sure, but if you saw it not knowing it’s not just a skull and crossbones, you’ll only think “oh, skull and crossbones.” No amount of knowledge will protect you from this kind of false positive, because you can’t know what you don’t know.
Except that specific symbol is one I do know, so maybe you and others can move past it. I could not. Platner shouldve known, his tattoo artist probably knew, and others did notice hence why we are even talking about it now.
Ignorance does not excuse it.
I will say this.
A LOT of people in the military just get their “unit tattoo” or whatever without any thought. In large part because the people who tend to be the hardest on that are the psychopaths who get off on murder and might think it is a funny joke to rape you in your sleep (as a joke). Captain Roman Salute isn’t wrong about that: There are a LOT of black guys and hispanic dudes who end up with SS skulls and lightning bolts all over their body by the time they get out.
And most of the people who have those, upon being told “… is that a god damned SS skull?” IMMEDIATELY have a panic attack and go get it removed or covered up.
Which is where Skorzeny Of The Blackwater is, at best, a complete and total moron. In the 15 years after getting it, not a single person who saw it ever said “da fuq?”. And he, as a self proclaimed military history buff, never drew any connections with some of “the most elite troops of World War 2”. And then, when he explained why people have “punisher skulls” in a thread about SS soldiers with totenkopfs, he STILL never drew the connection to the thing that is on his body staring at him every time he showers and kept it for the next 5 years.
Pretty much all inclusive ors:
But hey. The Left needed their own “it is not a nazi salute. Elon was just giving a roman salute” moment. And you can never have too many Fettermans running cover for the centrists who don’t actually want to support a progressive policy.
How does getting a tattoo and not promptly removing it make him a Nazi sympathizer? This is a non-sequitur.
Well either he didnt know what the symbol meant, which makes him a moron, or he did and that makes him a nazi (or if im being generous, a sympathizer). EITHER scenario disqualifies him in my mind. I dont want a moron representing me and I definitely dont want a nazi in govt.
Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?
Yeah you keep saying that but that doesn’t make it true. Ignorance, especially of obscure knowledge, does not equal stupidity. Also you’re talking as if establishment dems on the other hand aren’t tautologically morons.
It is a true opinion of mine lmao. Anyone getting a tattoo without looking into the symbol is a moron lol. Its a permanent mark on your body, and anyone willing to get one without doing a little due diligence is dumb. Its not the end of the world but it absolutely disqualifies you from my support in any govt position.
I cant believe so many people are coming out of the weeds to defend this. If it was just some dude not seeking a position of power then itd be whatever, but this guy wants to be in charge of stuff but has already shown massively questionable judgement,
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/democrat-regrets-use-of-anti-gay-slurs-online-its-indefensible/
Not only had one for 20 years. Confirmed he understood that it was an SS tattoo 5 years ago (in the reddit posts that jacobin dot com clearly read) and continued to have it and lie about up until AFTER he came out of nowhere a few months back to run for Senate.
But apparently “Woman who laughs” is unacceptable. But “blackwater merc with a nazi tattoo” is the great hope of all
WhiteLeftists. Who would have thought that trump and musk going mask off meant the Left would too.Okay, anyone who isn’t a white cishet male would. But we try to not think about it.
Ah well. We’re massively fucked but at least I can get a chuckle out of all the idiots insisting he is anti-establishment as so many of the establishment Democrats are glazing the fuck out of this man. Basically the same “He’s gonna fight the deep state” that we keep hearing about trump.
I think we’ve really lost the plot if we think effective politics and supporting someone for having effective politics is “glazing.”
The left is a thousand times more critical of their candidates than the right will ever be. We’ve had pictures of nearly every powerful Republican surface wearing drag or changing positions from things they now consider woke and evil and toxic, and this is why they are winning and going to overrun our land with ACTUAL fucking nazis. I don’t get how pearl-clutchy this generation of so-called progressives are. It’s entirely performative.
Which post?
Reproducing from a previous comment
In the thread in question
https://web.archive.org/web/20190226141422/https:/www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/auy0bi/battleweary_ss/
And, reproduced without edits, Lil Skorzeny himself
Confirming he understands that the punisher skull usage is in the same vein as the totenkopf. And considering his tattoo is much closer to the latter and he outright mocks the former?
So… try again. Maybe argue that him knowing how stupid it looks is an indicator that he always hated the nazi tattoo he had for 20 years and is thus a hero. Or just scream “fake news” until you go blue in the face.
So, to save us all some time: Here is where the bad actors insist that he was just posting to the internet and not actually reading what thread he was in or what the people he was responding to were saying and we really can’t judge him based on that.
What am I looking at here? Which user is Platner and when did he say it was a Nazi tattoo?
…
From the article:
So maybe look for “P-Hustle” in the link I provided?
Also, if you need a primer on who platner is, I recommend wikipedia for that. Maybe try to know a few things about what you are discussing. It makes it easier for everyone
Okay, I found one comment:
That, in your mind, is confirmation that he knew his own tattoo was an SS tattoo?
I do see the context. I see people talking about skulls and crossbones on a lot of different military decorations and how it’s not necessarily an indication of something bad even though the Nazis also had skulls and crossbones, because it’s just badass stuff that military people like to put on their gear for obvious reasons.
I mean, if he had scrolled up to where people were talking about ‘totenkopf’ up in a different place, and replied to that saying “oh btw I have one of those on my chest, I zoomed in to this picture and verified that the skull and crossbones on the right lapel of the guy on the left is the same as my tattoo,” it would mean that he was aware that his own tattoo was a totenkopf which is an SS symbol. That still wouldn’t mean he was a Nazi (or counterbalance the abundance of not-Nazi views he expressed during this big window we have to his private communication), but it would at least be backing for this somewhat different thing which you are now trying to claim.
Don’t try to apply critical thinking to these people, it’s a waste of energy. Just downvote and move on.
Yeah. I mean I do feel like it’s good if there is some vigorous pushback against the nonsense. I am honestly heartened and encouraged by how the Lemmy immune system against bad-faith bullshit seems to be getting stronger since last year. I was honestly really unhappy about how these narratives seemed to dominate when I first joined, it has been getting better.
Like a few days ago, there was a “Nazi tattoo” story, and all the first 1-2 dozen comments were applying some kind of skepticism to it or asking questions. The bullshit brigade arrived soon after that, and the comments section immediately devolved into something about like what we’re seeing surrounding us now, but I definitely think political Lemmy at this point has a certain level of bullshit-meter activated.
(I feel like seeing the exact same tide of people swearing that there wasn’t much difference between Trump and Kamala, and they were going to save Palestine by refusing to vote for Democrats, and then the bloody aftermath we’re living through now, might have had a certain amount to do with it honestly. Of course, I am sure it will go through its next evolution at some point, I feel like just deliberately disrupting the comments with hostility and angry noise may start to take over more and more soon if bullshit keeps not working, but that’s just one random guess.)
Congrats. You “found” the comment I provided after I explained to you how to read and then made the defense I facetiously suggested.
Twitter really broke the world, huh?
Still lying I see.
Check out the exchange where I ask for details of the “confirmation,” it’s fucking wild lol
“He OBVIOUSLY knew, for fuck’s sake he was commenting under this picture showing the exact same symbol on the SS uniforms!” I’m only very slightly exaggerating. Try to find the symbol, it actually is there…
He also uses the seldom seen turbo fallacy “little did you know that by responding to my argument you have SAID EXACTLY WHAT I SAID YOU’D SAY AND SO I WIN!” It’s so fuckin’ bizarre… in fairness I knew these dudes would be here as soon as I saw the post topic and knew we’d be talking about some bullshit, but honestly I am surprised by the nature and ferocity of it.
I looked at this picture the first time around and gave up trying to find it. Still can’t. The far left has something blurry on his collar that looks like it could have the right profile, but that’s only because this whole story has refreshed me about a Nazi symbol I think I’ve possibly only seen in that one “are we the baddies” skit. Feels like it would probably be in some Indiana Jones movies too, but if it was it wasn’t anything that left an impression.
I have a hard time taking anyone who’s really going hard on this seriously. The guy obviously wasn’t being careful with his words from that Reddit account and nothing in there even suggests he’s some secret Nazi, and if he’s not a secret Nazi this is just a dumb fuck up from some Marines on leave. It’s not a good thing, but not a campaign ender warranting a posting crusade. Feels like anyone trying to make this a big deal must be after him for some other reason.
So I’ve said this before, and this is actually a perfect example: The tell for these people is how lazy the argument is.
This dude doesn’t actually believe that this Reddit discussion about Punisher skulls under this particular picture is proof that Platner knew he had a Nazi tattoo. He doesn’t even seem to be trying very hard to make you believe it. He’s just… kind of “marking time,” it seems like. Making words go together in the vague shape of an argument, with a lot of confident aggressive energy and leading to the conclusion that puts “Platner” and “Nazi” vaguely into the same landscape, and then moving on.
I have talked with people before who I disagree with (obviously) and even on Lemmy some people who I really strongly disagree with. Usually it’s fine, we just talk. But the particular bizarro-world conversational flow of something like this exchange is very unique to a particular type of Lemmy interaction, and it always comes in conjunction with some very specific political messaging.
Absolutely. It’s telling that in this new oppo campaign they’re pointing to the same Reddit comments to say he’s both a communist and a secret Nazi. Those things aren’t remotely compatible and it kind of reveals the goal isn’t to present a real critique of his past and they just want to use some combination of throwing everything against the wall and hoping one of the options strikes a chord with each individual and trying to get people to think that if there’s a lot of accusations, something must be real. You don’t have to “summarize” things that didn’t happen if you’ve got a real argument. But having a real debate wasn’t ever the purpose.
Where did you see he confirmed this exactly?
He didn’t get a Nazi tattoo. He got a skull and crossbones tattoo. Does it look a bit like the Nazi version? Sure. But the Nazis just took a form for it that had been used for centuries.
It wasn’t a damn swastika. It was a military tattoo of the kind no way specific to Nazis. And you’re surprised a damn marine gets a tattoo that evokes centuries of military tradition?
Would you refuse to vote for someone that was a vegetarian? Because vegetarianism is a “Nazi diet” in the same way this is a “Nazi tattoo.” Hitler was vegetarian at the end of his life.
In fairness, it is very precisely and exactly the Nazi rendering of the death’s head from the SS uniforms. I don’t think it’s a “Nazi tattoo” any more than some Hindu temples with backwards swastikas on them are now retroactively covered in “Nazi symbols.” I completely believe his explanation, among other reasons because some of his private communication has been exposed and literally 0% of it is Nazi and a lot of it is violently anti-Nazi. But their argument that it’s a Nazi symbol is technically accurate, I think.
It is close to the form used by the Nazis, but that exact form was used by many people other than the Nazis. The Nazis were not the only ones to use this variant of a death’s head. That’s why it’s not a Nazi symbol or a Nazi tattoo. To be so, it would have to be a symbol almost exclusively used by the Nazis, or of a form associated always universally with the Nazis. A swastika would be a Nazi symbol, as everyone knows that it’s primarily a Nazi symbol, even though the swastika has roots preceding the Nazis. But the death’s head? Before this, if you asked the average person what the symbol meant, very few people say it’s an SS symbol. Some history buffs might. But in the eyes of the people, very few would call it a Nazi symbol.
I mean, yeah, I agree with pretty much all of that. And it’s obviously a little bit of a success for the bullshit brigade that we’re even talking about this question instead of the question “Is Graham Platner a Nazi?” to which the answer is resoundingly no.
I am honestly pretty surprised by how vigorously they are active in this comments thread. I kind of knew they felt strongly about it… it’s also notable to me how the people swearing that it’s a Nazi symbol and he’s a Nazi for wearing it, are not arguing with the people swearing that it’s not a Nazi symbol and it’s all a Democratic plot to paint him as a Nazi but it’s all lies. They’re arguing, but not with each other.