Just stumbled upon this political debate in a stream and the chat was like, 90% this one person who was spouting shit about how antifas are the "real Nazis". I'm probably gonna regret this tonight because I'm incredibly tired but the rest of my activity feed is already an embarrassing mess so whatever.

I really want to get this straight: when antifas talk about "Nazis" they are talking about Neo-Nazis and other people who advocate for things like white supremacy, eugenics, and genocide. They aren't "throwing around buzzwords" or "calling people names". If you claim that the "real Nazis" are the antifas as if we're talking about "Grammar Nazis" or some shit, you aren't being some linguistic hero and saving people from those crazy bullies on the internet, you're protecting literal Nazis who legitimately want to exterminate people from the judgement and discouragement they deserve.

It's also worth saying that having a nice political debate isn't going to make them go away. These are people in an intersectional position of power who more often than not consider themselves outcasts or otherwise seperate from the rest of society. As such, they aren't debating from a position where being on the "losing" side would actually impact their livelihood in a tangible way, and they aren't going to be swayed by the idea that the vast majority of people disagree with them. In an ideal world, we could just talk it out with zero violence, but this is not an ideal world, and talking it out will do jack shit. Violence is a tangible threat, and something that they would actually care about. When people talk about punching Nazis, it's not about showing off or venting or anything like that, it's about rejecting Nazis in a way that has a legitimate impact. This is not the time to tread lightly.

On a similar note, when you say something on the internet, like "gas all x people" or "x race is objectively inferior", even if you honestly intend it to be a joke, if people can't tell that it is a joke it will have the exact same impact as if you honestly meant it. Intentions don't count for shit if you don't communicate them to others. If you say "kill all gays" or "Hitler did nothing wrong" as a joke and don't make it absolutely clear that you don't honestly mean it, I can assure you that there will be someone who not only agrees with the statement, but will feel encouraged and supported by the fact that people are standing behind them. There will also be plenty of people in demographics frequently targeted by white supremacists and other common Western hate groups who will see your joke and feel unsafe because of it.

I understand centrists who want to treat everyone equally, and who say things like "violence is never OK regardless of the target". Ideally, we wouldn't have to hurt people to get messages across, and everyone would be able to talk things out rationally, listen to and accept others, and generally be both logically and emotionally sound, but we are dealing with empowered extremists who are disconnected from both societal pressures and reason.

People are dying because of this shit, and that's not gonna stop on its own. It's not easy, and it's really not nice, but now's not the time to turn a blind eye.