CBS 58's Sam Kuffel is out after criticizing Elon Musk arm gesture
CBS 58's Sam Kuffel is out after criticizing Elon Musk arm gesture
Meteorologist Sam Kuffel criticized Elon Musk on social media for his straight-arm gesture some likened to a Nazi salute at the Trump inauguration.
WDJT-TV (CBS 58) defends Nazis.
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You know what you call an organization that defends Nazis? Nazis.
I've been asking people this a lot lately just to be sure there's no fascists in my orbit. Thankfully everyone has answered Nazis so far.
yeah, the us has the equivalent to a cockroach infestation. Ugly critters.
I don't disagree with the metaphor, but I don't like thinking of people as less than people. It makes it easier to dehumanize them and dismiss their very real human emotions and effect on the world.
We have real, thinking people who are wrapped up the the cult of personality, and they think they are righteous. They think their ignorance is as good as our knowledge. They think their hatred and intolerance is the same as our disgust and rejection. They think their desire for power is the same as our hope for equality. They are wrong, and they believe they are right.
They are not cockroaches. They are not unthinking vermin to be exterminated. They are a very real enemy that needs to be fought. Politically if possible, violently if necessary.
Being a Nazi is like being an outlaw, in the original medieval sense: by them insisting on dehumanizing others themselves, they break the social contract and therefore cease themselves to be protected by it. Nazis are the only group for which it is 100% acceptable, necessary, and good to dehumanize!
Sure, but that's not my point. I'm saying we shouldn't think of them as lesser people. I know how to kill a whole bunch of cockroaches. I'm not trying to convince some cockroaches to stop being cockroaches, because a cockroach will never be anything more. Likewise, cockroaches won't be emboldened or motivated to violence if they see their little cockroach buddies being stomped upon. Baby cockroaches don't need to be exposed to non-roach ideologies through public education. Nor are the cockroaches meeting in boardrooms to plan new propaganda and violence.
Stamping out Nazi ideology isn't just about killing all the extant Nazis. Nazis need to be made to feel ashamed of their ignorance, because that's how you prevent new Nazis from learning to hate. Organizations like Twitter or CBS don't feel the need to hide their Nazi affiliations anymore, and that's a problem you cannot solve with a can of RAID.
Look where shaming Nazis has gotten us so far.
Are we shaming them? Or are we bending over backwards to give people the benefit of the doubt? Are we hiding our political opinions because we don't want to offend bigots? Are we compromising our values because we don't think actual decent people can get elected?
How many news articles called it an awkward hand gesture, or a strange wave, or a misunderstood gesticulation?
How many news articles or political leaders called the Jan 6 coup a terrorist attack? Why are we so afraid of inflammatory language?
No, Nazis are not ashamed, and they are not afraid, and they are not going away. But you cannot simply kill them. Killing a Nazi is not like extinguishing a fire. It's more like capturing a chess piece. You remove it from the board, but the game continues. Are you in a better position? Is that what they wanted you to do?
I don't really care about the morality of dehumanizing these people. Nazis must be stopped by any means necessary. If they've fallen for it too hard to get them out, they are the enemy.