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The term Nazi originated with Hitler in his attempt to exterminate all Jews. I find it interesting that now those who want to exterminate all Jews are called "freedom fighters". Some of our (formerly) most prestigious universities now praise those who put a Jewish baby in an oven and turned it on high. This same logic is even making its way into kindergarten and elementary schools. I suspect that those branded as Nazis on Substack are of the original swastika wearing crowd. Until the Atlantic panic I had no idea they were lurking in the corners like cockroaches. Hamish could probably root them out simply by instituting a minimum monthly fee for having a Substack. The skinheads who are living in their mothers' basements are not likely to have the budget for that, unless of course they make their living selling drugs.

While censorship may seem like a solution, we only have to look at Twitter (pre-Elon) and Facebook. They each had armies of "content moderators", yet all manner of vile content surfaced regularly. We now know that there was higher level censorship from our own government to cover their lies and manipulate us into hating one another. Substack is not perfect, but to me it seems less problematic than any of the alternatives. But these are the opinions of an old, white male. That would make me a privileged oppressor at best, subject to cancellation and worse, at least in the eyes of the average TikTok denizen.

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author

Appreciate the comment, Jim. Much to parse there.

As soon as the wholesale, identiy-based condemnation of a group - any group - of people takes place, violent rhetoric overshadows everything else, and physical violence (usually) follows closely in its footsteps.

What to allow and what not on a writing platform is, unfortunately, not the easiest question to answer (or the easiest thing to implement). Gray zones abound. Blanket censorship is indeed unlikely to have the desired result, that will make the 'censored' people play the victim/martyr card. On the other hand, if Substack would be consistent in its moderation policy, there should be some things beyond the pale. In their terms of service, hate speech stands at the same level as pornography, yet the latter is banned while the former is (sometimes) actively promoted. It's that last part that makes me uneasy, even if my personal experience here has been pretty good.

And don't worry, you won't be cancelled here ;).

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Dec 22, 2023Liked by Gunnar

I admire your perseverance in building a wall against neo-fascism. Using and supporting an online community that allows these inhumane views on society cannot be tolerated. The decent part of humanity is much too soft against those people with theire reactionary views, a hard response is necessary. I'm sure you will take the right decision regarding your future relationship with Thinking Ahead. As you usually do (well,almost..).

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author

Thanks, appreciated.

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