yeah most people who end up here with a military history are at least mostly repentant, but some of the Democrats on this site are still sticking with “well…what are our other options, though?? maybe we’ll get a better primary challenger from his left, but until then let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good!!” for an unapologetic career war criminal.

goddamn, i hate getting this heated and wish this site had more benefit of the doubt in general and hate how hostile it gets around most things, but at this point the chauvinism from the Western entryist subset on this site needs to be called out in harsher terms. we need to have a red line around “maybe don’t ever critically support or give benefit of the doubt to unapologetic mercs for empire, especially if they have fucking nazi tattoos”

On a more meta note: I think we owe the now banned user Wheezing an apology for accusing him of being unhinged over thinking this forum was full of imperialist boot lickers. We’ve had like 5 struggle sessions in the last few days over this topic and we’re still seeing people defend a fucking sucdem with a Nazi tattoo.

I think there are actually more nazi defenders now than there were at the beginning of the struggle sessions, it’s amazing.

Wheezing an apology for accusing him of being unhinged over thinking this forum was full of imperialist boot lickers.

What’s the joke? Being a leftist is being right too early?

Agreed. Go ahead and check my history too.

Amerikkka is fucking doomed lmao, look at the “socialists”.

I’m beginning to think that half the people on this site don’t see brown people as humans.

This isn’t a mistake of some small magnitude. Dude was a careerist in committing genocide, and people want him in a public leadership and representative part of the left? Also, he’s still focusing on the “poor soldiers” rhetoric and making the imperial machine more efficient!

If all struggle is a struggle for power accepting him as a leader is accepting genocide as acceptable in the American context.

I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE TATTOO COMPARED TO THE FACT HIS ENTIRE LIVELIHOOD WAS BUILT ON KILLING BROWN PEOPLE.

He served 4 fucking tours then became a damned merc! How many times do you get to dip back into genocide if you regret it in the end?

I at least see how the hesitance to retreat from Zohran, Bernie, etc is something people contemplate. But this is a fucking brownshirt fresh out of uniform though and calling that out is purity politics because he feels bad?

Why is everyone suddenly okay with retreating on the front of anti-imperialism at every single turn? How many people are acceptable to sacrifice for this “powerful socialism?”

Should we focus on socialism in a national context? Build the national variety?

Unlike some people here, I think it’s plausible that he didn’t know it was a nazi symbol when he got it. I think most people who are part of the online left are far more well read in right wing symbolism and dog whistles than the average person, and even then some people here were unaware of it.

That being said, his reddit account indicates that he’s known about its nazi origin for almost a decade now. Not really any excuse for it at that point, especially when many tattoo artists would cover up gang or hate symbols for free, as well as many removal clinics doing removal treatments for free.

It’s because most people here I suspect are White Americans who are desperate for a popular public figure to attach themselves to. They want their own Xi Jinping to look up to. Problem is, no one on the American ‘left’ is willing to get up off their asses and actually put in the work to create a vanguard party because they are too privileged and comfortable in their current material conditions, so they instead rally behind and for what already exists; a two-party bougeois duopoly where the furthest left the system will allow is racist, genocidal imperialists who will allow the American working class some treats from the super profit gained from the spoils of war and exploitation of the rest of the world. And even then, the American state tries its hardest to not even allow those kinds of politicians to take power.

Edit: It has also become apparent to me over the last few months, likely because Trump 2.0 broke a lot of Americans here, that any non-American that tries pointing this fact out gets met with a lot of pushback from these folks. A common argument I’ve seen (not just here but literally everywhere) is that because Americans have it “worse” that the rest of the Global North, it’s fine to vote for socdems/ social fascists because they deserve a bit of reprieve.

I frankly have never agreed with this line of thinking because 1. It completely disregards how America treats the Global South, which is far, far worse than how any American is treated and is against the spirit of internationalism which all socialists should strive for, and 2. Because I live in a Social Democracy and I can clearly observe how my country is still imperialist, still engages in the pillaging of the Global South and supports the Palestinian genocide, and still exploits and divides our working class through xenophobic, racist, sexist, and transphobic bigotry (just done more subtly than it is in MAGA land) which is intentionally designed to prevent any socialist movements from ever getting popular.

If anything, having socdem reforms makes it easier for the capitalists to keep us docile and compliant while our wages are stagnant, we are more overworked than ever, and inequality and household debt has never been higher in the last 50 years. Nothing has changed, except our workers get some more treats to shut up while Billionaires still dine on our misery. The socdems in my country also let Nazis march in the streets and let cops have Nazi tattoos without repercussions too! This is not the future you want to fight for, Americans. It’s not the future any socialist/ communist should be fighting for.

Hexbear needs a cultural revolution, I’m seeing too much imperialist apologia

Yeah what the actual fuck is happening here.

I think they genuinely don’t give a shit ngl, they’re just hoping the “left” is consisting of enough people that can ignore these things they can get away with an increasingly more insular in group of people that are “needed for power” as fighting for other groups is just “purity” politics.

Wait… A group that focuses on power for an insular in group that closes as conditions worsen while either actively or passively enabling increased suppression of other groups… There’s a word for that… On the tip of my tongue… Begins with an F… Anyone got a vowel?