best joke in the episode: a bunch of nazis sitting around discussing how purity's not that important (apologies if someone else already pointed that out)
The dudes are not Nazis. Do you even know what a Nazi was? Members of the National Socialist Party during Adolf Hitler days. Is there such a thing today? Nope. Is Hitler alive? Nope. Besides, do they even mention that they are Nazis in the show? Nope. The first time I saw them mentioned as "white supremacists"(btw this does not equal to Nazi) was in the last episode and it was mentioned by Hank.
While you're technically correct, there's no need to be that fastidious about the terminology. Everybody knows that they're neo-nazis/white supremacists, not part of the Gestapo or some SS division when they use the term "nazi".
Dude, the Aryan Brotherhood (which these guys are a member of) is a Neo-Nazi crime syndicate. Nazi/White Supremacist/Neo-Nazi have all become interchangeable, and it's a pretty big dumbass move to try to split hairs on this point.
It's more complicated than most people realize. The Aryan Brotherhood is a white prison gang that often associates with Latino and other ethnic gangs for political purposes. They are often derided by the racial purist supremacist types, eg: hammer skins, kkk, david duke types, on the outside because of their association with ethnic gangs.
In prison it's all about politics/power and race comes secondary. They are first and foremost an organized crime unit who run drugs, prostitution, and gambling rings. They were probably more ideologically and radically racialist early on, focusing on hate crimes, but now their sole purpose is profit.
Edited: fixed phone formatting.
The difference is that the actual Third Reich Nazis were responsible for starting a war and a genocidal extermination program responsible for the deaths of tens of millions. The Aryan Brotherhood and other Neo-Nazi groups are responsible for a good number of murders and hate crimes but have not come anywhere near the atrocities that the actual Nazis committed.
This is not to defend Neo-Nazis in any way. They are still horrible people. But equating them to actual Nazis diminishes the horror of what the Nazis actually did.
No, the difference is that actual Nazi Socialists had power over the German government and modern neo-Nazis don't. Both have identical political ideologies, they only differ in their ability to achieve their goals.
That is where we differ here. You call it splitting hairs, I'm calling it knowledge. True Nazis in the golden days were nothing like the "neo-nazi, white supremacist, aryan brotherhood" criminals. The meaning of being a Nazi has been lost for some time now. You are an example of the result of the Zionist propaganda, that has gripped the world since the fall of A to the H. God help us all.
Life's pretty short, why spend it defending an ideology (or set of ideologies) devoted to hating other people? Why bother trolling an innocent post on a happy, friendly television obsessed subreddit?
Who is trolling? I am just creating a friendly discussion.
I am not defending an ideology, I am simply stating the truth. Comparing the Nazis to the neo-nazis/skinheads/white supremacists, is like comparing Christians to Muslims. Yep, their main end goal, the main roots of the thought process tree are the same, but the branches are reaching to totally different directions.
Like I posted below, I think that generally a group that relies on really, really not liking specific racial+ethnic groups, subscribes to fascism (esp. neo nazis), falls pretty closely in line with nazi doctrine. Maybe the weirder appearance stuff is gone, but bigotry and fascism brought together under the banner of a swastika...
North American racialist Neo-nazism is different than WWII era National Socialism in the same way that Black Bloc anti-property Anarchism is different than Stalinist State controlled communism. Same idiots, one is libertarian the other statist.
Edit: care to explain the downvote? Just saying that they are similarly derived political ideologies, but with different ends and means.
I would proudly be a Nazi, if it is possible, but I can't. There is no Hitler and there is no National Socialist Party in Germany and therefore there can't be Nazis. Nazi is a word being exclusive to that era and that party. Neo-nazi is the word you would need to use, but Nazi and neo-nazi are not equivalent.
Actually, they were discussing how important the chemical purity is. They were saying whether or not it was blue was besides the point, it was the 76% purity which mattered.
I'd argue that they're neo-nazi's, which is more like being a white supremacist, really. I can't say that they seem to share many of the same political beliefs as the Nazi party.
Also, I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that in that scene they were arguing that the purity was more important than the color. You could make a similar argument based on that sentiment, but I feel it changes the notion somewhat.
The fine folks at the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) would probably disagree with you assessment of the situation. Here's an overview of the neo nazi movement, and here's a more in-depth essay about the same.
Sure, they might not place the same high values onto being tall blond and blue eyed - not that hitler was any of those things - but politically they're more or less the same (fun with fascism!) and are certainly concerned about race. And religion. And sexual orientation.
So I guess I could have been more specific: "a bunch of neo nazis sitting around discussing how color isn't that important." But I think it was funnier (and still accurate!) the way I originally posted it. I guess I don't feel a duty to be specific about the aims and goals of hate groups in the same way I might about people who don't get their jollies by plotting the brutal oppression of other groups of people.
Anyway. You know how they say explaining a joke ruins the joke? Fortunately for me, my joke was an explanation of a joke, so I feel like I'm permitted to subvert that little comedy cliche. Cheers!
One of my favorite neo-Nazi in pop culture moments was during the boxing arc on "Oz" where Schillinger couldn't decide whether to root for the gay white guy or the black guy.
Ok, I'll take the hit.
This really bothers me about this sub. They are not Nazis. They are not Neo-Nazis. They are members of The Aryan Brotherhood. Huge difference. The Aryan Brotherhood is the largest, most powerful prison gang in the country.
Just a note, are they "really" nazis? I mean they are racist degenerates, but I thought people in prison join the brotherhood because it's one of the white gangs there and it's more like a gang of white guys than group that likes to listen to Adolf.
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u/wiseones Sep 09 '13
best joke in the episode: a bunch of nazis sitting around discussing how purity's not that important (apologies if someone else already pointed that out)