A constant menace

There is a thread that periodically comes up on Twitter, that relates today:

https://twitter.com/IamRageSparkle/status/1280891537451343873

To sum up, the tweeter is sharing about seeing a bartender kick a guy out of a bar just as the other guy sat down. It was because the bartender saw Nazi symbols, like Iron Crosses and things. 

The bartender explained that it is a pattern: one Nazi will come in and be fine. Eventually he will bring a friend, and they are both fine, but then they bring more friends who are not fine, and you have become a Nazi bar. 

"yeah, you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people."

Usually when it is brought up, it is a reminder that you need to speak up right away when people are saying awful, racist, fascist things. Sometimes there is an added reminder that one reason the bar that doesn't kick out the Nazis becomes a Nazi bar is that everyone else will leave. Those are perhaps more of a focus on whether you are looking at it as an individual or as a business or group.

What I have been thinking about lately is that I don't think it's a coincidence. One well-behaved Nazi doesn't just happen to walk into a bar, return a few times, leading to a gradual-then-sudden increase in Nazi attendance.

That's planned. 

They don't even have to be looking for a place that is receptive to their ideas; a place where people don't want to make a scene will suffice.

It is possible that I am thinking of it more because I am currently reading about the 1964 election. Organization around Barry Goldwater, with overbearing, overwhelming volunteers working to drown out anyone who disagreed with them. Racism played a huge part then too.

They were ultimately unsuccessful, but many techniques and talking points for Republicans got their start then. There was limited success until they weakened the Voting Rights act, but the groundwork was laid early. 

(And I am sure they did not all want to be full-blown fascists, but they let them in.)

My thoughts are also definitely influenced by failed Beaverton School District candidate Jeanette Schade and her persistent efforts to bully, harass, and degrade.

Most recently, she is using her page to target harassment against specific teachers and against Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, while also helping others learn how to defund schools.

In the case of THPRD, their crime is having an Equity & Inclusion statement on their web site. It acknowledges that many government programs having roots in systemic racism and oppression, and commits to advancing social and racial equity.

How awful! It is if you are committed to your racism. That commitment may involve a refusal to acknowledge that commitment, and it might be mainly a vague discomfort that gets worse as you refuse to think about it, but still, loudly, the only reason to be against equity is if you are committed to the inequality.

My purpose in this is not to target harassment against Schade, though it makes me wonder what the other losing candidates are up to now. For some of them, it was probably mainly an ego trip to be recruited to run. While they are certainly being irritated by new mentions of COVID fighting measures and equality, they may not be doing much about it.

But the organizers are. Communities for Sensible Schools (the Hillsboro group) is planning on running candidates in 2023 as well. For them, "sensible" means not questioning institutional racism, keeping students vulnerable to sexual abuse (which they find superior to giving students ideas that could lead to promiscuity or any sexual agency), and believing the virus is a hoax. That all correlates strongly with being a member of the Trump death cult.

No, we do not need to be organized in harassment of them, but we better be organized in supporting teachers. We better be organized in supporting THPRD and other targets. We better be organized in voting, and fighting voter suppression, and supporting science and equality.

Remember, the Church believes in vaccination and is partnered with the NAACP.

Also remember that the fascists are recruiting Church members and their recruitment efforts are discouragingly successful.

It's great that you're not a Nazi. Don't be the person that lets the Nazis into the bar.

They are constantly working to take the whole thing over.