"So how can I be confident in my perception?"

[babylonsister]

{copied from a friend}

Huge numbers of our population believe in a complete alternate reality. Alternate facts as it were. But just as intensely as I believe they are deluded, they think I am the one who is deluded. Maybe I am.

So how can I be confident in my perception? It can be quite difficult. But I have found that in times of confusion, particularly when emotions are running high and creating tunnel vision, the presence of Nazis can be an extremely helpful indicator.

If I am attending a local demonstration or event and I see Nazis…neo-Nazis, miscellaneous-Nazis or the latest-whatever-uber-mythology-Nazis, I figure out which side they are on. And if they are on my side of the demonstration? I am on the wrong side.

It is tough to argue moral equivalence when I am standing next to a Nazi. Look to my right. Is there a guy wearing a 6MWE (6 million wasn’t enough) t-shirt? I am on the wrong side. Look to my left. If that guy is wearing a Camp Auschwitz t-shirt? Wrong side. Speakers referring to things Hitler said? Wrong side. Team-spirit face paint and hat with horns? This is an unclear indicator that could mean anything but safest to keep my distance from that guy even at a football game.

But I can always, always, always, rely on the presence of Nazis as a guiding light through a fog of disinformation.

[Karadeniz]

1. Good indicator, Nazis... unless they're really antifa in disguise to get innocent, absent Nazis in

Trouble!

[malaise]

2. That simple

Nazis are never on my side

[Biophilic]

3. Really good take.

I was actually, tonight, thinking about all the people that really, truly believe the election was rigged. How did that happen? Why is my perception any better than theirs? Yes, there are lots of reasons, but I actually was second guessing myself because I still can't understand how all those, many of them very intelligent, people could be so wrong. But this, this basic note that if there is a Nazi standing next to me I must be on the wrong side. Yes, that is pretty basic. Thanks. I feel much more grounded. For a minute there I was sort of floating and untethered. It was a bit disconcerting.

[Kablooie]

4. And Republicans look over, see the Nazi, and say oh, I guess he's on my side too. That's fine.

The more the merrier!

[tymorial]

5. I remember when I was a young kid. Maybe between 8 and 12.

I would have to look this up but I loved MacGyver. I absolutely loved the guy. I wanted his jacket. I wanted the mullet, the jeep. He was my hero.

There was an episode where he met a man who was a survivor of the death camps. He swore that it was happening again. Police, law enforcement, everyone viewed him as crazy but MacGyver saw something sympathetic in him. He wanted to at least befriend him.

To make a long story short, the man was right. There was a plan and it was called the 13 Percent Solution. I remember the episode to this day. The leader was this tired old racist hag who hated Jewish people and all minorities. There was a scene where she pulls back a curtain to display the Nazi flag. She shows a map that shows places where civic, political, social, judicial, educational and law enforcement leaders were located who were sympathetic to the cause. Obviously MacGyver stops everything but it was very much a cautionary tale episode.

I have never forgotten it after 30 plus years. I see all these protests and think, 30+ years ago TV was doing what if episodes and I can't imagine it was pure fantasy. I didn’t think it was then when I was just a boy.

Sorry for rambling.

[pecosbob]

6. The last bit about the horns reminds me of a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon