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He got the totenkopf and wore the bolts during an era when Marine Scout Snipers and Force Recon were using a lot of Nazi iconography.
He can’t be any worse than Collins, I just hope all that shit is actually behind him. He waited a long time to address his tattoo. He also has said some WILD shit on Reddit.
https://apnews.com/article/maine-platner-senate-trump-mills-tattoo-collins-fa8328a3c8aa5d5e0f34adb379e977b8
I'm least worried about the Reddit comments. I think he addressed them well by going through them chronologically and showing, "yes, I said some shitty stuff between 2009-2013, but if you look at the last 5 years, I'm clearly saying the opposite of that. These are shitty views that I outgrew."
The Nazi tattoo has not been well addressed, to my mind. I can believe that he didn't know it was a Nazi symbol when he got it. I can't believe that he didn't find out, in 20 years of having it, that it was a Nazi tattoo. I think he might have been some sort of Groyper when he was younger, and while (like the things he said in Reddit) I think he outgrew that, I don't think he wants to admit it.
That being said, Platner seems like a genuine progressive, but there is a small chance he is actually secret Nazi, while Mills is a centrist hand-picked by Schumer, who has spent the last two years capitulating to Nazis. Seems to me that there isn't much difference between a Nazi and a Nazi collaborator, so you might as gamble on Platner being genuine rather than hand Schumer and the collaborators another vote.
I once knew a very educated and kind man with a Confederate flag tattoo something related to his military service. Everyone in his group got one it was tradition.
He came to regret that tattoo as he grew as a person and grew to understand its meaning and context.
I would vote for him in a heartbeat. Honestly one of the best people I've ever known.
All of this is to say, don't disregard a person's past actions but also don't allow that to forever overshadow someone's actions. Especially when they are trying to be better.
And before anyone says it of course context matters. Someone puts on their robes and attends a KKK rally is going to have a lot less forgiveness from me unless they can prove they've made major changes.
But if we don't leave a path for people to improve they won't. They will be further and further pushed into their ideologies.
I fully believe the narrative of "I got a skull tattoo from the wall of the shop that my marine buddies all got together."
As far as Nazi symbolism goes, that's one of the lesser used and more generic symbols. It was only used on uniforms of a specific subset of Nazis, the ones DIRECTLY involved w/ concentration camps, not the MILLIONS of other troops. It was not emblazoned on flags/banners, money, vehicles, etc. Basically, it wasn't part of the branding you would see anywhere outside of a (relatively) small group of people, conservatively < 5% of uniforms. Tons of different military orgs have used skull symbols throughout the ages.
I could definitely see anyone impressionable enough to join the marine infantry just not having enough historical knowledge to recognize that particular skull as Nazi symbology.
If the tattoo was on his arm or somewhere commonly exposed, I could see someone calling him out on it in the intervening years. Of the people who would see him bare chested, how many would recognize it? Of those, how many would bring it up to him vs silently judge him?
I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that he was ignorant of what he had tattooed on his body. Much like his past, when he learned the error of his ways, he addressed it and corrected it. This is the definition of what leftists do and the source of the (now tainted) concept of "becoming awakened" to how fucked up the world is. He started off surrounded by people who successfully encouraged him to join the marines, he's come a lot further than most of us.
Agreed whole heartedly. Im a leftist through and through and It's the most important thing I challenge friends on. How much grace should be afforded to those who have illustrated a capacity for change?
We have to give people an achievable path forward, if we commit ourselves to condemnation then we condemn ourselves to failure.
Old news. I’d rather see a guy change for the better and do the right thing than switch sides while in office like Fetterman and Sinema did.
If you think it's all behind him, and want to support him over the corpo picks..... why even bring it up? It's old news at this point. The people who care, already know. The only thing you're doing now is running oppo by keeping it fresh, unasked; that's the opposite of support. At least be honest with your bullshit, rather than trying to play the "concerned voter" schtick.
That's what you sound like.
that's not at all what I said, but okay, use your cool reference. Everyone thinks you're soo cool now, sooo cool, you're so cool dude, cool meme.
They're really streets ahead.
I think he Britta'd the meme.
If you never allow people to change they won't. Everyone is waiting for Trump to lose support, but every time some that voted for them begins to regret their choice people go full on to ridiculing them. Honestly this is something I'm guilty of doing myself
Also context is important. When I was in elementary school the teachers had us make headdresses and wear them for Thanksgiving. Pretty racist stuff. At the time I didn't think anything of it as I did not know the meaning of these symbols just that I was being encouraged to wear/user them.
Sometimes I also think people forget that being able to Google anything at anytime is relatively new.
Same here, I have a single Trump friend (I keep him close more to keep tabs on him and have an occasional argument). He’s very suddenly soured on Trump, like in the last week or 2. I’m still not sure if it’s genuine regret, or just that whatever Tucker says he believes. My response has been low key and understanding, bot gloating or told-you-so-ing.
I don’t know if it’ll last or what the next stage of his insanity will be. I’ve been trying to push him toward class warfare instead of the right/left bullshit and I think some of it’s starting to stick, but he definitely started his political leanings to own libs and because he thought Trump was funny.
I think you mean "totenkopf"
Thanks, I'll make that correction.