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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.