• Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      This guy famously just provides reputation rehab for KKK members.

      He doesn’t talk Klansmen out of their hateful ways. He absolves them on behalf of Black people so they can pretend to be reformed and get jobs again. He’s doing them a service, and they frequently pay him for it.

      It’s like the real life version of the “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” episode of South Park, where Randy says the N-word on TV, and expects the world to forgive him after he literally kisses Jesse Jackson’s ass as an apology. (Spoiler: this doesn’t work)

      I’m not a fan of letting fascists take off their uniforms and return to normal life like they didn’t do anything. I’m more of an Inglorious Basterds kinda guy…

      • cacheson@piefed.social
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        1 month ago

        Interesting, this is the first I’ve heard of the “reputation rehab” angle on the guy. Do you have any further reading you could link me to?

        Rather than going full Inglorious Basterds, I think it’s important to have both “carrot” and “stick” options for these people. It doesn’t really do us any good if there’s no way to come back from having been involved in hate groups. Just make sure to keep the Richard Spencer treatment available, to provide them some motivation to get their heads right.