earlier replies
Replying to @stilkov
I am one of the primary victims of the genocidal ideology and I firmly maintain that punching Nazis is, in fact, bad
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Do you want to elaborate why you think so? I’d be interested.
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Violence has to be careful, planned, and deliberate to have any chance of not spiraling out control, and Nazis thrive much better in social chaos than good guys do
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Punching Nazis in the streets is much more likely to help their cause than hurt them
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Think of it like police: do police attacking protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets make people think "oh gee golly whiz, I better dissemble peacefully!"
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To me, it’s a bit of a metaphor. I’m not a violent person and would personally not _actually_ punch a Nazi. I have as close to 0 tolerance as I can, though. And if I were the punching kind, this would not be limited to verbal attacks
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And I have a really hard time feeling empathy for a punched Nazi. Or horror at the puncher, who only did what I would do if I had been raised a little differently.
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And finally, I think the Nazis are lost and won’t be convinced by anything, violent or not. Best to make sure everyone knows their behavior is of the deserves-punching kind.
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Are you sure it's only Nazis being punched? Lots of recorded incidents of journalists and bystanders being attacked by Nazi punchers, and there's lots of rhetoric online of "if you're friends with a Nazi, you're a Nazi" splc.org/2017/09/uta-student…

UT Austin journalist assaulted while covering protest - Student Press Law Center

A protest at the University of Texas at Austin against a bill banning sanctuary cities in the state turned violent Sept. 1 when a protester hit a Daily Texan reporter, sending him to the hospital.

splc.org
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That's what I mean by "spiraling out of control". Even if punching Nazis was good at discouraging them, which is highly unlikely, the violence spreads to innocents
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Replying to @hillelogram
All true. I do worry about Nazis getting too much empathy more than about them (or innocent bystanders) getting punched too much, though. On a non-violent level, it’s a bit like arguing they deserve to be debated.

Sep 1, 2020 · 7:47 PM UTC

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Replying to @stilkov
For me it's because I thought it was accepted progressive doctrine that violence is generally bad and it concerns me to see that so many people abandon it when it's disagreeable people getting violence inflicted on them. A trouble change in perspective
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I think it’s because it’s more than just “disagreeable”. It’s about people who literally advocate killing you is sort of OK, or even preferable.
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