One of the most pernicious tactics the current far-right likes to employ is to convince us we did not see the things we have seen, or that what we have seen mean something other than what we have observed. This is rooted in the behavior of places like 4chan’s /pol/, alt-right reddit forums, and now Twitter/X after Elon Musk’s takeover. For years, they’ve loved to play a game where “they were just joking”. Or that we’re overreacting to their coded words and hand symbols, and what we saw was really innocuous and innocent.
Do not believe them.
I remember one user online that I had the misfortune of interacting with whose handle was Alex1488. When it was pointed out that the 14 words was a white supremacist thing, and that 88 was Nazi shorthand for “Heil Hitler”, he naturally claimed innocence with some bullshit about how he liked the number 14 and he was born in 1988. He was, of course, lying, and I blocked him immediately after. I merely wanted to illustrate for others how Nazis, white supremacists, and other fascist types infiltrate while claiming innocence. But their dog whistles are now fog horns, and we need to remember that we do not need to tolerate these people in any public space.
The evening of Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk went on stage and threw a Nazi salute not once but twice. Immediately the excuses came: it wasn’t a Nazi salute, it was a Roman one. It was him throwing his heart out to the crowd. You’re overreacting. How come you liberals always have to lie.
I leave it to you, dear reader, to tell the difference.
The answer, of course, is that there isn’t one.
Do not let anyone tell you that what you’re seeing is not what you have seen. This is the bullshit they will try to pull on you. They’ll post still images with Elon saluting and compare it to Taylor Swift, Kamala Harris, Obama, in similar positions and say “See, you can do anything with a still image.
This is their method of making you disbelieve your own eyes. The truth is in the motion, and in the context. Remember, Musk did this not once, but twice in the same 10 second period. Never mind he went on to make Nazi jokes last night about this event.
It doesn’t matter if Elon Musk is throwing out his heart or making a roman salute or making a nazi salute. Any sensible person can see who he is aligning himself with. He’s dumb, but he’s not THAT dumb. He’s trying to align himself with Trump’s followers who are white supremacists. You have eyes. You can see it.
If you doubt me, go into your office. Have a meeting. Make this salute to your boss or the board of directors or whoever. Film yourself. Defend the gesture. I fucking dare you. You can’t, because it’s absolutely indefensible. People have said that this is hypocrisy of the highest order on their side. That they have to talk about it. They don’t. Don’t talk about it.
But what if he meant something other than a Nazi salute?
It does not matter.
He is not a baby. He knows what he did. Maybe it was a joke, or maybe not, but he knows the message he sent. He made jokes about it on twitter the day after. Hypocrisy is not a value they care about. There are rules for them, and rules for their enemies. You are their enemy. They do not care they have double standards. In fact, they revel in it, because it makes sane people doubt what they have seen.