this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2025
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Did you see the video or just listen to it? In case not, here is a link to the part of the podcast where they play the video showing the tattoo.
But one is by far the most well known; you may remember it from Mitchell and Webb's Are we the baddies?
I watched the video. I'm not arguing that it is the same skull used by the Nazi SS. I'm arguing that specific skull wasn't created by the Nazis (here it is on an 18th century pirate flag)
and it wasn't used last by the Nazis (here it is on a US special forces patch used in Vietnam) 
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The US military has used all sorts of eagles, swords, crosses, skulls, double lightning bolts, etc over the years that were also used by Nazis at some point. I just don't think it is reasonable to say he's a Nazi based on this tattoo alone in the absolute absence of any other evidence of any sort.
There's just no way the US military allowed Nazi symbology to proliferate amongst its ranks. That's certainly never happened before. We're the good guys /s
It could be that, or it could also be that the Nazis copied some of this stuff from the US. They admired our treatment of black people and borrowed a lot from us.
No, totenkopf was symbol used in XIX century by Prussian hussars. They were pretty badass so it spread a little in different forms in the region, but it only made a world career by being symbol of SS.
The pirate flag I posted earlier was from the XVIII century. The skull and crossbones in general was used by pirates from the XVIII century onward. In general it was used in Europe since the late middle ages, originating in Spain. The Hussars were just the first military regiment to officially use it.
The skull of Adam at the foot of the Cross: detail from a Crucifixion by Fra Angelico, 1435
Here is a grave in Ireland, likely from around 1730 with the symbol.
And I'm just sticking to depictions with the left facing 1/4 turn that the SS most often used. I guess my point is that the association of the symbol with death far elipses it's association with the SS.