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When I was a little kid, I thought the ghost outfits looked cool. Does that make me KKK because I had a stupid idea as a youth?
We all have moments in our life that we regret. The man's actions then may have been misinformed. Do you condemn everyone for transgressions forever? Have you made mistakes that you can't take back?
Point being - despite that ~~symbol having been reappropriated/misappropriated/etc. from Nordic symbology~~, could there be a chance that it was done by an impetuous Marine in his HOOOO-rah days thinking "man, that's some cool skull and bones," and not something ingrained in their psyche or philosophy? Irony being the Mitchell and Webb skit being more on the nose than usual.
Edited: *I did not realize that the skull and bones was the symbol. I thought people were up in arms about the Norse wolf since there are some white hate groups that use their symbols/runes.
The totenkopf is not an appropriated Nordic symbol.
Oh, lordy - fair. I gravitated to the pregnant wolf with the knot since there's a trend of white nationalists to use that symbology. Editing my above statement slightly.
What an absolutely insane attempt at an analogy.
Platner wasn't a kid when he got the Totenkopf tattooed. You can claim innocence as a kid, he can't. That's the difference.
Also, assuming he did a stupid tattoo when he was serving and he didn't know - and yes, okay, everybody makes mistakes - he had 17 years to find out. Not once did anyone in the supposedly Jewish side of his family point out that he had a SS tattoo on his chest? Not once did he have the curiosity to find out exactly what he had had tattooed all those years ago? Really?
Draw your own conclusion, but I'm not buying it myself. Like I said, at best it's sketchy. And if you're not sure whom to vote for in Maine, this might tip the balance, because nobody who isn't MAGA wants to vote for someone who reeks of Nazism.
And that's why I'm saying he's a terrible candidate, and the dems just don't know how to win anything.
It's a skull-and-bones. In modern day it is far more associated with pirates than it is Nazis, and he was in the Marines.
You really believe he knew it was a nazi tattoo and still chose to get into politics on a platform that is the direct opposite of the establishment? And somehow not knowing the establishment would turn over every rock to discredit him and a nazi tattoo would easily kill his political career. And then also piss off all the nazis by publicly covering it up? And also not have the insight to side with the republicans where Stephen Miller literally plagiarizes Goebbels to give a public nazi speech? If he wanted to be a nazi politician he would've had far easier time being that by siding with the republicans and not run on a platform that pisses off both republicans and democrats.
I'm drawing the conclusion that he was a dumb ass crayon eating marine who got his tattoo vetted (multiple times) by the USMC and didn't think anything more about it. Because the alternative is that he's the biggest moron on the planet and Nick Shirley exists so he's obviously not the biggest moron.
Yeah alright. Fair enough. Your argument is valid.
Then like I said, if he's not a Nazi, I wouldn't vote for crayon-eating dum-dum.
He was a crayon-eating dum-dum. It's pretty clear somewhere along the line he stopped being a crayon-eater and grew up. 10-20 years ago I wasn't a crayon-eating dumbass but I was a neoliberal dumbass, now I openly criticize neoliberalism for being fucking stupid. People change and I doubt Platner holds the same views he had 20 years ago when he was a dumb grunt.
Were you also at Abu Ghraib? Did you also serve several tours in Iraq, murdering countless civilians? Did you also work for Blackwater?
Is he still in Abu Ghraib? Is he still murdering civilians? Is he still working at Blackwater? And perhaps more importantly, has his military career made him more pro American foreign policy or more anti American foreign policy?
Maybe I'm crazy, but gleefully murdering and torturing Iraqis is typically a deal breaker for me when it comes to elected officials.
Couldn't really care less if he became a fucking monk afterwards
Gleefully? Fucking gleefully? Could you be any more disingenuous?
Whatever, it's not my job to change your opinion. If you want to hold every mistake he's ever done over his head go ahead, just don't fall off your high horse. And if it's such a deal breaker continue voting for the politicians who have seen war only in movies and have no guilt over sending youth into a meat grinder.
Yes, fucking gleefully.
Do yourself a favor and Google "Graham Platner quotes about killing"
Jesus Christ how low is the bar? Yes I'm going to hold his words and actions against him, he's running for public office and those words and actions are fucking horrifying.
I gave you the bare minimum of doing the google (which I shouldn't be doing in the first place because it's on you to prove your statements) and found literally nothing, so unless you can cite your source I'm going to stand by what I said.
I'd like to ask you what kind of person voluntarily serves four tours in Iraq (including guard duty at Abu Ghraib prison), only then to get a job at Blackwater to continue the same kind of work? What kind of person does that? Even without the Nazi tattoo, that would have been more than enough to raise red flags. Shit man, just working at Blackwater is a problem for me.
Anyway, there's a full archive of his reddit posts and comments, which is why I said to Google it yourself.
I will concede that maybe "gleefully" is a little hyperbolic, and "without empathy or remorse" is probably more accurate.
I'm not going to continue talking in circles. I've addressed what you said in two ways. First I asked
Which you continued to ignore. And since you weren't interested in having that conversation I responded with:
There's no discussion to have here. You're hellbent on hating the guy so the only way for me to treat you is the same way you treat him, which means I don't give a shit that you're now conceding that "gleeful" was hyperbolic, you already made your mistake so you're forever disingenuous.
Fuck Nazis and fuck murderers who get Nazi tattoos.
And I guess fuck me for having standards.
No, but if you want a "fuck you" you can get one for being fucking disingenuous. Forever and ever baby, nothing is going to take that away from you.
So, you'll vote for the actual fascist instead?
Apt username.
Did you even know what traits separated a totenkopf from any other skull and crossbones before this scandal? And your hypothesis is that sometime in those 17 years his Jewish family recognized it, told him, and he said "nah, I'll keep it"? The secret Nazi theory just doesn't make any sense.
The reality is the totenkopf is a relatively obscure symbol, is similar to popular benign symbols, and tattoos blur over time. That's why he got through the military tattoo reviews.
According to Wikipedia, nothing distinguishes a totenkopf from other skull symbols, with or without bones behind it. Poison symbol? Totenkopf. Punisher logo? Totenkopf. Skull with a bullet hole in it? Believe it or not, totenkopf.
This is so fucking disingenuous.
Might want to think about taking a step back and considering why you're defending Nazi symbology
Go read the Wikipedia page. It's silly.
I have no idea if it's a realistic depiction of what qualifies or not, but practically any skull used in a vaguely militaristic context qualifies under its description.
I'm Jewish, if I saw that on his chest I wouldn't have any idea what it means. How could I inform him of his mistake if I didn't know. And if I did know I would have been steering clear of him, not talking to him about his tattoo.
you:
me:
Why do people think this is a good defense? How low is the fucking bar?