The Provost / سيدة الفتنة@MsEntropy
Thank YOU for caring! I also just had an in-depth conversation about this whole thing with a former Neo-Nazi I know extremely well, as I wanted his perspective (and I think the debate reflects just how dehumanized Palestinians are — so I feel a comparative case cuts to the heart of the matter more clearly). He left the movement when I was still in high school (2001), and didn’t enter an activist capacity of his life until 2015. After I filled him in on the Shaeil / Adam Project story (note the parallel concerns below), his first response was:
“Seriously? Imagine Jeff [a fake former and grifter who pretended to be out — after an arrest, mind you — and not just immediately began a ‘derad expert’ grift, but also literally flushed his phone down the toilet to prevent police from obtaining his contacts for the Charlottesville civil suit] having control over anyone’s data?! HELL NO. The audacity!”
I think this former Nazi’s reaction is CRUCIAL for folks to consider, namely because there are paradigms of harm surrounding relative victim populations — Palestinian life is not treated as equally valuable, and even this debate about “helping” them not just reveals that differential, but makes it stunningly, depressingly clear.
Here’s a stark example of what I mean by that:
NO ONE ON EARTH would be comfortable with an ex-Nazi “vetting” Jews and controlling their data NOW, regardless of how long that Nazi had “been out of the SS.
Now let’s apply the same temporal parameters that apply to the Holocaust - how should we ethically respond to a suggestion that a Nazi who left the SS one year ago now (and still maintained and publicly referenced “friends” in his former unit) be entrusted with relief efforts for the same Jewish population *while the Holocaust ACTIVELY CONTINUED*?!
Point being: if we say “it’s a genocide,” and MEAN “it’s a genocide,” we treat the at-risk population LIKE IT IS A GENOCIDE.
Finally, I told the former Neo-Nazi I spoke with that despite how close we are, how long we’ve known each other, and how long he’s been out — I would NEVER be comfortable with him in a public or private-facing data collection / vetting role for any at-risk community (not even those experiencing genocide).
I’ll close with his response to that, as it’s even more telling about what sincere reform, authentic self-work, and ethics in actions looks like:
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I’ve been out 25 years, and not only would it never occur to me to propose something like that, but no matter who asked me or how many times, there’s no way in hell I would even consider it. That’s not my place.”
Says it all, really.
