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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JackMann" data-source="post: 8914545" data-attributes="member: 7038283">The thing about red flags is, they're often not an issue in and of themselves. They're just... a sign that you may want to look closer. I don't judge someone to be a Nazi just because they have an interest in WWII Nazi tanks. If they just like the strategy and modeling side of things, that's all well and good. Or maybe they just really like that kind of fiddly overengineered technology. That said, I will watch a little closer for other signs. If they're also super into the crusades, well, I already knew they were into history, but that can be a troubling correlation with the German stuff. If they have a marble statue avatar and a Latin username, well, you wouldn't think that would be such a bad sign, and yet. And yet.Once you notice those, you can see if there are any other datapoints. Do they defend the "clean werhmacht"? Do they go on about the superiority of Spartan warrior culture? How do they talk about people outside of the Western world? How do they talk about women?Because ultimately, it's not that having those interests makes you bigoted. But people who are bigoted are much more likely to take up those interests and adopt those symbols. Because to them, the Germans weren't just one of the belligerents in WWII. To them, they're the good guys. And it stops being about "Here's how the tactics around this sort of conflict worked" and becomes "Here's how the superior ubermensch nearly defeated the degenerates." It's not "The sociopolitics of the Crusades has some really interesting dynamics," it's "Deus Vult!" It's not "I have an interest in how Western thought began, and how a society thousands of years ago had such an impact on my own," it's "Western Culture is the only true form of civilization."So having an interest in the Tiger I doesn't make LaNasa a Nazi, any more than it makes you a Nazi. It's just a datapoint in a sea of other datapoints that make him a Nazi. If I saw your wargames army, I'd be a little more alert, but I wouldn't just dismiss you as a Nazi.</blockquote>

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