• Scratch
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      5 hours ago

      Ok, legit though, a friend of mine started going bald in his mid 20’s. Tried growing his hair out but was eventually convinced that shaving his head was a better look.

      Then he started to really get into Melodic & Power Metal and similar sounding music.
      Then Amon Amarth. Which lead him to Norse mythology. So he gets a Mjolnir necklace. And he likes leather jackets.

      Perfectly innocent!

      And he visits some friends in Germany. Coincidentally there is an anti-nazi protest going on. This huge German dude takes one look at the pasty-white, skinhead, Norse symbol, leather jacket friend of mine and gets RIGHT UP I HIS FACE. Very intent on kicking his ass until the people he is visiting defuse the situation.

      I think it’s a funny story, at least.

      P.S. Fuck Nazis. 🖕

      • Captain Aggravated
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        4 hours ago

        So norse runes are nazi symbols now?

        Can we make a list of symbols that aren’t associated with nazis? How much of the Latin alphabet can we keep?

        • Bertuccio@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Nazis have borrowed Norse symbology since like the beginning of Nazis. Their most recognizable symbol is also borrowed from other cultures.

          Unlike the swastika, Norse symbols aren’t so strongly associated with Nazis that they’re now completely unacceptable, so some Nazis use them as a way to broadcast their interests while keeping some plausibly deniable “I just think they’re neat” shit.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            Don’t forget they also called themselves Aryan despite the Aryans being from central/south Asia. They’re generally considered to be Indo-Iranian based on where they ended up and where they started. But it flows off the tongue better to put the former first.

        • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          4 hours ago

          The Nazis were super into Norse runes. Hitler legitimately thought that they held magical powers.

          I’d say I’m surprised you didn’t know that, but honestly, I’m not because there’s a lot of those kinds of things that they don’t mention when teaching about WW2. Plenty of skinhead dog whistles that I didn’t learn about until later on.

    • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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      4 hours ago

      I just want to put this out here because it happened to me. I’ve had a deep interest in Norse mythology since I was a child and have several tattoos featuring runes and Norse mythological imagery. I knew that Othala was a common white supremacist symbol as well as things like the sonnerad, triskele, and valknut so I avoided them.

      However, my most visible piece is a raven skull with 3 runes running down the middle. 2 of them are apparently associated with Nazi shit. Thankfully they’re obscure enough that normal people don’t assume I’m a white supremacist, but it’s dog-whistley enough that I’ve had Nazis assume I was also a Nazi and try to strike up conversations with me.

      For anyone considering getting runes, be very careful with which ones you select and how you present them. Here’s a decent list of Norse symbols that have been associated with white supremacist movements