While the rise of the Australian Nazi has shocked many, we’ve quietly enabled their rise, by giving them a voice in the media and familiarising their terminology.
In modern Australia, the ‘Nazi’ is less a hideous figure of years gone by, it’s a loose definition. A way to be noticed, a way to marginalise those you disagree with. Today, Chris Uhlmann annoyed everyone with his moronic assessment that the Victorian government uses a greeting popularised by the Nazis. Uhlmann’s illogical missive trended the term “Nazi” on Twitter, which, at the time of writing, is almost 40,000 tweets strong.
Today is a great example of this colloquial short-handing; by blunting the incomprehensible evil of Hitler’s set, we’ve familiarised it. Unfortunately, as a result, we also have actual Nazis. Be it the demonstration on St Kilda beach, or the motivations of the Christchurch shooter.
However, the localisation of the Nazi was not an ambush, but rather a slow march to this point. Crisscrossing this country in a truck offered me a glimpse into the more extreme edge of the national discourse. But the crackle of the radio provides an unreliable narrator. Often, the only kernel of absolute truth is found tattooed on the walls of truck stop bathrooms. There, free of judgement, criticism or responsibility, resides what we’re really thinking.
Read the article by Dave the Trucker in The Big Smoke.