I dislike it.

Pretty sure my instance blocks it.

I believe it’s counter productive and stifles engagement.

That’s only true in a general sense. Regardless a key component of “doing science” is to reproduce the results of others.

That’s not how science & research works.

We test the things we think we know and publish our findings.

No.

That’s just a silly metaphor.

Suggesting that dems would win more votes by being further left is contrary to established political science.

Sure ok but in a democracy the presumption is that law makers have the support of the public.

In this specific case most (maybe all?) Australian state’s and territories have already enacted similar laws, the federal law just reinforces them. That doesn’t really seem tyrannical?

It’s not really an assumption. Clearly, education and awareness has been insufficient.

That’s a fair point. I didn’t really post it thinking “this anecdote supports this law”. I just think it’s worth remembering the insidious manner in which these organisations encroach on society.

Obviously laws are intended to be policed through governmental force, but they’re also a communication regarding what a society considers acceptable.

For example, if a society legislates that the age of consent is 16, then people being charged with statutory rape is only a small part of the impact of that law. In Australia we literally have police giving presentations in schools to ensure that teenagers are aware of the laws that exist to protect them, and how something that might seem innocent to a 15 year old (like sending your crush a photo of your boobs or something), can have dire consequences. In summary, the existence of the law is society standing together and sending a very clear message that some behaviors are unacceptable, a formalisation of social intolerance if you will.

Fascist organisations have been successfully recruiting, and it seems like they’re gaining momentum. Sure some bar might be able to keep skin heads out, but “soft” social intolerance very obviously is inadequate.

The thing is, these groups don’t start with hatred right off the bat. A normal kid might see a fascist organisation as some kind of boys club. Cool iconography, loyalty, camaraderie, whats not to like? The existence of this law will ensure that people are aware of the depravity of this ideology and reduce their ability to seduce recruits by deception.

They couldn’t win an election as diet republicans.

They’re not going to win if they move further left.

That’s just in this term though.

There’s a ratchet effect over many decades.

That’s a fair and accurate statement.

“Aboriginals don’t have rights” is false, hyperbolic, and unhelpful.

Yeah nah. Any law is ripe for abuse by fascists.

To me the law is less about punishing Nazis and more of a clear statement that as a society we find this ideology unacceptable.

Yeah. There’s not a lot of information there though. Who really knows what happened.

Maybe the police covered it up. Maybe it wasn’t a Nazi salute.

This guy was pretty emphatic. I mean there was nothing about how she’s a good officer or maybe a misunderstanding or whatever. That was a sincere and direct statement of position and intent to prosecute any offenders.

Don’t import this “both sides” bullshit just because you see everyone saying that about the US.

Criticising governments is fine, but Albo’s government is a polar opposite to LNP.

Any politician needs to function within our capitalist society. If you don’t like that, have a revolution and return us all to agrarian communism. In the mean time the PM needs to keep corporate Australia ticking over. That said, there’s a reason Labor has such deep ties to Australia’s unions. Labor has very consistently improved wages and terms for employees, while LNP wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.

Sorry what rights don’t Aboriginals have ?

Remember that Hersant idiot from a few months back did the salute outside a courthouse.

He was found guilty, judge gave no fucks: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-08/vic-nazi-salute-jacob-hersant-court/104443118

I feel like this copypasta is mandatory here:

(transcribed from a series of tweets) - @iamragesparkle

I was at a shitty crustpunk bar once getting an after-work beer. One of those shitholes where the bartenders clearly hate you. So the bartender and I were ignoring one another when someone sits next to me and he immediately says, “no. get out.”

And the dude next to me says, “hey i’m not doing anything, i’m a paying customer.” and the bartender reaches under the counter for a bat or something and says, “out. now.” and the dude leaves, kind of yelling. And he was dressed in a punk uniform, I noticed

Anyway, I asked what that was about and the bartender was like, “you didn’t see his vest but it was all nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognize them.”

And i was like, ohok and he continues.

"you have to nip it in the bud immediately. These guys come in and it’s always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don’t want to cause a scene. And then they become a regular and after awhile they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too.

And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it’s too late because they’re entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down.

And i was like, ‘oh damn.’ and he said “yeah, you have to ignore their reasonable arguments because their end goal is to be terrible, awful people.”

And then he went back to ignoring me. But I haven’t forgotten that at all.

I first saw this on reddit

Also this idiot performing a nazi salute outside court after just being sentenced, got busted. What a nimrod.

Someone performing a Nazi salute is already a Nazi.

Making the gesture illegal is a clear communication to all Australians that we will not tolerate this ideology.

I generally don’t do “slippery slope” arguments, and I also dislike invoking the “paradox of tolerance”, but I will say that I think the messaging here is important.

To me, it’s not “just a gesture”. It’s a very clear and intentional demonstration of ideological alignment, and it’s an ideology of hate and intolerance.

I’m absolutely ok with expressing, as a society, that we will not accept this ideology amongst us. If they want to scuttle around through the cracks like cockroaches then so be it.

Nonsense.

Courts are good at figuring out what constitutes an illegal action. It’s what they’re intended to do and what they have been doing since the dawn of civilisation.

I don’t really care what Nazis think is “cool”.

It’s addressing the underlying problem by communicating the seriousness of the threat of fascism to everyone.