
A viral thread on how to deal with the far right has resurfaced, for some reason, and it might be the best advice you see today
Back in 2020, author Michael B. Tager – @IAmRageSparkle – posted a now-deleted thread on what was then Twitter. It went viral because of the wise words it contained.
For some strange reason, those words seem somehow more relevant than ever, and – thankfully – someone had the good sense to screenshot them. The screenshot was recently shared on Bluesky by Patton Oswalt.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 3:44 PM
In case that’s difficult to read, here’s what it says –
‘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.’
It struck a chord, picking up more than 100,000 likes in a day – plus comments like these.
1.
This sums up where we find ourselves today in the USA. Too many have succumbed to what they assumed are “reasonable” politicians that are really just terrible awful people!
— barbmiller0.bsky.social (@barbmiller0.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
2.
But, what if the guy that comes in is a dangerously overconfident orangutan who somehow became the most powerful man in the world?
— Overpixelated (@overpixelated.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:29 PM
3.
And, Patton, we are all now in a f*g N-zi dive bar.
— Angele (@angeledehart.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 6:30 PM
4.
Nazis should NEVER be comfortable. Ever.
— Nthn_Smth (@nthnsmth.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
5.
A lesson
— Cycling Aikidoka (@cyclingaikidoka.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:28 PM
6.
I wanted to pull an "im not reading all that- sorry that happened though, or congrats!" …. But this ended up being worth the read- im happy i took the time.
— in open rebellion. (@down2marsgirl.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:26 PM
7.
As a retired bartender I endorse this
— Mr Dr Bae (@dallas-taylor.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM
8.
Nip it in the bud, Democrat legislators. Vociferously object, throw out any bill that even smells of fascism, refuse to take scraps that might help your people but tucked into anti-civil rights bills, take the podium at every chance, boo, delay, use every tool available to deny GOP bills.Crush them.
— Robynne Limoges (@robynne-limoges.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:20 PM
9.
like they say , If a guy at a rally is holding a nazi flag and no one challenges him, it is a nazi rally.
— Mad Mack 781 (@andrewmack4.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:18 PM
10.
Always.
— Brendan Parry Kaufmann (@bpkaufmann.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
11.
A-fucking-men
— Maria Rosa (@helena-dollhairz.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Some kind of druid dude spoke for many.
Wish we would have said no before they took over the bar.
— Some kind of druid dude. (@macantoisich.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 11:35 PM
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Source @IamRageSparkle H/T @pattonoswalt Image @pattonoswalt, Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels