Springtime for Hitler

Maybe, if all these neo-Nazis keep insisting on dragging their sorry belief systems out of the closet and parading them about in hopes of inciting a riot, the time has finally come to bring out the most dreaded weapon in a free society's arsenal: laughter.

Maybe, instead of just showing up to oppose them, we take it the next step. We laugh at them.

Rick at OlyBlog proposed this as a constructive way to deal with our recent local infestation of the National Socialist Movement's recruitment drive:

I've been considering the following diabolical plan, and I ran it by my class this morning and got a big thumbs up. Here's what we do:

-- Make lots of costumes of Nazis, only make them outrageous, cartoonish, and fantastic.

-- We wear these costumes to the next NSM rally that is scheduled in July at the State Capitol.

-- We prance around in our surreal nazi costumes, making statements about how persecuted and abused we are.

This strategy of mockery has several attractive features. Our presence will deter those who may be vulnerable to recruitment, but would change the dynamic of the demonstration from one of confrontation to one of humor and farce. The comical approach will make their claims about being an abused minority look hysterical. It will make it very hard for them to spin any photos taken from the event. Finally, it will be great fun for us to think of creative ways to dress like Nazis. (The more like Village People, the better!)

I think this is a great idea, for number of reasons:

-- It will channel the anger and energy of the opposition in very constructive direction, and lighten up the whole affair.

-- Humor takes the sting out of their message, and denies them any kind of victory.

-- It's also more persuasive than "white power" chants.

-- It will drive the Nazis, who take themselves quite seriously and want desperately to be taken seriously, nuts. OK, more nuts.

Of course, I'd also be in favor of sponsoring a Nazi Nutball Film Festival in conjunction with all this. You know, show films like The Great Dictator and The Producers.

Meanwhile, the Ghost of Lenny Bruce wonders just what those Easter egg Nazis were thinking. And he reminds us of an old joke:

Q: How many Nazi skinheads does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Eight. One to change the bulb, the other seven to back him up.

I can't think of any better way to chase these people off the public stage than to laugh them off it.