Some Nazis hunt random foreigners in Chemnitz, Germany

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Well, I told you 3 years ago already that this would happen eventually ... but Merkel thought otherwise.

I understand there may arguments against the open borders policy or at least the way it's being conducted, but "it may make our own fascists angry" is a deplorable one.

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Correction: Merkel overburdened neo-Nazis beyond their point of tolerance of foreigners. That is an extremely low threshold, and policy cannot be subjugated to the preferences of Nazis.

Yes. Nazis are not to be accommodated. Nazis are not to be appeased. Period. Because if you do that, you're clearly a moron who learned nothing from history.

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Literally the one thing I know about Chemnitz is that used to be called Karl-Marx-Stady back in the GDR days...

I know Chemnitz because my great-grandma was in the concentration camp there.

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I did not know the Nazi salute was illegal in Germany.

I thought it was a common knowledge.

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Well, I told you 3 years ago already that this would happen eventually ... but Merkel thought otherwise.

I understand there may arguments against the open borders policy or at least the way it's being conducted, but "it may make our own fascists angry" is a deplorable one.

You're fundamentally misunderstanding Tender's use of the dog whistle here, he has no problem with 800 natives committing crimes, the real issue is the 1 migrant and how the people from his background should be punished collectively.

Stop posting false interpretations. I certainly have a problem with "800 natives" committing crimes, but my concern is more the high share of foreign criminals (and it's rising constantly in recent years). Foreigners make up 40-50% of criminals and the local prison population, but their share in the population is "only" 15%. Of course that's concerning me a bit more than the much lower crime rate by the local population. And importing more young males leads to more foreigner crime. Why would anyone want this ?

No one disputes there's a problem, but I'm concerned about taking one-sided view, as a dangerous slippery stone. Because we can say the same things about Latinos in America. The percentage of Hispanics held in U.S. prisons is also higher than their share of general population, but I don't see many people on the Atlas, aside of few usual suspects, who would subscribe to Trumpesque "some, I assume, are good people, but..."

I'm gravely concerned about this line of thinking. Higher crime rate among the refugee population should be addressed, but should not be used to lay the blame on the entire group, or employ the collective responsibility. "Let's deport the lot of them/close the borders for everybody until we figure out what is going on" is punishing people who have nothing in common with the criminals aside of their ethnic and religious origins.

I do not pretend to have ready answers, but the above is not an answer either. I think both sides of this argument can at least agree, albeit from diffrent reasons, the policy was executed poorly. But if there's, let's say, one criminal per eight authentic asylum seekers, the latter seven shouldn't suffer because of it.

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Also, it's fun to watch as  the refugee issue turns collectivists into individualists...which is good, I just wish it wasn't such a temporary condition.

Nice strawman here, man. You never dissapoint.

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I'd argue domestic-grown Neonazis and other militant far-right circles pose bigger domestic threat than criminals among refugees. True, they're benefiting from mistakes made in implementing government refugee policies, mistakes that should be corrected asap (I'm referring to the lack of proper processing, that would allow genuine people in distress to claim one of the fundamental human rights, the right of asylum), to prevent the ordinary people from being influenced by the neonazi propaganda. But we should be really, really careful not to actually cave in to the far right, to avoid the vicious circle that pretty much says "well, we don't like their methods, but they do make some good points", nor to punish the entire refugee community etc. as part of such short term "damage control", because this is what will make the bastards even stronger and more dangerous in long term.

Attempts to accomodate or appease the Nazis never worked.

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I'm pretty sure most of lynching mobs participants in the post-civil war South were just ordinary, normal people who simply allowed themselves to be manipulated by a few demagogues, using the very same talking point we hear now. It's sad, but still can't justify this.

We can talk all days about differences between then and now, but if you fail to see the pattern, that dangerous pattern, you'll one day wake up and see where it lead you. Because if you think this will end on refugees, you're as naive as the likes of Franz von Papen. You give in to such forces, they won't "calm down", "civilize", "go back to normal" etc. They will only grown stronger and more dangerous.