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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   12759 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 6, 2026

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I don't know anyone with a Nazi tattoo. I do know people who might have plausibly said, while very drunk in Eastern Europe, "Let me get.... uh... oh, how about that sick skull thing? That's the one that'll make people think I went to Yale, right?"

Not that I believe Platner's protestations of ignorance. Too many people claimed that he definitely knew, and bragged about, what it was.

I just don’t buy the argument that “it is something that can totally happen” yet no one knows anyone else that got a Nazi tattoo.

As a nerdy kid who was into Vikings, Roman history, and heavy metal, I feel like my entire adolescence was just a giant minefield of cool as fuck symbols I wasn't allowed to appreciate because some fascists 80 years ago were also nerds who liked viking shit.

Comitting to getting a permanent tattoo, spending hundreds of dollars, and finding a tattoo artist who also is completely unaware of the symbolism though, that starts to strain credulity. I have a hard time believing that a professional tattoo artist wouldn't know better.

I'm totally willing to believe a tattoo artist downloads 'skull and bones' from a google image search to use as a stencil pattern.

Would I be wrong to think that an artist in Eastern Europe would be more likely to recognize such symbols than a random US tattoo joint? I certainly don't have a good feel for the zeitgeist on the ground there.

Croatia specifically has lots of neonazis, so probably. Still doesn't mean Platner necessarily knew it as anything other than a generic skull and crossbones.

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