This past year, official social media accounts from the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and other government agencies have adopted a distinct voice online. The posts look like memes, utilizing dramatic AI-generated art, general patriotic slogans, and cinematic language about “defending the homeland” and shaping America’s future.

But if you look closer, a pattern emerges.

Many of these phrases, images, and attached media aren’t just regular social media content. They repurpose language, symbolism, and cultural references with direct connections to neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements. It’s content that experts say is instantly recognizable to those who are in the white supremacist know, but can be largely invisible to everyone else.

There has been not one, but two posts from our government institutions that reuse a phrase ripped straight from William Gayley Simpson’s book Which Way Western Man?. It was published and promoted by the National Alliance—considered one of the “best organized” neo-Nazi groups in the United States. The book is antisemitic, racist, and explicitly states that Adolf Hitler was right.

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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        29 days ago

        They don’t want to break out of their little bubble of toxic positivity where everything is fine and you just need to put your nose to the grind and work hard to get ahead and everything will be alright.

        They think you’re an asshole for telling them EVERYTHING’S NOT ALRIGHT, and things aren’t going to be alright just because you ignore all the heinous stuff going on.

        But they’re like “nah, don’t spoil my vibe.”

        • 4grams@awful.systems
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          29 days ago

          This is the hardest part. I am trying to let go of my anger as they slowly start to notice and pretend like either no one could have seen this coming, or they were against it all along.

          If one single person in my sphere ever just came to me and said “I guess you were right” that would do so much for my mental health. But I need to get past that, and just be happy they finally are coming around.

          I am exceptionally bitter seeing some of my formerly maga associates, getting heaps of praise for waking up while the same assholes praising them, were the ones telling me I’m the crazy one. Clearly still have anger to let go of…

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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        28 days ago

        At least their buffoonery is finally on full-display. Only the true believers could still follow them now.

        (I’ve been saying that way too long and yet…)

          • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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            28 days ago

            Before the election I was saying the Dems needed someone charismatic to go up against him. People told me “He’s not charismatic though.” But that was missing the point.

            Do I personally find him to be charismatic? No, of course not. But he has some strange hold on so many people’s minds, and that’s the literal definition of charisma. Whether you’re charmed by him or not doesn’t change the fact that he has a personality cult.

    • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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      26 days ago

      I mean, yeah… You’re not a prophet. It has been there in the background for many years. I don’t think many of us realized it could become mainstream so quickly and with so little resistance. The problem now is that it’s just subtle enough that for anyone not paying close attention and educated enough (sadly a large portion of the population) they can scoff and claim they’re just being “patriotic.”

    • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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      27 days ago

      Part of the issue is that for all it’s evil, the nazi government was a functional government. Look at all it got done. So any functional government will have parallels. So we need to focus more on the paralells in intentions that are not common to most functional governments.

      Edit: For the slow people in the back… The nazi government managed to invade and conquer all (or nearly all) of mainland europe. If you have ever worked at a large company and seen how poorly company initiatives are organized, you know the nazis were well organized. The methods they used were effective, and have significant overlap with any government that can get things done. Which is why I am saying, focus on the evil intentions, instead of the methods.

      • frongt@lemmy.zip
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        28 days ago

        Like what? What was accomplished under Nazi Germany that couldn’t have been done under other governments?

            • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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              27 days ago

              Yes, and they were obviously functional too. So sounds like you at least agree on that point now. Probably the least relevant thing I said of course.

                • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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                  26 days ago

                  I think “functioning” is able to achieve it’s goals. The word functioning has no moral implications. Money doesn’t magically make an army that wins. That army has a massive logistical need. So it takes a well functioning government to ensure the supplies exist for the army, and that those supplies can get to the army. Just think of countries like hatti. That was not a functioning government. Now there is no government. Lots of countries are constantly having coups and such because they don’t have a functioning government.

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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        28 days ago

        That’s not even true though, “the trains were always on time in nazi germany” is a false statement. It’s simply an emanation of nazi propaganda that bled into mainstream culture after operation paperclip.

        Actual nazi germany was run by corrupt sycophants incapable of getting anything done besides massacres, abductions, and genocide.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          28 days ago

          That’s not even true though, “the trains were always on time in nazi germany” is a false statement.

          The trains line was about fascist Italy. And was also bullshit.

        • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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          27 days ago

          Your last line was my point. Accomplishing the evils it accomplished is not a trivial thing to do. Those things took a lot coordination. So it was good at getting things done.

          • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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            27 days ago

            You said

            Look at all it got done. So any functional government will have parallels.

            Yeah no, functioning governments that don’t coordinate every mechanism of the state towards oppressing, ethnic cleansing, and aggressive imperialism, don’t have parallels worth mentioning.

            Which is why I am saying, focus on the evil intentions, instead of the methods.

            That sounds dangerously close to “the ends justify the means.” Are you saying that if a state has “good” intentions, then they’d be justified in borrowing the nazi’s methods? Because that sounds an awful lot like what you’re saying.

            • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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              27 days ago

              You seem to be assuming a lot about my intentions.
              That said. Let’s take the indocturnation of the populace as an example. Just about all functioning governments do it. Some do it with the aim of making thier citizens happy, healthy, and productive. So do it to further exploit the people. The nazis did it to build a war machine. But the tool is the manipulation of the education system.

              So if you say to me… the government is manipulating the education system, and so did the nazis. It’s not that much of an insult. If you say the government is manipulating the education system to build up a population they can call on to follow orders no matter how evil those orders are… now you are saying something very significant.

              This administration is not only using the same tools the nazis did, but their intentions are very similar. The second half is a much more meaningful statement. And I am saying we should focus on their evil intentions instead of just dogwhistling. A lot of people don’t see the intended goals of this administrations actions, and they need help to see it, and hopefully join the fight. Many who are already in the fight, will fight harder when they understand more of the goals.

              The general strike in Minneapolis was a possible turning point. It could have spread and snowballed. But it didn’t. Too many people just don’t see the goals of this administration. Too many people have become desensitized to the word Nazi. We need to counter the administrations propoganda with things more than just name calling.

  • Ilixtze@lemmy.ml
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    29 days ago

    "Nazis won’t stop promoting their own nazi made propaganda; Nazis are loving it. "

  • Astrius@lemmy.ml
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    27 days ago

    I mean, we practiced a lot of fascist stuff for decades, usually with a liberal smile. Now it is mask off.

      • Astrius@lemmy.ml
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        27 days ago

        Decades of “liberalism” gave us the Taft-Hartley Act to crush labor movements, McCarthyism to criminalize dissent, and the systematic use of redlining to enforce economic exclusion. We’ve seen the carceral state explode and domestic policing militarize under the guise of “public safety,” proving that the state’s velvet glove always hides an iron fist ready to strike whenever the working class actually organizes.

        • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          27 days ago

          It’s true. Much of the evil shit Trump does was done under liberalism where it was fairly popular. Christian Nationalists, Americans imperialists, bigots, and bloodthirsty capitalists were able to accomplish their goals within the system. They could get enough of what they wanted at the ballot box because their views had enough popularity to sustain it.

          However, as neoliberalism eroded the middle class, as civil rights for minorities became more popular, as there was less support for war and supporting authoritarian allies, as people turned away from churches, the right knew there would come a day when they could no longer win through playing the liberal democratic game. They knew that if they waited long enough, left wing populism would usher in either a progressive era of labor reforms, or even more radical changes that would fundamentally threaten their power.

          Under Trump, their goals are either to make their ideas popular, or take away any of the levers of control that regular people could use to stop them. The bigots and the Christians can use the billionaire media and newfound kingdom to enforce their dogma from the top down. Deport enough migrants, create enough anti trans laws, and suppress enough open discussions of sex through payment processors that much of it will become normalized. The billionaires can use those helpful idiots to take away the ballot box as an option and make the hollowed out husk of the government so broken and impotent that any liberal efforts to restrain them will be fruitless. Even the imperialists win because America’s lost ground to China will galvanize future liberals into being more anti communist and cruel in promoting national self interest.

          Liberalism may have died, but it’s fully responsible for its own demise. It always had a fascist contingent that used the republicanism liberal ideology afforded to accomplish their own goals.

  • Eddbopkins@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    how did America become the NAZI home front? all the other countries needs to put a massive embargo on the USA untill this administration is out of power.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      28 days ago

      Once the Conservative Propaganda Machine successfully demonized the Left as literally the worst thing in human history, EVERYTHING else became better. So Nazis, KKK, MAGA, dictatorships, etc. are all preferred to the horrors of The Left.

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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          27 days ago

          “Oh, you mean ¿death panels‽ Where a bunch of faceless, soulless bureaucrats decide whether you’re worth saving or not? You know, completely unlike the wonders of profiteer healthcare!”

    • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      Well, it all started with the greatest and most successful genocide of human history, during which time we became the monolith of chattel slavery. This is literally what inspired the holocaust. So we started being the nazi home front somewhere around 100+ or so years before the nazis ever existed.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        27 days ago

        worked to simultaneously make fascism cool

        Y’know I cringe so hard now at that whole humorous “Muricah” stereotype. You know, gun-nut, God and Country, Reagan was so great, filthy commies blah blah blah. Always with a wry chuckle…it used to be a funny ironic schtick…Colbert parodied it really well.

        …Except it’s hitting hard and fast that it wasn’t a schtick and no small percentage of people adopted it in all seriousness.

        (Like how many people didn’t understand the Space Marine fascism in 40k was supposed to be over the top parody.)

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      Europe is working on it. Notice how they’re starting to adopt open source software and are working on their own credit card processor?

      Right now, their governments and economies are too reliant on US-based tech companies that can be ordered to cut them off. So they’re working on eliminating that reliance ahead of sanctions.

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      short version or long version? because bringing over a bunch of nazi scientists and engineers into our security apparatus in 1945 so they didn’t join the USSR certainly didn’t help.

      • MBech@feddit.dk
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        28 days ago

        The nazis had plenty support from USA until they started invading people. Even then the US didn’t really give all that much of a fuck, and was mainly mad their profits were suffering. Only when Japan attacked USA and they were forced into the war, did they start having issues with it all. Mainly because telling your soldiers: “We’re ideologically very close, but they’re still the bad guys!” doesn’t really work as a great motivational speech.

  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    In a tiny bit of fairness. The US gov has always done a lot of things just like the nazi’s. It’s oh soo much worse right now, and they are not trying very hard (or at all) to hide it like the past. But some people are just now coming around to see how much the government manipulates the people rather than help them. So don’t expect the next administration to “fix” these things.

  • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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    12 days ago

    Use a better method than parroting age old propaganda, yes. Pumpning child troops full of amphetamines so you can surprise your peaceful neighbors. Not functional.

    • AlecSadler@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      29 days ago

      I don’t know how to stop it either, because I don’t think we can (short of violent rebellion).

      Unfortunately, everyone’s just sitting around waiting for the midterms like it’s some panacea. I don’t think they understand that the damages done already will take at least 40+ years to reverse and that there’s a very, very high likelihood the midterms don’t really happen.

  • Jollyllama@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    If I were a conspiracy theorist I would say they are signaling to the Nazis that if the 2028 election doesn’t go their way the administration has their back at insurrection part two electric boogaloo.