Came up on my feed today through some things:


So a little context:
-Jo Cox, Labour MP in the UK, gets murdered in a politically motivated attack on the eve of the Brexit vote by Thomas Mair.
-(Apparently) These pictures show (some of) his collection of books at home, every single one on the bookshelf relating to the history of Nazi Germany and specific aspects (The SS, SA, the role of Goering, etc, etc).
-One other interesting feature on his bookshelf is a bust of the Reichsadler on the top, obviously related to Nazi Germany.

So here's my question - Does owning certain controversial literature and memorabilia (for a non-violent use) show a person's political beliefs, and if so, could it be further used to estimate how far they believe in the cause (i.e. to go as far as killing someone in the name of it)?

This isn't about whether he's guilty or not in the crime (that much is obvious), but rather does possession of this material equate to foreshadowing this sequence of events? In other words, because Thomas Mair owned these books, mounted that Reichsadler on his bookshelf, does that show his future intent to go out and murder someone for those reasons and that the murder was predictable?

I'll put my thoughts on the matter below in a few hours, so have fun talking about it below. I can't exactly enforce a serious discussion on it, but it would be appreciated.

Also:
InB4TwitterIsATerriblePlatformForDebates

No, it doesn't signal that you're a racist or white supremacist - just like owning a gun doesn't make you a murderer (inb4Das)

I don't get it... unless you're being sarcastic.

Sure, if we also treat communist sympathizers with the same degree of severity, by which I mean trial for treason.

Every article I've seen about this explicitly mentions ties to right extremism. Is there any question that the connections are there?

Quote from: ModusPonens on November 22, 2016, 03:32:02 PM

Every article I've seen about this explicitly mentions ties to right extremism. Is there any question that the connections are there?

Are you asking if the guy was a right wing extremist, or if he has connections to right extremism as a whole?

Neither. The picture in the OP frames it as if nobody has fingered the guy as a far right extremist or neo-Nazi, but every article I've seen about it mentions it at length.

Quote from: MyNameIsCharlie on November 22, 2016, 03:11:20 PM

He's clearly radicalized.

A Middle Eastern man shoots a politician, and you find Wahabist literature in his home? You'd quickly say he's a terrorist. You wouldn't say "oh, this is just an individual instance and Radical Islam isn't a problem."

Like it or not, he's showing all the hallmarks of being a terrorist that committed a political assassination.

Right, but we really ever only get that looking back. What the OP is questioning, I think, is something like... I've got a display of Eastern Bloc memorabilia, militaria, and literature. Is this a guaranteed sign that Im going to follow Eric Frein and ambush some fashy American police?

Unfortunately it's impossible to predict or prevent stuff like this from happening. 

I should probably clarify.

Thomas Mair has a long history of far-right leanings, and being a white supremacist (and also got a life sentence for the murder this week), so whether he's guilty and a neo-nazi sympathiser or not is irrelevant. But how Aaron and Josh of Twitter frame it is that it's plain-as-day that he would've done something like this because of the books he kept at home, and that's where I disagree. His letters to far-right magazines suggests more of a motive than owning books about the Nazis, although they could be used in support of more compelling evidence.

I see it as shaming and alienating people who dabble in reading about the horrors of the past so that it might be pushed into obscurity. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and all that.

Reading about the Vietnam war isn't going to stir up some desire to collect gook ears from the Chinese students in the uni, nor is learning about the SA going to get me to beat up opposition party supporters and be a "political hooligan".

I own Mein Kampf and The Communists Manifesto. I despise socialism and Communism.