I’m not seeing a lot of people here saying you’re a bad person if you don’t punch Nazis- more that if you’re not in favor of it, stop scolding the people who are in favor, because they have good reasons, and the Nazis really aren’t worth hand-wringing over to begin with. Punching them is a personal choice that carries risk of arrest, and that’s their choice to make, along with accepting the potential consequences.
As for me, I’ve never punched a Nazi (or had the chance) but I could see myself doing it under the right circumstances. I’ll try and break down why:
As some people have already said, actual Nazism in Germany was more complicated- it preyed on people’s national pride after being defeated in WWI, many Germans weren’t aware of the full, horrific scope of what was going on, some may have felt compelled to go along with it for fear of being killed even if they disagreed with it, etc. None of that excuses what they did, but you can at least see a human side to some of them. The Nazis we’re talking about today, though, aren’t being compelled by force by a fascist regime, they have the benefit of historical context and decades of social progress, they know what they’re doing and relish the reprehensible nature of it, and they’ve deliberately selected the most horrific, evil and worst-regarded people in world history to emulate and glorify. These are not people that you can reason with, and they’re definitely not people who are going to change their minds because of non-violent protest. They have no conscience or empathy. Violence is inherent to their worldview, it’s the only language they understand or respect and the only way to alter their behavior. I realize that’s a scary thing to say, but I genuinely feel it’s true- do you really think anyone could have defeated the Nazis in WWII through any method besides violence? If it sounds like I’m dehumanizing them, I really don’t have to- they’ve voluntarily dehumanized themselves, as anyone must in order to become a willing Nazi.
If you believe that, then it just becomes a question of who is going to inflict the violence that will make them afraid to continue their assault on society- the government and local law enforcement, or someone else? And when you have a president that thinks they’re “very fine people”, a police force (and indeed, entire government system) that’s riddled with white supremacy, a country sliding rapidly towards fascism and Nazis in your neighborhood, recruiting people to a cause that wants to murder you and everyone you care about as soon as they get enough power to do so, violence against them doesn’t seem like vigilantism, it seems like self-defense.
