Yes.

In light of “Alt-Right” leader Richard Spencer getting physically assaulted by a member of the Anti-Fascist, or AntiFa, during an interview in Washington on Friday the Internet has become a debating ground for this single question: Is it okay to punch a Nazi?

Yes it is — in the opinion of this writer — absolutely okay to punch a Nazi, “Alt-Righter,” “White Nationalist,” Neo-Nazi, or whatever they brand themselves as.

The year is 2017 and people are actually having heated debates over whether or not it is okay to hit a person whose political ideology consist entirely of hatred and a false sense of racial superiority. If I had been asked this in 2013 I would have thought it was a joke. If I had been asked this in the 1950s I would have said I was expected to.

So why is it any different now?

As far as I am concerned the Nazis of today are still as vile and disgusting as they were in the 40s so why treat them any differently?

I believe it is because of our current view of Neo-Nazis.

When people think of Nazis they usually think of the large crowds of Wehrmacht soldiers armed to the teeth, ready to kill however when people think of Neo-Nazis they usually think of the anime profile picture-wielding, overweight, stay-at-homes who spend most of their time arguing politics with people on the Internet. This watered-down and relativity degrading schema of Neo-Nazis creates the belief that they are harmless when in reality they are far from it.

Many people seem far too willing to be apathetic and take a back seat waiting for something bad to happen rather than go out and make the difference. This ever-so-prevalent contentment with being idle is exactly what lead to terrible events in history such as the Great Depression, Rasputin’s two-year rule over Russia, and — ironically — Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. By taking absolutely no action people are directly contributing to the problem.

The best way to stop Nazis, Neo-Nazis, and racists alike may not always just be through punching them in the mouth, however, but rather through the idea of punching them in the face.

In other words: Re-education.

It’s a well known fact that fear is a great deterrent and for many people being punched in the mouth is a fear. By making hatemongers afraid of marching around as freely as they do, people can deter them from killing others and even spouting their propaganda in public. As malicious as it may sound, their fear is instrumental in the reformation of their ways because no one would willingly change their way of life or thinking without some form of extrinsic motivation.

As much as people would love to just hug issues out, violence is sometimes the only option, whether physical or verbal.

A great example of this is the rehabilitation by force is the conversion of white supremacist Derek Black.

Black, following in the footsteps of his father Don Black, who was the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and founder of the “white nationalist” website “Stormfront”, would travel from convention-to-convention, college-to-college, and even appear on radio shows to give extremely racist speeches on “White genocide”, the “impending White Revolution”, and how “White America should be restored”.

Black stopped preaching White Pride and changed his racist ways after he was exposed during his time in college.

After a peer found his face and rhetoric while researching online terrorist groups, pictures of Derek Black with the words “Derek Black: white supremacist, radio host…new college student???” began to appear around the campus. This effectively caused Black to become isolated by his peers and he even began to receive hateful messages. All of the hate that compiled against Black caused him to introspect a little and reevaluate his viewpoint on other races.

It is near impossible to make someone abandon and amend their philosophies without some form of external motivation, Derek himself has even said this. The fear that motivated Derek Black to turn over is the same fear that should be used to goad the Neo-Nazis of today into renouncement.
So to come full circle, it is — in the opinion of this writer — okay to attack a Nazi, whether it be physically or not, so make sure to coerce your local Nazi punk and say “Goodnight!” to White Pride.