That 88 on his cheek isn't the year he was born, @HISTORYUK... https://twitter.com/HISTORYUK/status/1318073947515199489

We've reached the "Lee Mack cheerfully interviewing a Nazi carpenter" stage of our civilisation's decline.

Think we're really past the point now where producers can use ignorance of these subculture as an excuse. Not when we've had four years plus of these pricks' views being essentially mainstream.

We're not saying it isn't a genuine mistake, just that in 2020, if you're involved in the media in any way you need to be better educated about this stuff. Media misinformation is the most powerful weapon the right has to spread its venom.

It's stolen them elections. You can't just shrug and say, "oh well, who can keep track of modern Nazi iconography?" It's not some obscure corner of the internet: it's right there! You're pointing a camera at it!

This is why education in unconscious bias is so vital. It's not just about how you individually treat people: it also gives you the tools you need to better spot the dogwhistles these monsters use in their rhetoric. It trains you to think critically about prejudice.

As a civilisation, we've let this stuff slide for so long that a man with well-documented Nazi slogans *tattooed onto his face* is being allowed to participate in a chummy little reality TV show presented by a mainstream comedian.

Four years ago, an MP was murdered in broad daylight by a man who openly displayed Nazi memorabilia in his home, but it's still considered controversial to say he was motivated by any kind of ideology.

White society is so used to giving its members the benefit of the doubt when it comes to racism that literal avowed fascists know they can get away with almost anything and blame it on a misunderstanding.

This is how a dogwhistle functions: they say, "it's just a number!" and because the rules of debate we inexplicably adhere to demand good faith, we have to nod and say, "well, it is possible they didn't know about the 88 = HH thing when they got it tattooed on their face."

Competitive debate culture - which demands utter credulity, because the idea of the game is you debate your opponent's stated position rather than them as an individual with motivations and a past - has utterly poisoned how we approach politics.

Since a few have asked: 88 is code for HH (H is the 8th), which is code for "Heil Hitler". If that looks like pretty tortured reasoning, that's exactly the idea: he and those who are part of the subculture know its meaning, while for the rest of us it's a random number.

He also has loads of other coded Nazi and White Power tattoos, so it's no accident.

*H is the 8th letter