Naaaaaah, fuck that. That is factually false. Intolerance should not ever be fucking tolerated. That's how those movements grow and fester.
I don't disagree, but i'd imagine there is many different reasons and circumstances to how movements grow or don't. You've certainly had groups in the past who grew out of their opponents resistance.
The interesting question to me is; what makes them grow, and what makes them implode? Due to all these threads, I've looked at a shit ton of accounts of former white supremacists, and virtually all of them are explaining the same story as to how they were de-radicalized. Punching and beatings doesn't seem to have much of an effect. But what does seem to have an effect is showing empathy, as it helps destroy their world view.
The guy who lead one of the most infamous skinhead groups in America, was later de-radicalized when he was shown kindness, and it motivated him to start Life after Hate.
And it's not just him.
You have hundreds and hundreds of testimonials online of how people gave up on it after interacting with people of other races. There is this documentary made last year, that I've not seen,
but it's about a black man who convinces 200 Klansmen to quit by simply interacting them.
Same thing with stories like Scott Shepard who was a "Grand Dragon" who got into prison and was forced to reform.
Robert Örell who is a part of Exit Sweden and the Free Initiative basically just also reaffirms this. The Free Initiative
claims that their intervention had a serious effect on the amount of drop outs in hate groups. They want to have a international network in Europe that is funded by the European Union to deradicalize across all the EU states
I assume a lot of people are not really interested in this because ultimately it's about violence for violences sake. It feels good to hate somebody, so there is no need for nuance. This is not just about neo-nazis, but also people on the right, because they got Trump in office.
So we already have people making excuses for being violent against Trump supporters.
We know the sociological factors that compels people to become white supremacists. It's not ideology, politics, logic, facts or reasoning. It's an emotional response. People are weak, miserable and have no purpose for living. Somebody in a hate group pulls up to them, gives them power, position, goals, a new truth and a sense of being.
That makes them feel good- And because they are so weak, they are willing to trade kindness, human decency and compassion with hate. The self is absolved. You're no longer you. You're a part of the group. It's a collective now. You don't have to think independently anymore. It's a psychological coping mechanism.
It's the frustration-aggression principle. Frustration leads to violence on others who are unrelated to the events, because somebody needs to be the punching bag for the outlet.
And this goes left-wing radicals too. Somebody has to pay. And the rhetoric is equally valid; go out and harm people wear the confederate flag, go out and harm people with MAGA caps. The policy of responding violence with violence, doesn't stop because of how you feel about it on a case-by-case basis. It's a bit like with the death penalty. It's a pathos based response because you're so blinded by your feelings, you're not looking at it objectively. You're so trapped in thinking about hurting the criminals, you forget that other innocent people will suffer in the chain.
This entire discussion is a quagmire. One side dismissing the "what if" hypothetical, due to their own "what if" hypothetical. It doesn't really matter what someone elses concern is. You're right. Everyone else is wrong.
I just don't see the empirical evidence that suggest this. And it doesn't make sense to me, why you'd think that you could isolate violence to only one faction. If violence is how we deal with haters in general, then there are many many people who are about to get fucked over, and people are perfectly justified in assaulting them for citing their hate towards a particular group. To me, neo-nazis are not really interesting at all or the cause for concern. It's everyone else, as well as the domestication of normalized violence on the left as a response to the normalized violence on the right.
Btw, referring to your quote, I don't disagree with that at all. However, not tolerating the intolerant doesn't have to mean unmitigated violence.