Should the ABC be supporting the Nazi salute in the interest of balance?

I’m a Gemini so I’m always in two minds about everything. Of course, on the one hand, I think Astrology is bunkum but, on the other hand, I would say that because I’m a Gemini…

Anyway, I do get that when governments become the arbiters of what’s right and wrong in terms of values then we’re on a slippery slide towards a dictatorship…

On the other hand, surely that’s the reason we have governments: to legislate about what’s right and wrong in terms of values.

After all, sovereign citizens notwithstanding, governments decide that there’s a general consensus in the community that theft is wrong, so they pass laws against it and we’re all happy with that because we don’t want our property stolen… And I’m not sure that even the sovereign citizens argue that the police don’t have a right to stop someone from stealing their property…

So when it comes to the Nazi salute, we have to balance out the rights of different people. Most people in the general community find the whole Nazi ideology repugnant and feel like any outward displays of something that caused so much devastation is offensive and should be banned. On the other hand, it’s argued, we have to consider the rights of Nazis to be Nazis. Although, strangely, nobody at the ABC – in the interests of balance – has had anyone telling us about how good Nazis are…

I remember someone, when talking about a person’s sexual preference, saying they didn’t mind what they did at home, but they shouldn’t be doing it in the Main Street and scaring the horses. And I suppose a compromise could be that the Neo-Nazis could be allowed to march around their own lounge room, doing “Seig Heil” salutes before invading the kitchen. I suspect that wouldn’t make them happy because part of their joy is getting together and doing those choreographed routines which finish with them raising their arms so that they can smell each other’s armpits without getting too close to their comrades.

Is “comrade” the correct word here? I’ve read various commentators try to say that Hitler was a socialist because of the word “socialist” in the name “National Socialists”. Of course, “Democratic” is in the official name of North Korea and “Sea” is in the name of the city of Sea Lake which is midway between Bendigo and Mildura and “Liberal” is in the name of the Liberal Party. As for the Nationals, it seems an inappropriate title given they only stand in a handful of electorates. Then we have Pauline Hanson’s One Nation which seems to want to exclude most of us from the nation…

Anyway, I do think it’s pretty hard to argue that the Nazis were socialist when they were aligned with Italy’s fascist party who actually called themselves the “National Fascist Party” to save any confusion.

Of course, we can argue semantics for ages and I’m sure that some of the more right-wing commentators will still say that you can’t blame us for the Nazis because they were socialists, completely overlooking the fact that the thing that makes a government good or bad isn’t its economic ideology alone. The fact is that both capitalist and communist governments have unleashed horrors on their people. What makes a government good is the extent to which its laws and regulations protect the rights of everyday citizens to go about their daily business without harm or harassment. Sometimes a balance needs to be struck between the rights of one person over the rights of another, and sometimes this balance isn’t easy, but I think we can all agree that people don’t have the right to shit in a city street because of how it affects the people around them.

Similarly, I’d be happy with the banning of the Nazi salute. But if you have some sort of freedom argument, how do you argue against other people shitting in the street?