A punk rock fan is learning the hard way that while anarchy may have been one of the core tenets of the genre, Nazism absolutely is not.
Consider it the latest chapter in the phenomenon of right wingers seeming to have no idea what their favorite music acts stand for, like their yearly uproar over discovering that Rage Against The Machine are, in fact, raging against a specifically right-wing one.
Over Memorial Day weekend, a man attended the Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival in Las Vegas while proudly sporting a Nazi T-shirt. And, oh boy, did it not go well for him.
The man wore an orange t-shirt that bore the emblem of the SS, or Schutzstaffel, the most important paramilitary group in 1930s Germany that were a major force within Adolf Hitler's regime.
Its logo of two S's shaped like lightning bolts is often co-opted by members of American far-right extremist groups.
Whatever reception the man seemed to assume he'd get at a punk rock festival, it was likely not the one he got.
Video showed other attendees shoving the man toward the exit. Others punched him along the way, and people from the crowd could be heard yelling things like “No fu*king Nazis" and "get out of our scene" at him.
One of the seminal tunes from the punk rock genres is the Dead Kennedy's "Nazi Punks Fu*k Off," so it's not really a surprising response.
On X, many cheered the attendees of the festival for taking such a zero-tolerance approach and creating an environment that is openly hostile towards far-right Nazi adulation.
And many had pointed words for anyone calling for a more measured response.
Sure, violence rarely solves anything. But when's the last time you heard about far-right leader Richard Spencer? Probably when the news dropped about him being punched in the face in the streets of DC. Makes you think!
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