10. The Disturbing Rise of Nazism in 2025
We all know of the current issue of Israel and Palestine being at war with each other. That is not what I'm here to talk about or debate in this post. Any "whataboutism" or comments steering the topic toward the conflict/mud-slinging at either side will be removed. And obviously any Nazi comments will also be removed, kind of a no-brainer.
This post is specifically to address the recent surge of Nazism both online and offline. It is inspired by someone else's post which I originally wanted to comment on to add to it, but apparently they have me blocked, so here we are. Here is a modified/added onto list from their post that includes common "dog whistles" used by Nazis and Nazi-sympathizers online, most of which are officially designated by the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) as hate symbols:
HH: heil hitler
SH or Sieg Heil: Pretty self-explanatory, it translates to "Hail Victory" and was widely used by the Nazis.
18: Representing letters A and H, Hitler's initials
88, 14, 8814 or 1488: 88 means "heil hitler", this coded message where they replace the first letter of a word with a number is very common. 14 refers to "14 words": "we must ensure the existence of our people and a future for white children", quote from white supremacist david eden lane. the latter two are combinations of these.
6MWE, 6MWNE or 6 Million: "six million wasn't/was not enough", referring to the number of jews killed in the holocaust.
AKIA, AYAK: "A Klansman I Am", "Are You A Klansman?"
ORION: "Our Race Is Our Nation"
ROA: "Race Over All"
TND, TKD: These contain slurs I won't type out, but call for "Total Death" of black people and Jews
ZOG: "Zionist-Occupied Government" (Anti-Semitic conspiracy rhetoric)
WP or WPWW: white power/white pride/white power worldwide (it's important to note that this phrase alone does not make someone a Nazi -- just as the phrase "black power"/"black pride"/"black excellence" doesn't make someone a black supremacist. But when used in combination with Nazi-aligned rhetoric, it becomes a dog whistle)
ACAB/1312: Standing for "All Cops Are B-st-rds", it has a long history of use by skinheads before also being used by the more violent sects of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Icons, symbols, flags or logos that use these elements or modified versions of them: Iron Cross, the Odal rune, Siegrunes (SS bolts), Swastika, Wolfsangel, triple parentheses (used by Nazis online around a person or organization's name to signal that they are Jewish, or suspected Jewish), Nazi eagle, burning cross, noose, the "≠" symbol, pit bull (sometimes used as a skinhead symbol due to their use as fighting dogs), these emojis (used together): ✋, 🙋♂️ ⚡⚡
A dog whistle is essentially a code phrase that is meant to only be understood by certain people -- avoiding platform censors, moderation and public shaming/callouts. It's simply a way they can get away with showing their hate without getting in trouble.
With the ongoing media coverage of the conflict, Nazis have found a golden opportunity to rear their ugly heads and disguise their hatred of Jews as "we just hate the Zionists!" or "we just hate Israel!" and other similar arguments. But the charade quickly vanishes when anyone dares challenge them and they revert to using classic slurs and rhetoric against Jews. The old antisemitic conspiracies are being dug up and used, and people are openly proclaiming that "Hitler tried to warn us" and that we "should have let him finish the job". On posts from historical pages showing WWII memorabilia, people are openly calling the Nazis "fallen heroes".
It's a sad world indeed where the owner of a well-known beauty brand (Huda Kattan) can spout off antisemitic conspiracy theories on her TikTok page, and have a large amount of commenters agree with her. She was emboldened enough to do so without fear of any backlash, despite being the face of Sephora at the time -- fortunately, Sephora has made it very clear that they do not support her views, and a Sephora spokesperson has delivered this statement:
"Sephora is driven by its mission to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all. We recognize that comments from one of our brand partners have raised concerns and want to be clear: promoting hate, harassment, or misinformation does not align with our values or code of conduct. We take this matter very seriously and can confirm we are actively reviewing this issue internally, including working with the brand."
An online petition calling on Sephora to drop Huda Beauty has reached over 33,000 signatures so far, and another petition by Never Again has reached 17,000. The ADL has also condemned the video.
In the video, Huda said: "we’re not gonna be able to fight the evil systems that have been put in place, that have been manipulating the system for literally centuries, unless we do this together. All of the 'conspiracy theories' coming out have a lot of evidence behind them -- that Israel has been behind WW1, WW2, 9/11, and October 7th -- they allowed all of that stuff to happen. It’s absolutely crazy. Like I had a feeling, I was like, were they behind every world war? Yes. Behind September 11? Absolutely." She also went on to claim that Israel "hides pedophiles and harvests Palestinian organs".
TikTok told BBC and CNN that it removed Huda's video for violating TikTok's guidelines -- but Huda claims she took it down herself, saying people were "taking what she said out of context". She called the criticism of the video a "smear campaign" against her and her brand. She also posted a six-minute long "apology" video stating, "I would never condone any hate of any kind. That, of course, includes Jewish hate. The fact that I even have to say that is so weird to me because it’s so obvious. I never even mentioned the word 'Jews', I never mentioned the word Holocaust, I never mentioned any of those things. It's unfair that you can't criticize the actions of Israel without being mislabeled."
However, she also said this of the criticism she received: "To silence you from speaking out, they do what they always do — they twist your words, label you an anti-semite."
Who, I wonder, could be the "they" Huda is clearly talking about... As I already explained above, Nazis don't use "Jew" anymore, they've moved on to more socially acceptable terms to disguise their hate. "Israel" just happens to be the latest dog whistle. If she truly were talking about Israel alone as she claims, then surely she would know that the state of Israel wasn't established until 1948, 3 years *after* World War II ended -- it is quite clear she uses "they" and "Israel" interchangeably with "Jews". Her rambling accusations of hiding pedophiles, harvesting organs, and secretly manipulating world governments all echo classic centuries-old blood libels and conspiracies.
Other netizens don't even try to hide behind codes and dog whistles -- they are direct and openly use slurs, racist caricatures, and continue to spread conspiracies and stereotypes. The craziest part is, this is not only aimed at Jewish people, but anyone they even remotely suspect *might* be Jewish. Several women have already been assaulted on public transportation because they "looked Jewish". Despite not being Jewish, I myself have been subject to online harassment and slurs simply for pointing this out. And despite TikTok taking down Huda's video, the hundreds of comments and posts I've reported for this behavior are never removed. The same on Instagram and other platforms.
And make no mistake, if you support this behavior and ideology, or behave this way and say these things yourself, *you are a Nazi.*
EDIT 1::::: Adding on a bit here to talk about the "Vril" thing as well, since it's something I actually wasn't aware existed.
The Vril Society is an *alleged* secret society that some believe gave birth to the Nazi Party. It was named after a 19th century novel called "Vril, the Power of the Coming Race" about a "superior race" that lives underground and eventually moves up to the surface world. They also had highly advanced technology, telepathic powers and controlled a powerful energy source called the Vril.
At the time the book became popular, a lot of people believed in the possibility of a secret antediluvian race, so there were people who accepted The Coming Race as fact instead of fiction, and they became the Vril Society. Or, so the story goes. There actually isn't much -officially- written about this so-called secret society except a book from 1967 (which the authors did not confirm was factual or fictional), and an article in 1947 from a German defector who spoke of "a society that searched for Vril" in Berlin.
Supposedly, the society was established in 1921 as the "All German Society for Metaphysics", headed by two mediums who claimed they had contact with "the Aryan aliens", and were given the goal of spaceflight to reach the Aryan home planet of "Aldebaran". Many other members of the society were also part of the Thule Society, an occult movement that existed around the turn of the century.
By the end of 1922, the Vril society had supposedly created their first flying disc, known as the "Other World Flight Machine" meant to be a test for space flight. Rumor has it that two members of the society who were high-ranking Nazi officials received government funding for this work. By the early 1940s, people began to suspect Hitler's involvement in occult secret societies, so as a result, Hitler enacted a law to ban all secret societies in 1941.
I'm sure there's far more info and theories out there if anyone wants to take a deeper dive into it, but basically people say after the defeat of the Nazi regime the Vril Society supposedly escaped to Antarctica and remain there to this day. Nowadays the only mentions of them come from the exiled government of Sealand, which currently promotes "Vril free energy" and "Vril disc aircraft". There are allegations that the head of Sealand is in contact with modern day Neonazis; so it's safe to say there's still a sort of "fanbase" for this Vril thing, best to avoid people who are into it.
This blog originally received 100 Kudos.