Jeremy Stangroom

Vigilante violence is almost always wrong. Part of the reason is that by definition it has none of the checks & balances required to ensure retribution is proportionate (which is the lowest hurdle you need to clear before you can even get started on a defence of retribution).

You don't know anything about the random Nazi in the street you want to maim. You know nothing about his childhood, education or mental health. You have no idea whether he was brought up in appalling circumstances. Yet despite this you claim the right to maim him. Well fuck you.

Hmm. Sure we've all been to gigs where this sort of bigot turns up. When drunk their true selves show. Not advocating violence normally, nor calling this heroic, but these guys look for trouble. And it's late, can't show much sympathy.

I've been at gigs where these sorts of guys were a feature not a bug! :)

Intriguing. I used to be straight edge in my youth and we didnt tolerate nazi stuff, often ended in violence. As I got older I realised it was a kind of tribalism, and excluding behaviour. Oft3n done to show off to the easily impressed.

Wasn't that just an extension of warring youth cultures - mods & rockers, skins vs. everybody else, etc?

Yes. Lots of it was transient but there was something nasty about certain types of skins/Nazis which wasn't going to fade in time.