There was a time when I wondered why law enforcement and intelligence agencies continued to track down and prosecute Nazis who were nearing 100 years of age. "What's the point?" I thought. "These people are half-demented by now, probably don't understand what's going on, and can't cause harm. Just ignore them."
In recent years however, as authoritarian rhetoric, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and political violence began to rise, I started to see it differently. Five months ago a man entered a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and murdered eleven worshipers, on their Sabbath day, because they were Jewish. Even after his capture he continued expressing that he wanted all Jews to die. Last week a self-proclaimed fascist in one of the world's least-violent countries entered two mosques and calmly murdered forty-nine people attending Friday worship, solely because they were Muslims. The attack was meticulously planned, announced in advance on 8chan, and live-streamed on Facebook. After his arrest he retained an air of contemptuous superiority and flashed white power signs while handcuffed. Both incidents are celebrated by the global white nationalist community. They consider these vicious murderers to be heroes in an incipient race war.
I believe I now understand, as much as a man who isn't an inherent target of this sort of hate can ever understand, why it's important to implacably pursue and prosecute every last Third-Reich Nazi unto the very grave. We're presently facing the rise of a globally distributed white nationalist movement which has the long-term potential to exceed even the wickedness of Hitler's regime – so we dare not relent. The evils of racism and fascism are so insidious that in our struggle against them there can be no surrender, and no quarter given. Concentration camp guards, radio operators, clerks, camp commanders' butlers – let them all spend their final months shackled to their nursing home beds. This is far too light a punishment for their crimes, but it's all that time has left us.
Much more importantly, it is imperative that all believers in basic human decency remove our blinders and see the danger that we imminently face. These are not a few random events carried out by insane people. This is a rising, coordinated evil born of fear and tribalism, the seeds of which are genetically encoded into every human being. Under the right circumstances any of us could be incited to hatred against people of other races or religions – and persuaded to contribute to genocidal violence against them by our actions, or perhaps even worse, by our inaction.
Please talk about these things with your friends and family. Encourage them to research these events. Reach out to your neighbors and community leaders to express your concerns. Call the offices of your political representatives and demand that they oppose ideologies of hatred and violence. Vote for leaders, at every level, who are committed to working for a future dominated by kindness and cooperation between all people. If you and I don't take up this fight, who will?
* Edited for readability. Bolded first words of each paragraph.