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Elon Musk’s daughter says father’s rally gesture was ‘definitely a Nazi salute’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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You may not be aware, but Nazis (both traditional and the neo variant) love dog whistles.
Obscure and hidden symbolism is core to their ideologies.
Nazis (and most hate groups in general) love doing things that are just innocent enough, but with a wink or a nudge, demonstrate clear intention.
It's quite easy to not do a nazi salute and when public speaking, politicians (and people who practice their public speaking skills in general) have traditionally been coached on what features may be construed as, just look at the traditional 'non-threatening' two finger point.
Finally, I don't think it really matters what it technically was or wasn't, what matters is perception and reception.
Edit: I want to add some concrete examples of nazi dog whistling and symbolism.
Historically the numbers 88 have been used by neo Nazis to represent HH (8th letter of the alphabet) as a disguised way to say 'heil Hitler'
The numbers on their own don't mean anything, but given additional context, behaviors, or related ideals, then an additional meaning can be found.
This is often used as an intentional way to inform sympathizers to your position that you are on their side (for example a group at a political gathering) without overtly communicating your position to those opposed.
Another example is skinheads (not sharps) wearing and lacing their boots in a certain way with specific color laces.
Hitler himself was immensely into the occult and found hidden symbolism to be very powerful, it's part of why he repurposed so much religious iconography.
Yeah, I understand that. And I've spent some time online talking with neo Nazis, and I know how they act. I just don't think he actually is. Conservative, yeah, but not a Nazi.
Does it really matter if he's deliberately advancing a fascist agenda?
Yeah, because if he's indeed a nazi, he's pretty incompetent at converting people into nazism. Some politicians such as Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have done a hand gesture that resembles the nazi salute in their political rallies, but nobody at the time screamed they were dog whistling nazi symbology. Raising one's hand to salute the audience is just a natural gesture, not some intricate gesture that's exclusive to a bonafide nazi apologist.
Lol, no they haven't, and if you have a hard time seeing a chest pounding and sharp arm raising as a Nazi salute but buy a frozen frame of a wave as potentially equivalent you're deep into the conservative media ecosystem looking for a reason to excuse him.
It's not a hand wave, it's a frame-perfect Nazi salute with the beginning middle and end. There's nothing he could have done to make it more accurate a Nazi salute other than speaking German at the time.
https://gifyu.com/image/bzsAP
What I see is Elon haters clinging to this salute as if it's the one silver bullet that will somehow make him lose Trump's or the Republicans' support. But their insistence on this is like preaching to the choir, as right-wingers simply don't care—some even like Elon more for being gutsy.
If that's all they've got on Elon, then he's sure to keep his job at DOGE. And Trump is laughing all the way to the bank, as the anti-Elon sentiment shields him from criticism, as social media's attention is mostly spent on Elon instead of Trump.
Nazi symbolism is "gutsy". God Elon-stans are such fucking losers.
Sorry, English is not my first language. What I meant is that some may see him as wacky and irreverent.
It's very easy to find an image of a politician, or anyone really in the public eye, doing what appears to be a Nazi salute. Pretty much any gesture that starts with the hand below shoulder level to above head level may well briefly transition between those two that could result in an image that appears to be a Nazi salute from one angle or another. It's much harder to find video that closely mimics actual videos of Adolf Hitler doing a Nazii salute, even harder to see it happen twice just moments apart.