The Seasaw with Graham Platner

[Jedi Guy]

57. I don't bill myself as a scholar on Nazism but I recognized it as soon as I saw it.

My grandfather fought in WWII, was in the Battle of the Bulge, helped liberate the Mauthausen death camp. I've read enough on WWII and seen enough pictures to look at that skull and crossbones and say "Yep, that's a Totenkopf all right". Your mileage may vary.

And as has been pointed out, the Totenkopf was not exclusive to the Nazis and had a history in the German armed forces that predated them.

So sure, let's set aside the tattoo altogether and chalk it up to a mix of youthful ignorance and the exuberance of young Marines getting inked together.

We still have to extend a very generous amount of grace in light of the accusations of the borderline-violent behavior towards women. We wouldn't accept or dismiss this behavior from anyone else. If we accept or dismiss it in Platner, we're setting aside a value for political convenience, as I see it, and I'm not particularly comfortable with that.