Dearest Aunt Jillian, is it advisable to tell the club management when other patrons who are part of their biweekly Goth Night are bothering you? I don’t want to give the club any reason to discontinue Goth Night but there’s this small four person cluster of swastika-wearing metalhead-Goths who are making myself and a lot of my friends uncomfortable with behaviors such as commenting on ‘Jewish’ facial features, insulting POC Goths in attendance and ‘jokingly’ doing the Hitler salute. Advice?<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\nYES, IT IS ADVISABLE TO TELL THE CLUB MANAGEMENT.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nN*zis are NOT WELCOME<\/strong> in the goth community. They should be removed, including any edgelord types who are \u201cjokingly\u201d\u009d aligning themselves with those fascist scum. Their behavior must not be tolerated. There is no such thing as “jokingly” viewing other people as lesser or subhuman. There is no such thing as “jokingly” supporting a stance that espouses genocide. Any support or even tolerance of hate speech and hate groups helps normalize them. People who “jokingly” support such things aren’t really joking; they’re testing the waters, and their behavior will escalate to threats and violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe goth subculture is no place for hate groups. For that matter, no subculture — punk, metal, pagan, and so on — should include hate groups. Every subculture has had to enforce their boundaries and chase out the N*zis. Hold that line, and make it clear through actions that the hate groups aren’t<\/strong> tolerated. What actions? Sticking up for the people being targeted. Letting the “jokers” know their behavior is not acceptable, through direct confrontation, or things like creating and passing out fliers and stickers stating directly that the scene won’t tolerate them. And if necessary, forcibly removing them. If you or someone else decides to forcibly remove them, keep in mind that the police may get involved; organizing bail and transportation from the station for the folks who clashed with the hate group is especially helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe club management must be told. Organize a group complaint, or make sure that the folks who are concerned commits to voicing their problems as individuals, and as soon as possible. They shouldn’t be willing to have patrons like that; if the management ignores your concerns, then stop attending, because that’s a clear sign the management doesn’t care about the safety of their patrons who aren’t horrible people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lady of the Manners understands your concern about the club possibly discontinuing the night, but there will be other goth nights, and if there aren’t, then you and your friends should approach other clubs about hosting a goth night. Be sure to discuss the club policies toward hate speech and hate groups <b>before<\/b> the goth night is agreed upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In case the Lady of the Manners hasn’t made this clear enough to anyone reading this: N*ZIS ARE NOT WELCOME IN THE GOTH COMMUNITY. EVER.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now, a classic punk musical interlude: <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n