How to Talk to Nazis

(Without Losing Your Eggs Benedict)

Uh Oh! There's a nazi in the booth next door!

Picture this: you've been doom scrolling for what seems like 34 days now (aka since Jan. 20th, 2025), and your lovely partner/friends decided to get you out of the house and enjoy a nice breakfast at a local restaurant. Except, in the middle of your meal you suddenly start to hear words like 'exterminate' and "they're like vermin" ect..

You're in a public diner, what are you supposed to do?

You could sit there, and do or say nothing. Allowing nazis to feel comfortable and safe to discuss ways in which to kill you and your friends. Further proving that this type of speech in your town is acceptable and something they will face no consequences for.

You could become combatant and make a large scene and start an argument with them, something they will probably learn nothing from other than to maybe rethink how loud they speak though bystanders may now have also learned a lesson about what it is acceptable and unacceptable to say in public. You also risk not getting through to them and leaving them in an affirmed mindset, a high risk low reward scenario.

Or you could call them in. Something that may be much harder to do with your shaking hands (out of fear or anger) and twitching eye.

Maybe the group has an obvious hierarchy? Maybe part of the group is regurgitating sewage they swallowed from fox news back and forth and another part is stuttering something like "well...", "I just think that maybe...", or possibly even a defeated "...yeah".

With a group as such, it's going to take much more personal intervention, but maybe all the small pilot flame of empathy in the latter individual needs is a witness.

So maybe you finish your meal, pay your bill, tip your waiter, ask for a pen and a slip of receipt paper, and recite what you will attempt to say in your head. You write down your name, a website resource (something like joineager.com), and your student email, walk over and say something like, "Hello, my name is Al. I'm an anthropologist. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation and I heard a lot of misinformation. If you'd like to have a conversation about why I think that, here is where you can contact me"

And maybe one of the two old white men will say something to get a reaction from you, but you're not here for him, you’re here for his wife. You looked her in the eyes as you talked and walked away. Though maybe you might say a catty line as a rebuttal as you're exiting, but just because the adrenaline can't handle holding it in.

Thank you for your time - aL Macdougall (they/he)