[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVHq0gViMLU&rel=1]

The Nazis were awesome. You’re not supposed to say that. There’s a lot that you’re not supposed to say about the Nazis. You’re not supposed to like their aesthetics. But their aesthetics were awesome in the truest sense of the word — they were awe inspiring. That was the point. Lest we forget.

Bryan Ferry got in a lot of trouble for saying: “My God, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves. … Leni Riefenstahl’s movies and Albert Speer’s buildings and the mass parades and the flags – just amazing. Really beautiful.” But he was right. Every rock-star shilling that big rock n’ roll lie knows it.

There’s a lesson here and it’s not that Bryan Ferry knows what he’s talking about or that the Nazis were good people. They just really knew how to throw a parade. You can’t trust parades. If you claim that their presentation was bad and their symbols ugly, then you’re implying that you can trust good presentation and beautiful symbols, that you can trust awe.

You can’t.

You should say: The Nazis threw a hell of parade– one that made everyone in attendance feel really great about themselves– and they were still a bunch of assholes. Then you’re getting closer to the truth. Give credit where credit is due. They knew how to lie and they knew how to sell. Joseph Goebbels gave birth to modern advertising.

The Nazis were not the masters of the universe but they were the masters of pop culture. If they were around today, they’d be producing the best movies, the best television shows and the snappiest, cleverest commercials. We’d go to their concerts and cheer their stars. We’d wear their logos with pride because they’d look hott. That was their power. Imagery. And they were terrific at it.

Yet, because they were such murderous assholes, people don’t want to say that they were good at anything. It’s understandable. It’s also a horrendous mistake that we make at our own peril. Fascism is a constant threat to a free society. It can all happen and it can always happen. It may even have to happen. People, on some primordial level, crave it.

It’s vital that we understand exactly what the Nazis were good at. They threw a switch that turned men into beasts. We shouldn’t deny that such a thing exists in us or think that we are impervious to it. Rather, we have to know where that switch is and learn how to cut the power to it. That’s the only way we can prevent it from working again.

Accepting the beauty of Nazi spectacle is a good place to start. But try to understand why we find it so. Watch how they appeal to love and unity as well as hate and murder. See how every one of these qualities becomes the other.

But never call the swastika ugly. That is a stupid lie. It’s the twentieth century’s best example of graphic design backed up by that blood-wet era’s best marketing. And you can be sure that today’s fascists are not wearing swastikas. There’s too many brand problems and bad associations. They’ll have a new logo and it’ll be slick. We need to see past the presentation — past the good feelings it gives us and into what it really means.

I suggest we take a cold look at The Yellow Ribbon and leave the Hitler mustache alone.

Unless you want to sponsor it to fight cancer, which you can do here.