So like… fascism is having a weird comeback tour?

Okay so I was scrolling through my feed and noticed this absolutely wild discourse happening around the new Indiana Jones game from Bethesda. Apparently there’s this whole controversy because Indy is… *checks notes*… still fighting Nazis? Like, the character who literally punched Hitler in the face and stole artifacts from fascists is getting backlash for being anti-fascist? What timeline are we even in right now?

The whole “but why are we mad at fascists?” thing

So there’s this image from the game where Indy is petting a cat and says something like “You don’t care much about these fascists, do you?” and people are losing their minds. Like, hello? Indiana Jones has ALWAYS been about fighting Nazis. That’s his whole thing! It’s like getting mad at Mario for jumping on Goombas or being surprised that Pac-Man eats dots.

What’s really wild is that this isn’t even new territory for the character. The original films were literally about punching Nazis and taking their stuff. But suddenly in 2024, people are acting like this is some radical new political stance? Baby, fighting fascists shouldn’t be controversial – it should be the default setting for decent human beings.

The Twitter meltdown is something else

From what I can tell, a lot of this outrage is coming from Twitter, which… tracks. Since Elon took over, that platform has become like a safe space for all the worst takes. It’s like walking into a room where everyone is competing to have the dumbest opinion possible.

There’s definitely some bot activity happening too – like coordinated outrage campaigns that get picked up by real people who don’t realize they’re being manipulated. It’s the same playbook we’ve seen with all the “anti-woke” nonsense. Create artificial controversy, get people riled up, and suddenly you’ve got genuine humans defending positions that make zero sense.

The mask-off moment

What’s really telling is how many people are just openly admitting they have a problem with fascists being portrayed as villains. Like, hello? If you’re getting defensive about people being mean to fascists, maybe you should examine why that bothers you so much.

It’s like that meme where the guy sticks a stick in his own bicycle spokes and then gets mad about it. Fascism is literally about oppression, violence, and stripping away people’s rights. Being against that shouldn’t be controversial!

Why now though?

This year marks 100 years since fascism really started taking hold in Europe, and it’s like the ideology is having some weird anniversary tour. Social media algorithms love engagement, and nothing drives engagement like outrage. So we get this perfect storm of historical anniversaries, algorithmic amplification, and people who genuinely seem confused about whether fascism is bad.

It’s especially weird because Indiana Jones is such an established property. This isn’t some new character taking a political stance – it’s literally the same guy from the 80s movies. The only thing that’s changed is that more people are comfortable openly defending fascist ideas.

The gaming angle

What’s particularly interesting is how this controversy is playing out in gaming spaces. Gamers have historically been pretty resistant to political messaging in games, but this is different. This isn’t some ham-fisted political allegory – it’s literally just continuing the established themes of the franchise.

It shows how much the gaming community has changed too. There’s this weird segment that seems to think any criticism of authoritarian regimes is “too political” while simultaneously demanding that games reflect their specific worldview.

The bigger picture

This whole thing is part of a larger pattern where basic decency and historical facts are being treated as controversial positions. It’s not just about a video game character – it’s about how we talk about history, how we discuss political ideologies, and what we consider acceptable discourse.

The fact that we’re even having conversations about whether fighting fascists is good should be a huge red flag. Like, how did we get here? When did the bare minimum of not supporting oppressive regimes become something we have to debate?

What it says about internet culture

Internet culture has this weird tendency to amplify the most extreme takes while drowning out reasonable discussion. The algorithm rewards engagement, and nothing drives engagement like outrage. So we end up with these bizarre situations where a tiny minority of loud voices can make it seem like there’s some huge controversy.

Most people probably saw that Indiana Jones clip and thought “cool, he’s still fighting Nazis” and moved on with their day. But because a small group decided to make noise about it, we’re all talking about whether fascism is bad. Which, again, should not be a question we need to ask in 2024.

The silver lining

The one positive thing about all this is that it’s forcing conversations about what values we want to uphold in our media and our society. If seeing a beloved character stand against fascism makes people uncomfortable, maybe that discomfort is something we should examine rather than suppress.

Games, movies, and other media have always reflected the values of their time. The fact that fighting Nazis is suddenly controversial says more about our current moment than it does about the media itself.

At the end of the day, Indiana Jones punching Nazis is about as American as apple pie and baseball. If that’s suddenly controversial, maybe we need to have some serious conversations about what kind of society we want to live in.