As a German, I don’t think it’s much different here than in the US or elsewhere: anyone who is halfway rational has long been able to see how dangerous and inhumane the Nazi ideology is that Musk, Trump and the like represent. Musk’s Nazi salute changes little on what people say about him, simply because it has long been very obvious what he stands for. Those who pretended not to know were just looking for excuses to convince themselves they were still good people for sympathizing with those fascist ideas; they somehow try to convince themselfs that they are not Nazis. These people will just carry on as before. They will continue to look for excuses. Unfortunately, that is exactly what people did before Hitler took power. We all know how that ended.
As a German, I don’t think it’s much different here than in the US or elsewhere: anyone who is halfway rational has long been able to see how dangerous and inhumane the Nazi ideology is that Musk, Trump and the like represent. Musk’s Nazi salute changes little on what people say about him, simply because it has long been very obvious what he stands for. Those who pretended not to know were just looking for excuses to convince themselves they were still good people for sympathizing with those fascist ideas; they somehow try to convince themselfs that they are not Nazis. These people will just carry on as before. They will continue to look for excuses. Unfortunately, that is exactly what people did before Hitler took power. We all know how that ended.