When considering the differences and similarities within the Nazi and the Neo-Nazi movement, one may infer that without the former and the mentality that it took to create the latter, neither would exist. Regardless of how or when the two existed, however, one may still question how a sane human being can be capable of containing such hate within, that would lead them to cause harm on to a person that has done no direct harm to them. Although I believe that there is no justification or valid moral explanation for these phenomena, David Apter's Discourse Theory helps in explaining how such a devastating situation may arise and what the mentality of these individuals may be.

Even though the Nazi movement occurred over 65 years ago, some of the same issues, such as the need to follow an authority figure or to be a part of a larger whole as a result of insecurity, inner anger and rage caused perhaps by upbringing, and a need for a scapegoat, still plague the minds of the weak followers and the deranged leaders of today's Neo-nazi movement. Today's most prevalent Neo-nazi movement, the GdNF, started by Michael Kuehnen, was begun based on an ideology, just as the original Nazi movem

ent. Kuehnen used Hitler's agenda in what Weaver refers to as "the long story" to justify the movement. Just as Hitler did, and possessing some of the same leadership skills required, Kuehnen was able to feed his followers the idea that the Superior Aryan race is the victim.

The Neo-nazi movement appeals to some of today's desperate individuals who lack the ability to independently overcome their obstacles. Without a discourse community, according to Apter, no matter how much anger an individual may feel toward society, once he or she "explodes like a firework" and expresses this anger, the person may create havoc for a short time, but then their "flame" will die out. Therefore, it is in this collective community of shared beliefs that the Neo-nazi's mentality becomes dangerous. Once the group has found a leader to help them victimize themselves through an interpretive discourse, the group feels justified in their acts of violence and will continue to follow their common belief. This is accurate in the sense that when a person commits an act of violence on his own, he is branded a criminal, no matter what his reason for doing it may have been. However, when a belief is shared by a large group of people, the violence, in their eyes, becomes justified.

By using the Jews as a scapegoat, the Germans were less ashamed of their defeat in the war since it was not the country's fault, but that of the Jews. In this way Hitler created what Apter refers to as a "discourse community". Since the Germans made their Jewish peers the common enemy, they were able to secure themselves as the reasonable and righteous ones. This of course made the Jews the vermin of society, so all of the problems the country was facing could be blamed on the Jews and all of the violent acts toward them were justified. Hitler's ideology directly targeted the Jews, and made his followers believe that he was exposing the truth, and therefore, all attacks against Jews had symbolic meaning, and brought the Germans one step closer to freedom and raci

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Approximate Word count = 1379
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)