“Punching Nazis only gives them more attention” is an argument that only works of you don’t at all understand the weird, contradictory relationship the far right have with humiliation.
Fascists of all sorts rely on feeling humiliated by an overwhelmingly powerful enemy in order to mobilize and justify themselves. Yet at the same time, they have to be convinced that the enemy is inferior. To paraphrase Umberto Eco, fascism must convince itself that the enemy is simultaneously too strong and too weak. This is why you’ll see a lot of fascists, crypto- and otherwise, talk of “crybullies” — they want to believe that the left is a bunch of simpering crybabies, but also that they’re some kind of immense threat to society.
What this means is that fascists want to appear to be persecuted, but they in no way whatsoever want to actually be persecuted. They have to feel like the enemy is an unending, existential threat to their survival, but they also want to project the appearance of being untouchable by their enemies.The moment they actually start to face serious repercussions for being openly fascist, that particular line doublethink falls apart completely. It becomes impossible to maintain the lie that they’re completely unassailable.
If you want an example of this, look no further than Richard Spencer, the guy most known these days as “the Nazi who was punched.” He’s nearly a complete laughingstock among the far right now. They’ll tell you it’s because of some facet of his ideas, but the actual reason is that being punched was utterly humiliating, and shattered any illusion of strength that he held.
