The stiff-armed, fascist salute used to have a fairly narrow meaning.
“I think generally most people still find the Sieg Heil to be indicative and reminiscent of World War II, the Holocaust,” said Kurt Braddock, a communications professor at American University who studies extremist recruitment.
“It signifies that somebody is, if not physically and socially, part of a far right neo-Nazi group, then they at least ideologically align with them,” he said, adding that at times, it’s also been used to signal a kind of nihilistic subversion and nonadherence to what’s socially accepted.
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