Just to be clear: I'm not claiming that Iott necessarily
is a Nazi. All am saying is that a guy who belonged to
a group that pretends to be Nazis and glorifies their exploits isn't going to be given the benefit of the doubt from me.[/QUOTE]
Ok I admit it, I had to take just one more peek. It was too good a discussion not to! lol
Anyway JK, This is a fair sentiment, but the part I have bolded above is the problem. You are making an assumption about the group that is not true.
What this group does should not be charactorized as glorifying nazis. I don't know them personally, but I am sure that they would be appaled by such an accusation.
It may seem strange to the outsider that someone could be interested in dressing like a direputable charactor and reinacting battles. I will tell you thought that it is easy to get caught up in such a thing, even if you find the politics disgusting on a personal level. I know that some actors consider villianous roles to be the most fun & satisfying to play.
I am a huge history buff/nerd myself. I am currently on a tear about the boxer rebellion. I can tell you that if there were any groups out there doing recreations of the boxer rebellion, I would be all over that. It is an amazingly interesting conflict and I would just love to be involved in something like that. Now, here is the hitch. I'm a caucasion guy, so I would pretty much have to portray a soldier from one of the european powers, even though I find their policies towards China at the time to be completely disgusting. it would just be such a blast to be a part of that, I wouldnt even mind being a "bad guy." You can bet that I would put a lot of time & care into making my uniform accurate. I would learn all the details I could about my equipment and unit, and spout them off at the least provocation. I wouldn't be doing all that to glorify the way that the whole civilized world gangd up to exploit China. I would be doing it because History is important and fun to me, even the horrible parts. I would be doing it so that for just a bit, I might get a beter feeling of what it was like to be there.
I bet you dollars to donuts, when these guys get together at someone's house, they are not discussing how awesome it was when their namesake unit burnt a village or raped a townfull of women. they are talking about the latest grenade simulator design, or how gary's uniform has the wrong kind of buttons, or how Pete's vulcanized fiber entrenching tool carrier is too "late war" and how he needs to get a leather one, or how many vehicles will be at the next battle.
Yes, it's a little goofy; not monsterous though.
regards, Canis
P.S. Here I am in my medieval armor:
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg206/caniswalensis/SCA/I33ward.jpg
