05 July, 2011

we're marching to a faster pace! look out, here comes the master race!

On some days, people suck beyond the telling of it:

[06:13 PM] Welcome Mat: Ƚαɖγš .:ℕ:. ƓεиτεȽℳεη ☆ ℬ��⋋s .:ℕ:. ԌίяԼ§ (*≗*) Ŵ㉫し⊂✪๓Ξ Ⓣ◎ イⓗΞ ℱՐℨΛⓚ ઽℎⓄట

This is one of those days. I am told that translates as "Ladys [sic] & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, Welcome to the Freakshow." Yeah. Whatever you say.

If you ever wondered what character to play in Team Fortress 2 (now that it's gone free-to-play), MightyGodKing has you covered.

And an in joke for players of City of Heroes...you're welcome.

So the kerfluffle over Nazi imagery has reached its twenty-fifth page over on SLUniverse. And, while there was a bizarrely crazed fur who jumped in the middle of the conversation and sent it careening off into the walls of deep-dish conspiracy theory, for the most part, we seem to have reached some general agreements.

Those of us who protest such things aren't protesting WWII recreation. That's ridiculous, on the face of it. And while we don't have consensus on this point, I'm not sure myself that we're even protesting fetish uses--while they're tacky on occasion, and can be seen as offensive, fetish is fetish (and there are worse fetishes to have).

I think what we're protesting is use of the symbology, or referencing the Nazi regime, with zero context. Like, for example, that last link--to a child's version of the SS uniform.

On the other hand, while there's some confusion as to why "Nazi" is not a banned search term, there's also some great hilarity to be found by searching the term on the Marketplace. Like this lovely number:

(from the bizarre album)

Beyond the giggle-worthy factor of something like this being casual attire, isn't he the...wrong skintone, shall we say? I mean, not to be racially insensitive, but what do we call this?

Nazispanic?

It can be yours for only L$40. Though I'm not sure why anyone would want to...

Finally, Google's rebranding Blogger and Picasa. I'm not sure what this will mean to those of us who have existing Blogger and Picasa accounts, but...we'll see. No one seems too worried over it so far.

4 comments:

Edward Pearse said...

While I've only been following the Nazi kerfuffle via your blog, how is the kids outfit you linked to a child's SS uniform? Apart stretching a connection via the peaked hat (which to me looks more like a Marlon Brando biker hat than anything German) I don't see it.

Emilly Orr said...

Taken by itself, it doesn't have a connection. It's more stripper chic, which is always unnerving on a child, but even that is something we've seen before.

But if you go to the Features tab, you see this:

* captain
* kids
* militar
* nazi
* hat


Now, it has a hat, it's called Captain Cute, it's a kids' outfit; those terms I get. I might have chosen 'military' over 'militar', but even that, I get.

But the maker putting down "nazi" as a feature means she considered the connection. She's either angling for that particular niche market, or she designed the high peaked cap for the outfit after the SS uniform directly--replacing the silver eagle-and-swastika for the 'cuter' silver heart.

Which is why it was linked--it's Nazi fashion boiled down to syrup, inherent racism with zero understanding and context. The word's there because she thinks she'll get sales with it, or thought it would be a kawaii thing to imitate.

Either way, an unnerving connection to make for a young girl's outfit.

Edward Pearse said...

Ah I hadn't seen the features tab so I was wondering where the connection came from. Weird what people will associate with their outfits.

Emilly Orr said...

It really is. And the thing is, without that association, it looks like the Littlest Biker outfits that show up in boutiques from time to time (though, at least here, amusingly enough, actual bikers tend to dress their little girls in lace and frills and pink...and then threaten anyone who might even think about coming near them).

So I don't get it. There's been enough connection in other media for the high-peaked cap in a couple different portrayals that sufficiently remove it from being just an SS uniform component--so why bring in that association at all?

hide away, they say, 'cos we don't want your broken parts

Yeah, so...remember that thing I was recovering from? You know, last year ? Yeah. I did it again. So this is Em Faw Down Go Boom part ...