Quote Originally Posted by cstone View Post
I always wonder about the motivation for people who dress up as either Nazis or Confederates. If there is some historical significance to the use of the uniforms and symbols, I don't normally spend too much time thinking about it, however, too often these people are simply white supremacists.

I was raised on the east coast. Race was often one of the most important issues because there were significant, 40% to 70% black communities. I remember the white flight from many neighborhoods in thge 60's and 70's. Some white communities became very reactionary. It was not unusual to see Confederate battle flags flying in yards where the owners couldn't find Gettysburg on a map. If you went a little farther north into Pennsylvania or upstate New York the white supremacists were more likely to use Nazi symbols, presumably because they couldn't claim any Rebel heritage.

The worst example I can recall, was in a small town Fourth of July picnic in southwestern Virginia. A hot summer afternoon, and the cold beer was plentiful. Many young men were shirtless as they walked from pick up to pick up admiring lift kits. This one young man was obviously a graduate of several penal institutions where I would guess he received his very noticeable body art. He had a shoulder to shoulder Nazi eagle, complete with swaztika on his back. One of my sons, who was young at the time, asked me how such a young man could have been a Nazi. I told him that while the symbol was in fact a Nazi symbol, some people who use such symbols have no idea of what they mean or their significance in history. They misappropriate pieces of history to make their own political statement which often has nothing to do with or is a bad interpretation of what the symbol actually represents.

That said, I would love to own an MG42 or MP44.
What? Don't you want to celebrate diversity?