Parody Done Right...Front of German Apples

I came across this story this story a few weeks ago while I was surfing the net on Yahoo and it made me think about how screwed up the RLSV really are. I mean, so often they say sadistic things about the RLSH, so often they degrade them like trash and then run and hide behind the "oh it's just a parody" excuse or "hey, it's just satire". Well this article and the information provided with prove that you don't have to use parody as a weapon of verbal sadism. You don't have to use parody to inflict emotional harm on otherwise generally good people or a generally well intended movement like RLSH or costumed activism.Parody, as the Front for German Apples shows, can be used to take shots at organizations who deserve it... like those who support the Nazi and their crimes (Poop Knife, you might want to turn the computer off now). After reading this article all I have to say about the RLSV is your "satire and parody" excuse is garbage.

http://observers.france24.com/content/20101018-giving-neo-nazis-dose-own-medicine

Choice pickings from the articles (pardon the pun)

"For six years now, the Front of German Apples has taken to the streets every time neo-Nazis make a public appearance, to take a sarcastic jab at them" - Amazing huh? People using creativity to actually DIMINISH the effectiveness of hatred.

"So one night in 2004, the evening before a huge rally in the city, the idea came up: why not make it fun to demonstrate against neo-Nazis?"  Wow!! You mean to tell me that people can actually use parody to COUNTER negativity?

"We chose the apple for several reasons. It is partly a pun on the name of Holger Apfel, an NPD leader who was elected to the state parliament in Saxony. But above all, the apple is a very German fruit and was a good satirical metaphor." - What was that last part? GOOD SATIRICAL METAPHOR?

"We think it’s sometimes easier to see the negative side of things when it’s been exaggerated, as facts can often be misleading. We want people to see what’s absurd about the rise of these neo-Nazi groups." This would work with the RLSV is 1) they were consistent and fair in their criticism of the RLSH and 2) if they were not so many members within their ranks that were not ill intended beyond the gimmick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Deutscher_%C3%84pfel

And here is a parody video. Classic and tastefully well done. They are not going after "good people". They are using satire to take jabs at Nazi and their venomous hatred.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gwS2Eoo1Yg&feature=player_embedded
Now I don't mind an RLSV taking a shot at Master Legend for the nasty dead cat/ketchup video. For that old ML deserves to take a bit of a beating. I've said it time and time again..take your shots when people screw up but that would be asking too much obviously. That would be asking you to use parody responsibly, like the Front for German Apples. That would be asking you to use your creativity in a positive manner and most of us know that believing you can do so is asking to much.

Saying that kids with cancer should be exterminated so as not to contaminate the gene pool? Not funny. Not parody.
Inspiring someone to slash Zetamans tires and then having one of your members put up picture on lessons of how to slash tires? Not funny. Not parody.
Making fun of a persons weight and using the deaths of 22 people in the Tennessee floodings within this context. Not funny. Not parody.
Posting a 16 year olds personal info on the net and placing him in danger because he made you mad at what he said ON THE INTERNET. Not funny. Not parody.
Posting a picture of a man at a con in costume with his child and accusing him of being a pedophile? Not funny. Not parody and a flagrant example of a mixture of libel/slander.
Advocating violence shown on a video of guys in gang attire, masks, shotguns, and machetes? Maybe the video was a poor attempt at parody but the stance to advocate that kind of violence is not funny.

There are alot of other examples I could site but why bother. The Front for German Apples shows what parody done right can achieve. It shows how to take satire and use it responsibly to fight evil and injustice, not encourage it and the hatred that often comes with it. Comedy need not be a weapon against those that do not deserve it. It can be a weapon against the ills of society that deserve to be banished.

Get a clue RLSV. And while you're at it have an apple why won't you?

Musings of the Mouse

Ah...the day AFTER Thanksgiving.
Having stuffed myself full of all sorts of cheese (the rare Persian cheese made from camel milk was quite delicious) I find myself with the urge to reflect on recent events in the community and out of it.

Phoenix Jones....
Well, I've always found folks like Silver Sentinel to be level headed and responsible folks and from what I have read even beyond his blog it seem Mr. Jones has possibly been painting the RLSH in a less than positive light or at the very least misrepresenting some of the fundamental things they stand for. I would hope that people who read about this take the time to look at the RLSH / costumed activist movement from various angles before they ready themselves to lay down harsh judgement. I'd recommend people like Silver Sentinel and a source like Peter Tangen who, while not a RLSH himself, has spent a great deal on time with people in the movement and seems to understand RLSH / costumed activist motivations beyond the gear, elaborate attire, and quirky personas. Enemies of the RLSH movement have gone out of their way lately to single out members and try to apply a negative blanket to the entire movement. I would suggest that they reconsider this or do all the RLSVs want to be labeled as vandalizing miscreants that run around slashing peoples tires in the dead of the night. Do all of the RLSVs want to be classified as racists given that some two of their most outspoken members are either former skinheads (or maybe even current) and run around with their contact email as king0Nazi@gmail.com. I doubt that the owner of this email ACCIDENTALLY chose this email and what person with even a shred of moral fiber would have their contact info connected to one of the worse atrocities in human history. Does this guy think the Holocaust was a joke? The knife cuts both ways whether they care to admit it or not.

Speaking of RLSVs it seems that good old meandering Malvado has "fallen off the wagon" of sorts. I remember months ago when the Zetaman tire slashing incident went down he mentioned on his old blog that the event had caused him to reflect on the mistakes he had made in his life and that he wanted to make amends for alot of it. He claimed he wanted to be a better person and even took steps to befriend Zetaman and offer his support. He joined the Real Life Superheroes forum and tried to keep a sense of civility even though most suspected that sooner or later he would crack or the charade he was pulling would be revealed. Malvado made statements like "hey guys let's squash the beef between both side" and "I've broken bread with these people and they are generally decent people." But let's fast forward to the here and now.

Malvado has returned to his sadistic putrid self and before I hear the "oh but he's a villain" excuse let me explain why that excuse holds no weight. Being a villain for the sake of the gimmick is understandable. Others in the past have done it well and some continue to do so now with a sense of respectability and credibility. Swordcane and Executrix come to mind. Malvado on the other hand, being an admitted ex convict and drug user projects himself as a villain to a fair degree BEYOND the gimmick. So while some of the things he says or does might be due to the gimmick it does not excuse that which goes beyond the gimmick. To be blunt, when Malvado says he is pretending to be a bad person I don't believe him because I think that gimmick aside he might genuinely be a bad person. He may not care about my opinion but I am not the only one who thinks this way based on several emails and comments I have gotten. The icing on the cake is that the guy who he befriended after the tire slashing incident and victim of the crime, namely Zetaman, now seems to be one of his primary targets of his venomous rants/tirades. But no worries as Malvado is not the only wanna be RLSV who has these little momentary lapses now and then. Here a excerpt from a post by Smeagol92055 / aka White Skull on 9/25 of this year..

<>
"To the capes and the masks and the vigilantes, I say bring it on; I'm waiting.
To the people behind the masks and the capes, I say you're human; I'm human. You may be a Man of Steel, but at the end of the day you still have a heart of flesh and a spirit that can be broken.  It is never my intention to break either of them.

I may be mean, I may be nasty, but that's to your RLSH persona.  I don't hate you personally.  Some of you frighten me; some of you fill me with pride in my species.  Regardless of how you impact my own life, whether for positive or negative, I don't hate you." << End of excerpt>>

And yet this is the guy who went thru his30 days of villainy where he did all sorts of ridiculous stuff including walking into a Taco Bell and trying to scam his way into getting free tacos by lying about having bought some and gotten sick by eating them. Really White Skull? REALLY WHITE SKULL? Very mature of you. You should be proud. This is the same guy who after making this melancholy reflective post has gone on to bash several RLSH and has IMHO returned to being the same pain in the ass he was before he went on his one of many sabbaticals from villainy. This is the same guy who wrote the following months and months ago, entitled "The White Skull Turning A New Leaf... (dear God what a friggin farce)

<> Greetings, everyone. This is... well, shit. I wish I could figure that one out for myself. See, a few months ago, I was the badnik voice of ROACH, The White Skull. Everything was great; I was using my acidic wit to tear down everything I could possibly get my hands on in the RLSH community; I did petty, small-minded things, like tearing down people, harassing people I didn't even know, and forming vendettas against everyone and everything around me. I was approached by numerous people within the ROACH community and from other, more shady people from outside of any organized group to do... unseemly things. Things that made me begin to wonder my place within this community. Was I really turning into the villainous persona I had taken on? Had I actually moved past the simple "satirical blogger" phase and into genuine villain territory? Enough people had thought so that I was being approached as a "guy who gets things done," something I wasn't sure I wanted to be labeled as. About the time the FBI stopped by my house to inform me that they were going to be watching me, I decided that this had gone far enough. ...and so did Mrs. Skull. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I continued with this course of action, that she would leave me. No one wanted that, so after much discussion, I agreed to attend counseling and, on the doctor's recommendation, I began a regimen of medication for my existing PTSD condition, a holdover from my time in the military. Fast forward to five months later; here I am, unsure of what steps need to be taken next; I'm in a much healthier place, a much happier place, and I honestly wish to make amends for the wrongs I did. Since the White Skull was the face (if you'll forgive the pun,) of my villainy, I decided to keep it around, to begin the long process of turning it from a negative to a positive symbol. If you all will have me, I'd love to try to prove myself worthy of your trust and a place in your community. The admins here have graciously agreed to allowing me a profile here, and I hope that this can be the first step towards changing The White Skull into a positive force. Thank you. -The White Skull   <>

Yeah, I kept a copy of this...and alot more. I kept it because as much as I want to believe that guys like White Skull, Malvado, and so many others on the RLSV side claim that they are not bad people that it is just a gimmick, that they want to try to be better people and change...at the end of the day it's all bullsh*t. At the end of the day, the villain gimmick aside, there is too much of them that likes to hurt people, to inflict emotional harm upon them. The ranks of the RLSV are full of these people..too many to mention. Some of them claim it's just business and not personal. Some, as seen above claim moments of clarity only to show that either they are not strong enough to do the right thing or have been dishonest from the start...villain gimmick aside. Some of the RLSH / costumed activists I speak to wonder why I take a bit of a hard line on the RLSV as I do. The reason is simple - for some of them being a bad person and making other human beings suffer in one form or another is not a gimmick. For too many of them the desire to do so is REAL and goes beyond the gimmick and that is what I have a problem with.

And to that Overlord chick who is running around claiming evil as a lifestyle choice let's cut to the chase. What you call evil as a lifestyle choice is nothing more than being a rebel, dancing to the beat of your own drum. It's not being evil, it's choosing to be different, to live your life beyond the standard mold that society tries to force us into sometimes. I got news for you sweet cheeks, there are alot of people in this world that are different. There are alot of people in this world that choose to live their lives thinking "outside the box". That is not evil. It does not make them evil and if you think that simply choosing to live your life by different standards out of the norm is evil then you are utterly clueless. Now if you choose to be "different" by going out and mugging old ladies, preying on children, ethnic cleansing, or robbing banks then yeah, I'd call that "evil". But simply choosing to be different and doing so in an innocuous manner? No, not evil. Not even close so do the world a favor and stop taking the ignorance pills you've been popping.