About Advertising - Some Serious Symbolism

Disclaimer:

1. My opinion is not your opinion, and we my never see eye-to-eye on anything. In reading this blog you will have to accept that as a universal human truth so please keep any/all comments respectful. Just because you may disagree with someone does not warrant a personal attack on them.

2. I do not support the ideals of the historical regime in question. I am simply putting forth my view on the use of certain symbols in scenario paintballing media. I understand that this topic is a very sensitive one to a lot of people and I mean no disrespect.

Onto the Article:

     I recently became part of a rather heated discussion revolving around the use of certain images in paintball advertisements such as posters, flyers etc. One symbol in particular took center stage as the debating point for the question of "what is appropriate for scenario advertising?"

     The polarizing symbol was that of Nazi Germany's swastika.

     Now, I know what many of you will  be thinking... "Josh, the use of a swastika is never acceptable under any circumstances" and I can understand your concern in the matter but I would ask you read on and hear me out while I speak from the standpoints of historical accuracy and 'symbolic equality'.

Historical Accuracy:

This should be seen as...

     First comes the historian in me saying that it is just another in the long line of controversial history references made in the modern day, no different than the debates as to whether books should have offensive terminology removed from them or altered to be 'politically correct'. This campaign has long been waged against literary works such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for their use of "nigger" and other racial epithets or against Salinger's Catcher in the Rye or Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four for inciting rebellion or encouraging poor habits. In these cases the majority decision has been that to censor these works would be to effectively attempt to censor history and that doing so would remove a level of legitimacy or period-accuracy from the book.

...no different than this.

     

     The fact of the matter here is that the swastika WAS the national flag of Nazi Germany whether we like it or not. On a much-diluted tangent, the use of a swastika to denote the German side in a historically-based scenario paintball match is nothing more than the use of an NHL team's crest to indicate their planned appearance in an upcoming hockey game. As you can see, the image posted to the right was a Facebook event cover photo for an event at PRZ Paintball which was later changed after criticisms were received for the use of a Swastika. Some individuals felt that it was in poor taste and others did not want to play on a team that could be labelled as being the 'Nazi side' as opposed to the correct 'German side'.

     Unfortunately, if you're going to attend a scenario game taking its base from any engagement in World War Two, you're technically going to be "Hitler's Nazi Germany" on one side just as much as you'd be "Roosevelt's United States of America" on the other. This is an inescapable fact, and the only way to avoid this would be to never use WW2 as a basis for a scenario game, or to only use the Pacific theatre which was equally bloody and tarnished by the mistreatment of prisoners of war.

The original (top) and edited (bottom) versions of PRZ's Facebook event page's cover photo.

     So, through the eyes of historical accuracy, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the original event cover photo as listed above. The image provides you with scenario-accurate information about the nations who were engaged in the game's historical reference point alongside information about the event's date, location and miscellaneous information.

Symbolic Equality:

     Onto talking point number two...

     Speaking ONLY of the two flags in the above images, the leaders of these nations were both (in my opinion) equally brutal. On one side you had Adolf Hitler, an anti-Semitic dictator who held his own people above the laws of the rest of mankind and slaughtered peoples he held as inferior with a death toll estimated at around 10 million over his time as fuhrer. On the other side was Joseph Stalin a tyrant whose military policies remorselessly sent millions of his own people to die in waves and then went on to murder what has been estimated up to another 1.2million people in just two years during a series of "purges" within the USSR. To me? Neither of these nations can be considered a 'good guy' in the fight.

     If neither nation can be considered a 'hero' in the conflict, and both leaders authorized the slaughter of millions to advance their agendas (honestly folks, Hitler and Stalin weren't all that different), how can we say that the Nazi 'tilted' swastika is any more a sign of evil or hatred than the USSR's hammer and sickle? Before you jump on your keyboards and bombard me with comments please note that BOTH nations:

• Imprisoned the own, and other nations' citizens unjustly.
• Murdered MILLIONS of people.
• Conducted campaigns of ethnic cleansing.
• Opposed democratic political systems.
• Opposed free-market economics.
• Tortured civilians and POWs.

     The tilted swastika on the white circle and red flag represents Nazi Germany every bit as much as the hammer and sickle have represented the likes of Stalin's Russia and Mao Zedong's China. By this method of thinking, both symbols should be held as equally offensive and yet they are not. Why is this? Because China is extremely tight-fisted regarding information control and until the end of WW2 Stalin was a 'good guy' to the Allies and well... To the victors go the spoils along with the rights to write the history books.

Food for Thought:

     So why hold the event you may ask, why conduct a game where both sides were extensions of murdering tyrants? Why? Because:

1. It is an easily identifiable winter conflict in an urban environment.
2. The destroyed buildings of WW2 Stalingrad are an easy fit with the field layout of PRZ Paintball.
3. Modern videogames have seen a growth in the references to the past, specifically to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union while paintball has seen an influx of players coming from the videogaming subculture.

     There are scenario games of all different types held every day, with different historic or futuristic foundations held on fields worldwide. Some of these games have become quite famous like Skirmish Paintball's Invasion of Normandy held each July where there is even a judged competition of period-accurate costumes the day before the games begin and yes, this means military uniforms of ALL nations involved in the Normandy invasion.

     What I am trying to say here is that squabbling over the use of one historically accurate symbol based on the governing party and principles that party represented while ignoring a second symbol used by an equally vicious ruler is pointless. Both flags are historically accurate and if we attempt to censor history then we're going down the same roads taken by both of these tyrants. Using the flags SHOULD amount to nothing more than the listing of opposing teams and (obviously) has NO say on the thoughts, beliefs or opinions of the players on either team. If you would refuse to play for the German side with ANY justification other than "I'm of Russia heritage and wish to play on the Russian side" then you have to acknowledge that the other team's leader (speaking historically, not of the paintball game) was just as much of a murdering bastard as the other.

My Suggestion:

     Here it is folks, the last paragraph of the article. I know it's been a wordy one so I'll try to wrap things up quickly with a list.

1. The use of the official German and Russian flags should be seen as an appropriate choice for adverts pertaining to a scenario game based on and Russo-German conflict in WW2. (Historical accuracy)
2. The use of swastikas or the hammer and sickle on player apparel, markers or gear should be strictly forbidden. (Symbolic equality)
3. Game props like intelligence folders, briefcases, ammo crates etc for BOTH sides may be marked with the aforementioned symbols by event organizers but only in such a way as similar items would have been marked by the military forces involved in the scenario's inspiration battle (Historical Accuracy)
4. No hate speech of any sort is to be tolerated (Simple human decency).

     By following these four rules it is my opinion that a scenario game can be promoted and conducted with professionalism while maintaining historical accuracy. It is also my opinion that holding a historically-based scenario game demands a certain level of period-accurate representation to lend an identity to the event since we're playing with air-propelled, paint-filled, less-than-lethal projectiles which means that gaining some in-event legitimacy could use all the help it can get.

     And on that note I will leave the article to the mercy of the masses and say to everyone...

     Until next time keep calm, and throw paint!

Joshua J. Taylor - The Noob Baller