Comments on Nartards and Neo-Nazi Trading Cards

Gee, I can't fucking fathom WHY punks in Germany would so hate Nazis. Really have no idea why they would even care. And they're mainly white! White people couldn't possibly care that much about anti-racist politics. So they must be posing or some shit. Just confirms your own high school observations on cliques, I guess. What a bunch of retards...

oh god, thank you for the new word. what the hell is up with these fashions from the past--the far past.

W,

I think, if you re-read the article, particularly the second paragraph Brendan seems to be musing about by American punks had a special hatred of neo-Nazi's, not German ones.

Brendan, as someone who dabbled on the edges of punk myself in the late '70's/early '80's, a lot of it comes from the natural animosity of anarchists towards fascists in general, they being two polar-opposite socio-political viewpoints, as well as carrying over from British punk's vehement hatred of the Thatcher government, which they viewed as moving England toward a semi-fascist regime, although I really think it had more to do with her removal of many of the social safety-nets lower-class Brits had become dependent on post-WW-II.

In this country, the anti-fascist aspects of Punk really only took root with its association to the anarchist movement, something that I think appealed to a rather small segment of the "movement" (this being America of course, many punks - and I'll include my brief foray as an example - were really only into the physical aspects, the image if you will, and not so much with the politics. I could be totally wrong about this, but it's what I saw from my rather insular, semi-rural, lower-middle class perspective at the time) although of course Reagan getting elected in 1980 added a similarly "Thatcheristic" element to the mix over here.

Oh, and Bremen. Man, I have never seen so much dog shit littering the sidewalks of a major city, as I did in Bremen.

Ever been to Paris? Dog shit capital of Europe.

When I was in Paris, the dog shit was assiduously gobbled up by the thousands of tiny, adorable green trucks with long hoses made especially for that purpose and found on almost every street. Also, most blocks had a guy with a high-pressure hose, an assortment of brushes, and bolts of old carpet to direct the water flow actively washing the sidewalks. Cleaner than Seattle by a long shot.

Of course, they go on strike every twenty minutes, so maybe you were there at a bad time.

I also liked the way people were able to absolutely control their animals, taking them into bars and restaurants, where they sat quietly instead of barking, snarling, fighting, crotch-sniffing, and shitting everywhere like your average Seattle dog. How civilized.

These punks may be "nartards", but the fact is that in Europe, unlike here, they really do have significant and very popular neo-Nazi groups, even in countries were explicitly Nazi symbols are banned.

"apocryphal, but illustrative."

great journalism there.

Damn, this is an epic Eurotrip for the ages. i am now living vicariously thru Brendan (but i don't have to smell the shit).

I am also totally jealous of your European adventures. Tell us more!

Agreed, Fnarf - when it came to dog-shit-on-the-sidewalk, Paris didn't hold a candle to Bremen. It was so bad in some places, the people I was traveling with actually developed a sort of semiphore hand-signal to warn those walking behind of impending shittiness. There was so much of it that eventually we came to think of the warning signal as our "St. Vitus Dance".

What is with the recent upswing in the use of "retarded"? It seems like it's all of a sudden a "cool" word to say-like it was when I was in middle school when we didn't realize that it's denigrating. Stop that shit. Why would you do that? We have so many other, better words

Most importantly, White Trash Fast Food is the only place in Berlin to get a real hamburger (not one made from doenner meat). The guests still try to eat it with a knife and fork McD.L.T. style (hot side hot...). It's fun to point and laugh while they gawk at you using both hands to hoover your best meal in weeks.