“When Fascism Comes to America it Will be Wrapped in White Plastic Armor and Carrying a BlasTech E-11 Blaster Rifle” — Sinclair Lucas

Someone in my garrison posted a link up to this:

Suppose tomorrow the Bush administration announces plans to deploy thousands of Homeland Security Troops to American cities, to walk the streets armed in the search for un-American, possibly terrorist activities (such as taking photos where there isn’t anything obviously pretty to be taking a photo of, being overly swarthy, videotaping cops and Homeland Security Troops, etc). These guys would only be answerable to the DHS, and they would be recruited from the likes of Blackwater, Wackenhut, and so forth.

Obviously there would be some outrage, yeah? I mean, not as much as there should be, but a lot of folks wouldn’t care for this at all.

Now imagine that these troops are outfitted exactly like Stormtroopers from Star Wars.

What percentage of geeks would declare that this was awesome?

What percentage of non geeks?

What is it with Stormtroopers? How have we, as a culture, come to love the faceless face of oppression? Sure, in the movies they bump their heads and can’t hit a sidewalk with a can of paint and talk about that new BT-16 and do the Wilhelm scream and all, but it’s still pretty clear who they are and what they represent.

But people can’t get enough of them. Go to any sci-fi or comic convention and you’ll see several people in meticulously crafted Stormtrooper armor. In fact, there’s a group devoted to this, which is now also marching in things like Fourth of July parades (which is where the first image was taken). Seriously, someone thought Stormtroopers in a Fourth of July parade was a good idea.

This summer there’s a CGI “Clone Wars” movie coming out.

The guy on the left is Anakin Skywalker, who will become Darth Vader, right hand man to the evil Emperor. The troops in the background are the guys who will eventually become the Stormtroopers. Hopefully Anakin and the Clonetroopers can use all their cool ships and weapons and stuff to defeat…the bad guys? As with Attack of the Clones, are we really going to once again be expected to root for the people that we already know are going to enslave the galaxy?

But fascism isn’t just wicked awesome, it can also be dead sexy.

Once the helmet is on you won’t see the face of your oppressor but you’ll see her hot hot midriff and her thermal detonators. This is female empowerment.

It can also be fun! Here are some of the folks who kill for the Empire having a little downtime!

In that last photo, an argument can obviously be made for satire, for letting the context play against the characters as a way to defang and ridicule totalitarianism. It’s also kind of funny!

Still, here’s the 118th Rose Parade. What’s the satirical message here? These guys were trained by a colonel in the real Army.

I’m not suggesting there’s some kind of conspiracy afoot to make us more tolerant of (and, in fact, enthusiastic about) a fascist society.

I’m suggesting that such a conspiracy probably wouldn’t be necessary.

Source

I disagree with most of the entry, and posted up the following comment:

I’m going to jump in very quickly - the troopers at the Montpelier Parade (pictured in the first image - BTW, can you please credit us with the picture? Either 501neg or Keelia Liptak, the photographer) was my idea.

As has been mentioned, the 501st does a lot of charity work all over the world. On that day, the annual July 3rd Parade, we were helping out the Kellogg Hubbard Library’s children library - they had a walker puppet and a batman float, as well as some other things. That’s the sort of thing that we do.

True, the storm troopers from the movies do represent a faceless army of a somewhat oppressive government(keep in mind, all you see is in the movies), but 99% of everyone we come into contact with doesn’t make that distinction that Storm Troopers = Fascism. We represent, especially to children/teens, Star Wars. All the ideas, experiences, images and emotions connected to those movies, wrapped up in a person. Not only us - there are people who do this for the rebels as well. Storm Troopers, however, seem to be the most popular, probably because of how they look, but they’re very recognizable as well.

I’ve heard of people expressing concern over the fact that we do portray bad guys. Getting out on the street in the midst of people, for parades, events or anything else like that, people see us and think: Holy $4!t, a storm trooper!

You do bring up some interesting points - there is a cultural fascination with the ‘bad guys’. I personally chalk it up to them having the cooler uniforms, but I think that it’s a big stretch to extend a cultural interest such as this and extend that into a supposition that we are existing in a fascist culture - as far as things are? Politically, we could be, and have been, far worse off in our history. Some of our founding fathers introduced the Alien and Sedition act, which cramped free speech. Abraham Lincoln declared martial law, for example. I doubt that (and I don’t think that you are suggesting, at least too much) that the 501st parading around is the precursor to a political revolution…

I don't think that there's a whole lot more to add, but this is one reason why I hate political extremes. A number of the comments are incredibly close minded and pretty ignorant. It's a shame that some people can't see that we as a group can distinguish between reality and fiction, rejecting some of the connotations that the armor has.

The blogger does have some interesting points to raise, which is why I'm not advocating for his being raked over the coals by our members - there is an odd cultural fascination with the bad guys.

As I said in my comment, I think it's because we dress better.

Dealing with Sketchy People - Report

Dealing with Sketchy People

Over the weekend, I ran across a couple of rather sketchy people while walking around Church Street. In the 501st, you tend to stick out. The costumes are distinctive and that tends to attract all types of people. 90% of the people that we tend to encounter are awed, shocked, interested and excited to see a Storm Trooper, Scout Trooper, Sand Trooper, Vader, etc. The other 10% are the odd ones, who can be unreasonable, antagonistic or just downright annoying.
When going out into public, Troopers need to make sure of a couple of things. First, they need to ensure that they and their armor is safe, they need to make sure that the people around them are safe and finally, they need to ensure that they uphold the image of the 501st Legion.

Fortunately, instances where you have problem people around are relatively rare. Most Legion events are in fairly controlled settings - a convention, parade, and other types of things in which we're out in public. Contact with passersby is a bit more limited. Other times, some events take place where there's a lot more contact with the general public. Generally, the more people you come into contact with, the more likely it is that you'll come into contact with people who are going to be antagonistic.

There are a couple things that you can do to minimize problems:

1 - Always have a wrangler or handler. They can do a number of things which will stave off most problems - a good save zone in which troopers can operate, they can control who comes close, and in the event of a problem, they can take care of a problem person by diverting them away. In the case of larger groups, multiple wranglers are needed. In the case of the St. Patrick's Day parade, where we had sixty people, we had ten wranglers all spread out, connected with radios. Wranglers can be either officers, who can generally see and move around better, or in plainclothes.

2 - Operate in groups. Safety in numbers is generally a good idea. People are less likely to bother a larger number of troopers, and everyone can look out for one another fairly easily.

3 - Avoid problem groups. Several members of the legion have identified several specific groups of people are potential problems. Small, over excited children and teenagers seem to be one of the dominant problem groups, because they can have a lack of self control and might not know their limits. Avoiding these groups ahead of time, or alerting the wranglers to keep an eye out. Keeping kids away is a good idea - there's a lot of reports of kids rapping on armor, pulling pieces and other similar actions which can damage your kit.

4 - Ignore antagonistic people. While people might feel like they need to snap off a response to someone who's being annoying, it's generally not a good idea. The good thing about armor is that people can't see our faces, and it's a lot easier to ignore people, either by pretending to look in another direction. This past weekend, I came across a woman who I think was pretty high. She was tapping my chest plate, singing loudly and following me, which was attracting attention that I didn't want. Asking her to move along didn't work, so I just started to move on, and she left. Someone suggested to ask them a complicated question, especially someone who has been impaired due to drugs and/or alcohol. When they try and think of the answer, their thought process will likely be slowed down, and when they think of an answer, walk away. If they persist, contact security, or the police, and they can handle it.

5 - Stare down someone who's being antagonistic. This is pretty easy to do when you have a mask. Troopers are intimidating, and staring one down is hard. Probably not a good thing in every case, but in some select instances, it might work.

The bottom line is to avoid making a scene and drawing negative attention. You never want to lash out, yell or drop down to their level. Generally, these problem people are looking for a response, something that validates their behavior. Additionally, it doesn't look good at all for a Storm Trooper to get into any physical confrontation with anybody, because that can lead to larger repercussions, which can affect the squad, outpost, garrison or legion as a whole, which is something that cannot happen.

Women in the 501st and Rebel Legion have a separate category of problems - sexual harassment. This comes in the form of comments or downright unwanted physical encounters, depending on the costume. One thing that the wearer has to keep in mind is the reality of what they are wearing - someone dressed as a Slave Leia is going to attract a lot of unwanted attention from the males (and probably some females) in and around them - something that they have to be prepared for. Some costumes, such as the masked ones, don't reveal figure nearly as much, but even then, problems can arise if someone takes their bucket off. In places like conventions, where there tends to be a lot of socially inept people (sad but true), the attention is going to be even more intense. By some reports, Anime Conventions are the worst, as you tend to have an audience that seems to have less restraint and more enthusiasm.

Once again, the key is to increase your personal protection - keeping your comfort level and safety is paramount, and the Legion's image is a close second. Sexual harassment is a big no in my book, and it shouldn't be tolerated, especially from the somewhat creepy people that turn up at conventions. A wrangler is an absolute must - two is probably better, also depending on what you're wearing.

Bottom line for any outing - Wranglers. Wranglers, wranglers, wranglers. They can help keep people away who you don't want near you, they can keep problems away and they can do things like hold a camera and take pictures. And pick up any pieces that you might drop.