The words mountain and molehill spring to mind

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by Samphirette
The words mountain and molehill spring to mind

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My sentiments exactly.

He has a certain responsibility seeing as he's in the public eye, he's a member of the Royal Family, etc but he's 20. He's a kid. He was at a costume party, not a Nazi rally

Perhaps I'd feel differently if I'd been touched personally by the holocaust, but I doubt it.

Whole thing is ridiculous. I assume the News of the World will be whipping up a lynch mob to sort out those offensive Nazis appearing in The Producers...

Mel Brooks, Faulty Towers, Dr Strangelove, Dad's Army - we have a proud tradition in this country in making fun of the monstrous. Had I attended a fancy dress party where someone was dressed as a Nazi I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. At 20, or the little bit older I am now...

Something as evil as the National Socialists, or their modern equivalent should be mocked at every opportunity. The last thing we should do is ever take them seriously. That's what leads to them getting elected to councils like Burnley and Oldham.

Also, on a day which saw a couple sent to jail for mudering their adopted son, and Mark Thatcher got a slap on the wrists for sponsoring a coup in equatorial Guinea, is some pampered posh lad dressing as a Nazi so deserving of our attention? That's what I love about this country, our sense of priority...

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by Jayjay
Also, on a day which saw a couple sent to jail for mudering their adopted son, and Mark Thatcher got a slap on the wrists for sponsoring a coup in equatorial Guinea, is some pampered posh lad dressing as a Nazi so deserving of our attention? That's what I love about this country, our sense of priority...

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You've summed it up perfectly there.

It's not like the Nazi's didn't exist - you can't bury history completely! OK so it might have been a little odd choice for a themed fancy dress party, but at least he was out having a good time and not hiding under a rock.

He's young, everyone makes mistakes. My local paper said that they thought he was a slipperly slope of drugs and alcohol and his life is a whirlwind. The lad lost him mum young, he's always in the public eye and has to deal with a lot more crap than most 20 year olds do. Yes he should have realised, he made a mistake, get over it. I know hundreds of people who have gone to fancy dress parties as Nazi's. Just because he's royalty doesn't make him anything than what he is, a young boy having fun

I agree with whats been said so far, I didn't know wether it's my age or wether people generally just aren't easily shocked anymore but I had no reaction to it, I understand that people would be offended and he's a Prince and blah blah, but at the end of the day he's still a twenty year old lad, if he was wearing that a mini rally he'd organised and had grown a little moustache then you'd worry, but he's a kid my age at a fancy dress party with his friends.

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by Jayjay
I assume the News of the World will be whipping up a lynch mob to sort out those offensive Nazis appearing in The Producers...

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Lol Well why not there are even pigeons with little swastikas in that, they must be made to publicly apologise!

Agree this has been blown out of proportion. But disagree that Harry is blameless. He's not just anyone else, he's -- heaven help us -- a Prince of the Realm. Courtesy of the sperm jackpot, third in line to the throne. Asking that in return for a life of unparalelled luxury and privilidge he doesn't act like a complete tool isn't unreasonable. Inevitably, what Harry does has a more effect that what your mate Dave does. The swastika is a potent symbol. I agree ridiculing it and everything it represents is an effective weapon, but what Harry was doing, trivilaising it, is different. Might I suggest swaggering round in a Nazi uniform at a party themed "Colonials and Natives" carries, at the least, some extremely dodgy connotations.

I think it is reasonably well known that, as a Republican, I have no love for Royalty. Personally I have higher expectations of my mate Dave than any member of those pampered sponging Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's.

But here's the thing, I see nothing wrong with anyone turning up to a fancy dress party in a Nazi uniform so long as they themselves have no political links to the far-right. And no, that there is reason to believe that your great, great uncle (I believe that's correct) was at the least a Nazi sympathiser is not a close enough political link to make his actions tasteless. Were his grandfather Herman Goering, that would be dodgy. Or the Chancellor of Germany, a little disquietening. But truth is wearing a uniform doesn't make you a supporter.

I think the actions of Harry's Grandad and Auntie Maggie are far more disgusting and in genuine need of apologies. And for more recent actions, the actions of one Di Cannio after a football match deserves more public attention than a choice of fancy dress.

I hear today that the German government wants to ban the use of the swastika throughout Europe. The Italian govenment (which is a coalition containing a neo-fascist party) has condemned Harry's behaviour as beyond the pale. The former is a rediculous attempt to bury history and will cause more damage than a toff goose-stepping at a party for a laugh. The latter is just the ultimate in hypocrisy, and the actions of that government in general far more worrying for the stability of Europe than anything else mentioned in this thread.

(that's not a dig at you By, but the Italian government, in case my bile sounds misdirected... )

Bottom line is, as with the availablity of the 'rolleyes' smiley, Nazi costumes are available in fancy dress shops, so how can their use be objectionable? And it was a private party. The behaviour of the guest who (sold?) the pic to the Sun is also being questioned.

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by Jayjay
But here's the thing, I see nothing wrong with anyone turning up to a fancy dress party in a Nazi uniform so long as they themselves have no political links to the far-right.

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My spidey sense is tingling, we ain't going to agree on this one. I do feel showing up in Nazi kit is trivialising the third reich, which I'm wary of because, while mocking the baffling mix of hetrosexual race purity with a leather clad garla led by the scraggiest examples of the human form is well and good, not taking them seriously is dangerous. Reducing them to a funny costume runs the risk of clouding over what they were.

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And no, that there is reason to believe that your great, great uncle (I believe that's correct) was at the least a Nazi sympathiser is not a close enough political link to make his actions tasteless. Were his grandfather Herman Goering, that would be dodgy. Or the Chancellor of Germany, a little disquietening. But truth is wearing a uniform doesn't make you a supporter.

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Not really suggesting the heir to the spare is. But he does appear to have some very dodgy attitudes: witness his "Don't worry, she's not black or anything!" comment about a girlfriend last year.

Not that this is Harry's fault so much as the bonkers system that's put him where he is.

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I think the actions of Harry's Grandad and Auntie Maggie are far more disgusting and in genuine need of apologies. And for more recent actions, the actions of one Di Cannio after a football match deserves more public attention than a choice of fancy dress.

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Is he the guy who called another player a "black s---"? If so, I agree completely, that's far worse than Harry's latest boneheaded stunt.

Not sure about apologising for the Nazi royals. Visiting the sins of the father on the children and all that. But then offical apologies always feel like hollow gestures.

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I hear today that the German government wants to ban the use of the swastika throughout Europe. The Italian govenment (which is a coalition containing a neo-fascist party) has condemned Harry's behaviour as beyond the pale. The former is a rediculous attempt to bury history and will cause more damage than a toff goose-stepping at a party for a laugh. The latter is just the ultimate in hypocrisy, and the actions of that government in general far more worrying for the stability of Europe than anything else mentioned in this thread.

(that's not a dig at you By, but the Italian government, in case my bile sounds misdirected... )

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No offence taken, cos I reckon that's bonkers as well. The surest way to lend something credibility is to ban it, and that's the only way the seedy band of social misfits who pass for Aryans today will get any. Much better to let them make their nutty case and destroy it. Witness the perversely entertaining spectacle of David Irving getting shreaded in the High Court.

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by Byron
Is he the guy who called another player a "black s---"? If so, I agree completely, that's far worse than Harry's latest boneheaded stunt.

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Mr Di Canio, an Italian footballer who had previously played in england, now plays for Lazio. At the end of a recent local derby match against Roma, Mr Di Canio went up to the crowd and made a fascist salute to the crowd. And no, that's not some wacky lefty's opinion, but pretty obvious from the photos. Also worth noting that Lazio has a long association with the far-right, and was the favourite club of a certain Benito Mussolini.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4163979.stm

(Edited by Jayjay 16/01/2005 14:10)

I dressed up as Alex from a Clockwork Orange a while back... which means of course that I actually am, in fact, a homicidal maniac

I counted 12 pages about this in the Daily Fasc^H^H Mail on Friday, which is just ridiculous. It was silly, and tasteless, but for heaven's sake, there really are more important things to worry about. I know he's in the public eye and should have thought a bit harder about it, but I'd save the worry for if he stands on a public arena wearing such a thing, wouldn't you?

I noticed last night that one channel had managed to rustle up a programme on "the trouble with Prince Harry" or something titled equally ridiculous with such early mentions of him being "the spare prince" because he isn't Prince William who's in line to the throne.

I think I'd be partially disturbed if I was referred to like that

Turned it off after a few minutes though so not sure how it continued.

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by Bee
I counted 12 pages about this in the Daily Fasc^H^H Mail on Friday, which is just ridiculous. It was silly, and tasteless, but for heaven's sake, there really are more important things to worry about. I know he's in the public eye and should have thought a bit harder about it, but I'd save the worry for if he stands on a public arena wearing such a thing, wouldn't you?

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Come off it, it's the Daily Mail. They've been giving rubbish like this priority for years. Don't tell me you were actually expecting something different?

(Edited by Alan 18/01/2005 17:15)

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by Alan
(quotes)Come off it, it's the Daily Mail. They've been giving rubbish like this priority for years. Don't tell me you were actually expecting something different?

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Well, given their activities in the '20's, I wasn't sure what to think!

Remind me, what happened in the 20s?

Daily Mail under Lord Rothermere supported the British Union of Fascists under Sir Oswald Moseley in the 20s/30s...

www.oswaldmosley.com/buf/buf.html

(is a historical website, before the mods jump on me, honest!)

If that history comes from the school of David Irving, I'd agree.

Link stays as there's nothing blatently dodgy on there, but the view it paints of the blackshirts feels a little, well, light on critcism.