I disagree; those people lack substance.
Ah, those “premature anti-fascists”. Why couldn’t they just wait like good moderate centrists?
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They didn’t lack money though.
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If you’re only using one terminal punctuation mark, make it an interrobang‽ Am I right‽
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I do have to say, we often associate Civil War reenactors as being lost cause enthusiasts, and in some case that is true. But there is a space for people who reenact history in order to better understand it, not to… somehow magically change it? This is a good example of some one whose primarily goal is not obfuscation, but enlightenment.
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OTOH…although Confederate-sympathies are not universal in the ACW reenactment community, they are very, very common.
So even the most well-meaning innocent history enthusiast, if they are to get involved in the scene, must at least be willing to politely cooperate and socialise with substantial numbers of white supremacists.
Although you could in theory go to an ACW reenactment with an openly “fuck the Confederate scum” attitude, I don’t think you’d be welcome for very long.
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Okay.
some people who do various reenactments actually care about educating the public. that was my point here… but okay.
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I accept that; it’s a valid and important point.
My point here is that I don’t think it is possible to do that within the existing ACW reenactment community without major ethical compromise. It would be good if there were an alternative, but I don’t see any effective way to make that happen.
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Okay. Sure.
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Y’all are both right. There are a great number of reeanactors who are truly doing Living History. But the Civil War reeanactors are, to a man, fucking deplorable. I flat out refuse to shoot at any of those events anymore. And I say that as someone who is friends with many of them, who has drank and camped with many of them, etc. and so forth.
If I woke up deeply hungover at a historic site on a Saturday morning surrounded by uniformed reenactors (true story, yo) and couldn’t remember if I was at a CivWar or RevWar event, a quick review of the bumper stickers in the parking lot would clear it right the fuck up. There is no deniability, plausible or otherwise: reenactors are history geeks, Civil War reenactors are neo-nazis. Period.
That…is definitely a mix-statement about the ACW re-enactor community. I could see that with some regional groups, but there are a lot of them, all across the country, and many are in it for the history.
Do you really think you can speak with that kind of authority about all the groups?
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I was trying to make clear that I am referring only to those that do Civil War battle reenactment exclusively. I know many reenactors, historians, archaeologists, and other practitioners of Living History that A) are not racist shitbags, and B) acknowledge, though not always publicly, the unfortunate truth of what I’m saying.
And no, even my jaded ass doesn’t clam that all the CivWar-exclusive reenactors are racist shitbags; but the 90% that are taint the image of the 10% that aren’t. (It’s almost the weekend, so let’s be extra charitable and say 80/20?)
Also, by the cold light of day, I should point out that 100% of my first-hand knowledge of that world is local to The Confederacy. Perhaps in the less backward parts of the country it’s fundamentally different, though my second- and third-hand knowledge tells me otherwise.
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And yeah, re-reading what I said last night, I was very strident and, whatever a decent adjective is for being way too far to one end of the all-vs-most spectrum. What can I say? Those People just bring out the best in me. Maybe I’ll edit it after I take the horses their Second Breakfast.
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I know reenactors who quit playing civil war because they found the groups too toxic. These were self described conservative white guys, too.
I do know one girl who does 1860s as a proud Yankee… but delighted spite seems to be a significant motivator for her.
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I totally get it, and sympathize. I suspected that you had gone to the metaphorical cabinet and picked a brush just a wee bit too broad. 
Or it was the right brush and I should have used some masking tape first.
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This reminds me of an interaction I had on FB with a flat earther. He posted a different meme with each of his replies, so I became convinced his profile was a lie and he was Supah Trollin
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Roger that!
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I see it this way:
“I like to educate kids about WWII by pretending to be someone who was on the front lines!” = Eccentric but not necessarily alarming
“I take any excuse I can to wear my grandfather’s Nazi uniform in public!” = Almost certainly a white supremacist
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“No bean curd today and no meat!” said the man closely inspecting the young emperor’s feces (in the Last Emperor). That’s a less disgusting job than the one you’ve given yourself! 
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