Played Poker With A White Supremacist Last Night - Page 6

Rottersod · #51 10-14-2007, 02:08 PM

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Serious question...:

Why does it matter what tattoos he has, or what shirt he may be wearing, to the other players?

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OK. You asked a serious question and you deserve a serious answer. Some of us lost our entire family line to the people that he hails as his heroes. And it wasn't that long ago either. A couple of my grandparents are still alive and they survived the death camps where things happened because people like Tiny decided they didn't like Jews. My grandmother was put on a train with her mother, father and brother and after enduring 3 days of hell in a car that held more than 100 people with just one bucket and no food or water and no windows they were forcibly separated, her father was shot in the head in front of them and her mother and brother were led off and murdered. All of her aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and acquaintances were murdered by the nazi's.

So, when I see someone wearing a swastika and other "white power" stuff I have a visceral reaction to it that is no different than if Tiny was the one putting the gun to my great grandfathers head and murdering him in cold blood.

*TT* · #52 10-14-2007, 02:18 PM

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A few weeks later I was out with friends and we were attacked by a group of skinheads - the real kind.

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What year was this? Based on your age this doesn't make sense, while you were in college there were no white supremest Skinheads in the USA. The National Front in England took in a percentage of Skinheads because of their "Keep Brittan White" - no foreigners nationalistic cause starting around 1977 but prior to that there were no white supremest Skinheads anywhere in the world because - drum roll please - Skinheads were emulating black and Pakistani culture in the UK since the day they were first created in the 1950's. The Skinhead subculture was one of the first even youth cultures in England, it was part of the "absolute beginner" phase of the youth explosion.

The first white supremacists started to pop up in the US around 1985-86, prior to that the skinhead movement was just an offshoot of punk in the USA with a harder look (it morphed from it's origins as a working class youth who primarily listened to soul, rocksteady, bluebeat, and an early form of reggae called Ska - which is barely similar to the Ska most of us know today except for the upbeat), they left behind the association with Jamaican Rudeboys for the most part when the culture migrated to the US in the early 80's.

Of course the media picked up on the smallest of the factions in the Skinhead movement in the late 80's exploited it, and the next thing you know the Aryan Nation took advantage of disenfranchised youth by adopting the skinhead look. Skinheads warped from a black-influenced movement thanks mostly to the media - odd but true.

But now we are slightly off track. One of the guys I was held a gunpoint with was a founder of SHARP - Skinheads Against Racial Violence. Ironic isn't it? This happened in front of CBGBs in 1989, my first job was as a bouncer at this legendary club and the common glue for all skinhead culture in the NY area. Every last wayward sole I knew back then has since come to realize that white pride is meaningless, without fail all of them have abandoned their former ways. When I say the tats might be a remnant of his past I kid you not.... I have first hand experience.

*TT* · #53 10-14-2007, 02:22 PM

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A couple of my grandparents are still alive and they survived the death camps where things happened because people like Tiny decided they didn't like Jews.

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people like Tiny? Have we determined that he hates jews? You do know that many biker groups use swastikas as a symbol, but have no hatred of Jews or other religions? For some people its a "don't F with me" symbol.

Poshua · #54 10-14-2007, 02:28 PM

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A couple of my grandparents are still alive and they survived the death camps where things happened because people like Tiny decided they didn't like Jews.

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people like Tiny? Have we determined that he hates jews? You do know that many biker groups use swastikas as a symbol, but have no hatred of Jews or other religions? For some people its a "don't F with me" symbol.

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Be that as it may, the swastika is a Nazi symbol. Though it had other uses, the Nazi legacy has so polluted the symbol that it is unsuitable to be repurposed.

Similarly, if I decided that an outstretched middle finger was my new "nice to see you" symbol, I would have no grounds for umbrage when others would inevitably misinterpret my greeting.

Rottersod · #55 10-14-2007, 02:30 PM

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A few weeks later I was out with friends and we were attacked by a group of skinheads - the real kind.

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What year was this? Based on your age this doesn't make sense, while you were in college there were no white supremest Skinheads in the USA.

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1983.

*TT* · #56 10-14-2007, 02:52 PM

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A few weeks later I was out with friends and we were attacked by a group of skinheads - the real kind.

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What year was this? Based on your age this doesn't make sense, while you were in college there were no white supremest Skinheads in the USA.

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1983.

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They could not have been white supremest skinheads unless they were British skinheads visiting the US. Back then there wasn't even a link between the Aryan Nation/KKK and Skinheads. oddly thats a good thing, I hope you can take some solace int hat fact. I don't doubt you were attacked of course.

Michael Davis · #57 10-14-2007, 04:08 PM

If a guy comes to the table with a swastika tattooed on his arm and nobody makes him leave, the players need to leave and establish that this kind of display in public is not acceptable.

-Michael

Keepitsimple · #58 10-14-2007, 06:44 PM

kind of [censored] up. i guess i would leave the table unless somebody was a HUGE donater.

IggyWH · #59 10-14-2007, 07:06 PM

Leaving the table is fine, because afterall, it's your right. Expecting management to remove said player just because you are offended is not fine IMO. If it were, I'm sure we could find a reason to get everyone thrown out of a casino... so where do you draw the line?

hime · #60 10-14-2007, 07:26 PM

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A few weeks later I was out with friends and we were attacked by a group of skinheads - the real kind.

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What year was this? Based on your age this doesn't make sense, while you were in college there were no white supremest Skinheads in the USA.

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1983.

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They could not have been white supremest skinheads unless they were British skinheads visiting the US. Back then there wasn't even a link between the Aryan Nation/KKK and Skinheads. oddly thats a good thing, I hope you can take some solace int hat fact. I don't doubt you were attacked of course.

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You always have such interesting "authoritative" ideas.