“Nazi was a sophisticated organization that created super high tech weapon of that time. It was a leading edge super cool organization except for massacre of Jews.”

Above is how a history freaks would feel in general about Nazi in Japan. There are more emphasis on Nazis’ leading-edge technology rather than their killing of Jews.

Both Japanese perspective and Western perspective on Nazi is correct. They were a leading-edge organization but also EVIL organization.

Consider also that the swastika symbol itself predates Hitler by a few thousand years and has been an integral part of eastern religions since before time of Christ. So while a Nazi fashion show is insensitive, don’t be so quick to assume the appearance of a sawstika as being some form of Nazi support or indifference to WW2.

It always amuses me to hear the Thais refer to themselves in their national anthem as courageous and fearless fighters. The triumph of wishful thinking over history I fear.

I have seen:

A motorcyclist in my neighborhood who has a Nazi flag waving from the back of the bike.

A huge Nazi flag hanging from the balcony of an apartment building.

Young kids with nazi insignia on their clothing.

I recently one guy, probably in his mid-thirties, walking with another person in Robinson’s. The other person looked well dressed and even the man I mention had good shoes, slacks and a decent hair cut. But his shirt was white with a Nazi cross across his chest.

What is so ludicrous is, if these people were in Nazi Germany they would probably have been arrested and gased.

If I were to throw a theme party where the theme was the Thais getting their asses serially and roundly kicked by the Burmese, and glory in that, I suspect the Thais would be apoplectic.

Because the Burmese certainly did a good job of kicking Thai asses. As did the Khmers. As did the Japanese.

In fact is there any country who hasn’t kicked Thai asses for a pastime at one time or another? The Inuit perhaps …

Same same with the poor taste and poor historical knowledge surrounding the Nazi taboo. As Mithran rightly says, it is rightly a no-go area for anyone with an IQ or EI or an education better than a potato.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Joking about genocide is a no-go area. You’d hope Asian magazines could understand that. They have their own no-go areas, after all. If a high school in the U.S. put on a show making fun of the Thai king I assume they’d hear from the Thai embassy.

Same thing here, no?

I’m not a big holiday follower though I think that this is the season to be more neighborly. Very soon it’s going to get really bad everywhere. Might it be time to enjoy a respite from discord?

All the best to one and all.