Hi friends.
I am having a BIG problem with a certain guy, leaman posted some days ago on his freebie page and now in our galleries. I know, it's a comic character and I don't want to seem humorless, but I have to admit, it's no fun for me looking at A.H.
He was not only a "normal" dictator (other countries had to deal with dictators, too in this period).
Hitler was worse. He managed to cheat a whole country in becoming mass murderers, to kill millions of innocent people in KZs and to start a world war (I have to admit, a lot of people followed him proudly... ) . There still are a lot of open wounds all over the world, in my own family, too.
As you can see in my real life photos, I'm not "blond and blue eyed", my grandgrand parents an one of my grandfathers were killed in KZ for being jewish. So being reminded of Hitler is no fun for me at all.

On the other hand, I believe every one should be free to have his own opinion and I'm against ANY kind of censorship, it's a mess...

What do you think, friends?

PS: BTW, people here in Germany can go to jail only for having leaman's picture in their browser cache i.e. on their HD, for it's forbidden to show the svastika...

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Hi Andreas, having seen that picture I predicted your reaction (Tormie hides the crystal ball...).  Honestly my opinion is that that thing is only a sort of toy that could be used for some kind of dark-humoristic pictures. I'm a fan of the Sturmtruppen comic strip that using mainly the german soldiers of WWII describes with a dense-dark humor the horrors of the war. In this strip there is the cliche' german soldier, ready to obey to any kind of order, the italian soldier, ready to avoid any kind of dangers, bribing and stealing, the japanese soldier that wants to find a plane for a kamikaze attack, and the american soldier munchin chewing gum and making bubbles every time...
Well, I see that this thing could be used in that kind of pictures. I used a couple of times the picture of Hitler and some german soldiers saluting in another one in a context of dark humor (copied from the sturmtruppen   ).
Comparing what you see there with what I could see watching Mussolini , I would see a sort of toy to laugh at.

So said, I understand how you feel and I will ask to leahman to remove the picture not for the reason that there is a toy representing Hitler, but because the context is not clear and that toy has no sense. If someone make a picture in (for example) a context with a mad scentist, or in a dark humoristic picture it could have a sense, in that context that want to show only the freebies that he would share, it has no sense.

Well, I don't know what would be the reaction of this guy, he has a style that reminds the one of Den Tracy, and i think, the same character, so there is a real possibility that he will quit posting here. But, it's not the first time that something similar happens here for our ethic.

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Thanks Davide.
As I wrote above, I don't laq any humor. I know the "Sturmtruppen" comic, and they are fun. I think humor is a good way to deal with this dark age in history. Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" is a masterpiece, and I wouldn't have any problem with i.e. a Posette kickin' this guy's ass . But showing the hailing Fà¼hrer with the svastika without any context is quite problematic
Seriously, I don't think leaman has any sympathy for this devil. He simply isn't aware how deep some wounds are cut...

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Hi guys.   Seeing how I am down in the south I am just 4 hours from where he lives. The Hitler in the south could be seen as what is called the KKK here in the south. Their ideas are to keep all whites as white and where scared of the other races interfering with their own kind. I think the guy is using this model as a joke because it is not convincing to me as serious. To ignore a person because of uncertainty is really bad for PF because of things that we are assuming someone is bad. As for Den Tracy he does have a character theme about him with his things. But he seems like he is trying to make friends and at this point he has not attacked anyone at the moment. If you feel that he has offended you then there maybe a problem and kindly explain to the person the reason. A rule might be a must to have under race or things of the past that open wounds. Another thing that comes to mind is the Confederate Flag. Alcide uses this a lot, but in the south it raises Black races feelings because of slavery in the past. They where trying to banned it from the state when indeed it was a part of history. Sometimes we have to get over things even though it happened. You are German Andreas. No problem there. I still see you as the same o'l Andreas and friend. You know that my name is German. Konig means King in Germany. So what I am getting at is with all the races in the world what is the color of a soul of a human being? Answer : There isn't any. We all have feelings. We breath and walk and talk. No more, no less. I hope this has helped all of you.  

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Two wrongs don't make a right.
But six left turns will get you around the block
and back in the driveway again.

Kenny, I think you misunderstood a little what Andreas said, maybe i understood because english is not my main language too, lol . the problem was not leahman but that toy Hitler. I (gently) PMed him about it and said that the context of the Hitler toy was not clear in the picture and this is why it was causing some problems. About Den tracy i said that leahman style reminds me of the style of Den Tracy, hoping that he wouldn't react in the same way. It looks like leahman reacted in a good way, but you know, people in the past demonstrated to be a little "touchy" when someone asked them to respect our ethic, there is a long list of people that never came back, for example after asking them to remove links to commercial products, offending pictures etc. So every time I don't know what will happen... However after some of those "punches in the face" I've a sort of "standard" in my reaction and simply i leave things go as they want to go...

I know very well all the background of the civil war in the USA and the meaning of the Confederate Flag, here in Italy is simply the flag on the orange Dodge Charger "General Lee" of Hazard and generally people don't know anything about it here in Italy. Knowing very little about Alcide I can say that he is a mid age man who like to dress his Poser people like if he is collecting toy soldiers, he is careful with the uniforms or the dresses of his characters and nothing else.I study history as a hobby and I'm often surprised and confused when I dig deeply in the path of history and wars. What I learned is that it's not all black and white in the reasons of a war, and that , winners or losers, who fight wars are poor people who don't even really know the reason why they are fighting.

So said I feel unconfortable to speak about wars or differences in the politic of the nation where we live, here at Posetteforever, for the reason that this kind of topics tends to separate people more than make them friends while this site is only a light, very light site for fun and relax...

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No worries Davide. I was just pointing out to Andreas the things that happen here. That he should just be himself. Germany is in my mind a wonderful place. They have had there ups and downs just like the US. That was what I was getting at and should never use History to feel bad about. Rather than learn from it. I was stating what is here in the south. Some bad things still happen here and it is a shame. I new what you where talking about when you where saying something about Den Tracy. New people come here and in some way they are excited to be here. They have met new friends. I think that is the one special thing we have forgotten. The first time we came here and what it felt like to belong. I don't think anything will happen to this. Still I don't think Andreas has anything to worry about. Just look at the model and you could get a big laugh at it. As I said. It is something that is not to be looked at seriously. Sometimes you have to look deep into my words guys. There is more there than you realize. When I speak like this it is more deep for you to think about what I have said. It is always positive.  

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Two wrongs don't make a right.
But six left turns will get you around the block
and back in the driveway again.

...I should hide my crystal ball

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Andreas: I know that with my bad English you won't get my point, so I'll try to be short, I live in a country the had to deal with dictators and during my childhood, my mother  didn't scared me with the coco, he used to say me go to bed or the Soldiers are coming, we learn something that we call the culture of no concerning, with fear and lies you can control people, my mother used to say me when you see something strange do as if nothing happend and you'll be OK. My last name is Tauber, my Grandparent was German (I think),  when he came here he decided to forget all about his previous life, I don't know nothing about his precedence, nothing, I only know by my grandmother that he came escaping the war, I always wondered what kind of fear or shame could lead a man to scratch his past to all his people... I don't know If he did right or wrong I can't judge him, but here we try to remember the past, have memory, but not to hold to it or pain will never leave. OK I'm messing all an you don't understand me    What I'd recommend you is when you see pictures like this, is laugh, don't forget the past, but laugh at the man that caused such a lot of pain, don't let him go on causing pain and horror with his simple image.

Hope you get me.

Be happy  

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Thanks a lot, rayera. I understand what you mean, but sometimes it's not so simple. Living in this country, the past is present, still...

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