Not the Way to Make the Front Page of the Newspaper.........

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:42 pm

**CORRECTION**--It turns out that the story below was on the bottom half of the front page of today's second (Metro) section of the Washington Post, NOT the front page of the paper itself. I looked at the paper when the top section was folded between itself and the rest of the paper, making the bottom half of the Metro section appear to be the bottom of the front page at a quick glance. "Alexander D. Mitchell IV regrets the error."

This story is on the front page of the Metro section of today's Washington Post, and is also prominent in today's Baltimore Sun. I'm reserving comment on the actual story and circumstances, but I'm wagering that whoever was offended has a press/media agent.....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 06027.html

Quote:

It was an all-star lineup: Bob Hope, Abbott & Costello, the Andrews Sisters, Rosie the Riveter - and the Nazi SS?

The Saturday before Veterans Day, Marcia Lurensky, 62, of Forest Hills, Md., paid $169 for a first-class ticket and a hot meal on the Western Maryland Scenic Railway. She traveled from Cumberland to Frostburg not just for the stunning view of autumn leaves but because she wanted to see the impersonators playing the Andrews Sisters - a star attraction of "Cumberland Goes to War," an annual commemoration of World War II.

The Andrews Sisters did not show. What Lurensky did see was a group of men dressed in Nazi uniforms, including the black-shirted SS, the elite unit founded by Adolf Hitler. Lurensky protested the use of Nazi reenactors but said she found little sympathy among more than 600 fellow passengers, some of whom openly mocked her.

"The whole experience was shocking," she said. "I thought of the 6 million. I thought, this is not entertainment."

Event organizers said Lurensky is the first person to complain about the Nazi reenactors, who are a regular part of World War II dramatizations around the country. Three years ago, when a man complained about the flying of a Nazi banner, it was taken down.

In the Baltimore Sun: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-md- ... 6584.story

Nothing yet in the Cumberland Times-News or Hagerstown Herald-Mail, mind you.

For the record, I saw a similar kerfuffle erupt online when a group of four people appeared at a Japanese anime convention in Nazi SS outfits to re-enact (along with others portraying other characters) a Japanese anime series called Hetalia. Basically, those complaining--the parents of some attendee--apparently couldn't be persuaded on the differences between promoting neo-Nazi philosophy and portraying characters in a historically-set fictional animation series.........

My personal reaction is portrayed in this should-be-much-more-famous cartoon from "Bloom County":

http://www.gocomics.com/feature_items/e ... &tag=20973

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:58 pm

Being informed of the re-enactment ahead of time, would have been the correct thing to do. Nazi's offend the heck out me and I believe, rightly so. Still, if the participants were appearing in a pre-planned filming, simple explanation should suffice for other passengers.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sat Nov 13, 2010 1:22 pm

VERY important question raised by Brother Glueck and a friend in an e-mail:

Is it at all possible that someone could have booked this trip on the train without any awareness of the re-enactment event? Unfortunately, yes, it's possible, I'm afraid.

I have managed to blunder into railroad events where I innocently showed up on the wrong day and found the place overrun by, say, Cub Scouts, or antique cars and spectators. (I drove by the B&O Museum during a Thomas the Tank Engine event, and the shuttle buses from remote parking lots was a big give-away.....) And I've also seen one railroad hold an "Oktoberfest" with a variety of local beers outside before the train's departure and onboard the train; I'm hoping that no AA member showed up not knowing it was "Ales on the Rails" weekend and complaining to management. (If booze offended you, there was really no escaping it on that train--you could go off and ignore it, but there was no "no-beer" car.)

If a patron is paying $100+ for a first-class ticket, you absolutely owe them the courtesy of saying as they order "Now you do realize this is the Justin Bieber Concert Train/the Vegan Dinner Train Charter/the ASPCA Dog-Lovers' Special/the National Slobbering Foaming Railfan Association weekend, right?"

Termite7 · **Joined:** Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:29 pm **Posts:** 397

I heard a story about a problem at Historic Williamsburg where they used actors to portray various scenes of life during pre-revolution America. In one scene a sheriff was to break up slaves who were assembling in public...he would chase them off...the point being that they did NOT have the freedom of assembly. Well...then attendees (visitors) started confronting the sheriff on behalf of the slaves...physically laying hands on the sheriff actor. I am told it got very ugly a few times. I am not sure how that was ever resolved.

T7

robertmacdowell · **Posted:** Mon Nov 15, 2010 3:32 am

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

For the record, I saw a similar kerfuffle erupt online when a group of four people appeared at a Japanese anime convention in Nazi SS outfits to re-enact (along with others portraying other characters) a Japanese anime series called Hetalia. Basically, those complaining--the parents of some attendee--apparently couldn't be persuaded on the differences between promoting neo-Nazi philosophy and portraying characters in a historically-set fictional animation series.........

*chuckle* And I just saw an incident with the "pool's closed" meme, actually a rallying cry for civil rights. It was posted at a pool, and someone saw it, and not knowing what they were seeing, decided it best to declare it offensive on the evening news. This instantly became YouTube, bringing it full circle back to the culture who originated the meme. Who in turn took offense at a cardinal sin called "Did Not Do The Research".