The Hetalia Fandom isn't THAT Bad
Ok I've been seeing a lot of people complaining about the "crazy Hetalia fandom" lately and I've had enough. Really this can apply to any fandom with a bad reputation but since I've been seeing toward Hetalia lately I'm going to focus on that. Seriously, many of the stories that get passed around are either so far-fetched to begin with that I have
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I also think it should be noted the "Nazi salute" existed long before the Nazi party. It was created by the Romans and has been used in many different societies. Even the U.S. saluted their flag that way before the Nazis adopted it. So I think we shouldn't automatically associate the salute with Nazis.
I see absolutely no reason why that should be noted. No one involved in this particular case intended it that way, and even if they had, everyone knows that that sign's primary association these days is with Nazis. The Nazis appropriated a lot of things, but that doesn't make it okay for blond haired, blue eyed people to run around with Swastikas and it doesn't make it okay for gentiles dressed as Nazis* to hail Hitler. This whole paragraph seemed like reaching pretty deep to excuse a pretty horrible action.
I also get sick and tired of people saying I'm just "lucky" to not have bad experiences with the fandom. I find this quite condescending as it's basically saying "You're experience was positive therefore doesn't count."
I don't know. If we accept other people's negative experiences as equally valid, then it does seem perfectly reasonable to say that you've been pretty lucky to have had mostly positive interaction with the fandom. I don't really see anything wrong with people who've had negative experiences with the fandom saying you're lucky, either.
As far as the negative out weighting the positive, it would take a lot of positive to 'outweigh' an incident as embarrassing as a bunch of people dressed in Nazi uniforms hail Hitler-ing at a convention. It's not really cool to belittle people's entirely appropriate negative reactions to that and act like they're just making a big deal out of nothing.
*Which seems like a cosplay that was in a very poor taste to begin with, Hetalia fandom or not. I can't pretend to understand how the Hetalia fandom works or what's acceptable at private Hetalia-fandom gatherings, but this was not a private Hetalia fandom gathering, and it doesn't take much thought to realize that going out in public dressed like a Nazi is probably a really bad idea. Hell, Prince Harry is still getting flack for doing less than that six years ago. It's not a thing to be taken lightly.
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I'm talking about society as a whole takes things Nazis did and never realize that others used it to. I already said I don't condone what they did but it seemed it was really just a momentary lapse in judgment.
"Which seems like a cosplay that was in a very poor taste to begin with, Hetalia fandom or not. I can't pretend to understand how the Hetalia fandom works or what's acceptable at private Hetalia-fandom gatherings, but this was not a private Hetalia fandom gathering, and it doesn't take much thought to realize that going out in public dressed like a Nazi is probably a really bad idea. Hell, Prince Harry is still getting flack for doing less than that six years ago. It's not a thing to be taken lightly."
Since you're not familiar I'll fill you in. Germany's character was carefully constructed to separate him from Nazis. He says he finds Hitler crazy and he doesn't wear a swastika. His uniform design is a bit of a mixture of WWI and WWII uniforms. So when one cosplays him, it ends up not really looking that much like a Nazi. Unless you're one of those people who thinks Nazi whenever you see a green military uniform.
"I don't know. If we accept other people's negative experiences as equally valid, then it does seem perfectly reasonable to say that you've been pretty lucky to have had mostly positive interaction with the fandom. I don't really see anything wrong with people who've had negative experiences with the fandom saying you're lucky, either."
It's not really a matter of luck most other fans I talk to admit having mostly positive experiences with the fandom too. They don't see my experiences as valid though they use the "lucky" line to say it's not.
"As far as the negative out weighting the positive, it would take a lot of positive to 'outweigh' an incident as embarrassing as a bunch of people dressed in Nazi uniforms hail Hitler-ing at a convention. It's not really cool to belittle people's entirely appropriate negative reactions to that and act like they're just making a big deal out of nothing."
They have a right to be angry but they shouldn't change the details on what happened and ignore their apology. Again, it wasn't a bunch of people, it was like 5. It's pretty unfair to judge an entire fandom by the actions on 5 people who regret their actions anyway.
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