It's quite interesting that the most faves I get are from the anti-nazi vector art that I re-created in Illustrator.

I did not make the original design.

When I searched on the web for a good, clear version of the image, I couldn't find one.

So, I decided to re-create it so that other people could download the vector version for use on all sorts of things.

To be clear, I am not against the right of people to be Nazis.

If someone wants to be a nazi, it's their right.

But I also have the right to oppose their ideology.

After doing years and years of research on all sorts of hate groups (Including non-'White' hate groups), it's just the same message, re-packaged over and over.

It all comes down to people wanting to feel better than someone else.

And fear.

In my heart, I feel that while everyone is not the same, everyone should have the same right to human rights.

When we treat people like dirt because of any reason (Also in the case of prisoners, drug addicts etc), we then take away their humanity and move one step closer to losing ours.

It's not easy to realise that no one is an any way better than anyone else.

But if all of your thoughts and deeds that no one knows about were made public, every one of them, and people could see all of them, would you still feel superior in any way to anyone else?

I wouldn't.

Everyone does good, does bad, messes up, does something right and so on.

When I started to see more and more nazi-chic things on DA, I was disturbed.

That so many people would ignorantly assume that you can dress up as a nazi (Even if it's from some manga or anime) and that you would not be putting on not just a costume but an image representing a whole set of ideas and crimes, I was gobsmacked.

I tend to think of people that are in love with hate groups or the idea of being pro-(their 'race) as having a low level of self identity and self worth.

Like, by attaching themselves to an idea of a 'superior' 'race', that lifts them up in terms of worth and they cling to these ideals of 'glory' that they associate with that 'race'.

Which indicates that they need this because they feel a lack of self-worth and possibly also a desperateness to be part of something bigger than themselves, like a sort of 'family'.

When you check out the background of many people involved in hate groups, a lot of them have the same background.

Namely, coming from lower-income areas and families, a lack of education, long terms of unemployment, usually a 'dysfunctional' or 'broken' family and also not much a foundation in terms of their social connections.

It then becomes attractive to take a burden of sadness and guilt off of your shoulder and put it on a scapegoat.

'I cannot get a job because all of those lazy immigrants take jobs from me' or 'I cannot do anything with my life that I would like to because _______ is against me and keeps me down' or 'All of those ____ on welfare are just taking from _____ and they are lazy' (A lot of times heard from racists on state-support themselves...

These people may then get notice of a group that tells them of the 'glory' of their 'race' and how everything wrong in their life is the fault of ______ and that when they get rid of _____ life will be a paradise.

For the gullible, they swallow this pill because it's easier to make scapegoats and put the blames in life on the 'other'.

And to lift themselves up (In their mind) by putting others down.

So, this is the cheap way to feel less guilt over your life and to feel better about yourself.

And fear.

These are exactly the tools that the nazi party used.

'Are you poor? It's because the JEWS have all of our hard-earned Germany money!' (Actually, Germany was in terrible shape because of the events surrounding World War I that destroyed the German economy. From what I understand, many Jews actually formed lending pools and were culturally more cautious with their money, for fear of hard times. So, it may have been that the Jews seemed to weather the storm that the German nationalists had created better than the average person. I guess centuries of persecution will teach one to be cautious.)

'Society is in poor shape, you have lost your pride as a German!' (No, people lost their pride because no one had jobs or money and had to bring bags of almost worthless money to buy a small amount of groceries. Again, the results of World War I.)

Many people (Also Germans themselves) still suffer from the after-effects of this ultra-nationalism and racism.

Whole generations and families (Not just Jews but also millions of people, including Poles, Germans, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Intellectuals, Scientists, Priests, Socialists, Dissenters, Disabled People and so on) lost their lives.

Wiped out, because of scapegoat-ism and paying the price so that someone else could feel better about themselves the cheap way.

And also many Germans, when they travel, are still called 'nazi' or made fun of.

Seeing the rise of nazi-chic or nazi-cuteness on Deviantart and the web just makes me ill.

When someone says 'It's just a costume, don't get so serious', I find it amazing.

I guess that same person would feel okay about dressing up as a Holocaust victim if it was in a manga or anime series.

I mean, it's just for fun right?