Offensive Morale Patches

I don't think I've said this before, at least not in print. I have voiced my thoughts on this to a few people, but have never written it down.

Morale patches are not really my thing. I've just recently bought a Tactical Beard Owner's Club patch from the guys at TBOC, and subsequently, a Mil-Spec Monkey hat from Fire Support to mount it on but apart from that and the Bravo Company team patches I have from the now almost defunct airsoft team I used to play with, I've never worn patches on my gear.

Having said that, they don't bother me. Some of them are pretty cool and/or amusing, but they don't really do it for me. What does offend me massively are the 'Pork Eating Crusader' and 'Infidel' style patches that have been going around for the last few years. The pages of Wikipedia describe the term Infidel as:

"An infidel (literally "one without faith") is one who has no religious beliefs, or who doubts or rejects the central tenets of a particular religion – especially in reference to Christianity or Islam.

Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Church developed a body of theology that deals with the concept of infidelity; which makes a clear differentiation between those who were baptized and followed the teachings of the Church vs. those who are outside the faith. The term infidel was used by Christians to describe non-Christians or those perceived as the enemies of Christianity. The usage of the term for non-Christian monotheists distinguishes the term from heathen or pagan. As such, the term infidel has often been applied to atheists, whose disbelief is viewed negatively by both Christianity and Islam."

Are these patches specifically designed to offend and alienate an entire culture? If they offend me, then surely the Muslim population as a whole must be horrified, not least when they see it written in their own language on someone that is supposed to be helping their country. This strikes me as counter-productive and distasteful at best and behaving like a naiive and immature wanker at worst. If someone from another country walked down the street outside your house armed and in full combat geat with a patch on their arm that said 'Satanist' or 'Church Burner' or the like, I'm pretty sure a great many people would be offended, not least members of the conservative Christian republican persuasion (who, by definition, should also be deeply offended by the term Infidel). In the eyes of extreme fundamentalists, I would imagine a violent reaction might ensue, presumably something that would be actively discouraged rather than provoked. If, however, someone can provide me with a valid reason as to why these patches are a good idea and not just ill-advised and in bad taste then I'd be prepared to listen and reconsider, but I think this is unlikely.

I'm not going to link to any specific manufacturer or retailer as there are a great many producing these items and I wouldn't want to pick out individuals, needless to say, I consider the manufacture, retail and use of these to be pretty irresponsible. I don't know how prevalent the use of these patches is in the current middle eastern conflict areas, but they are pretty popular in the airsoft community and, to summarise, I don't like it.