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.
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7 comments:
Please correct me if i'm wrong. But you are offended because there are patches that say infidel. However that is what the Muslim culture calls us, and along with other cultures kills others because they believe us as "infidels". So you're offended because of a word sewn on a patch rather than genocide caused because of the word.
Thoughtful post Dave, for a change! (:-P) I believe the idea behind these patches is to de-humanise the enemy, an idea as old as warfare itself. Just look at the "Tojo" Japanese images in US publications prior to, and during WW2. These in spite of the many many naturalised Japanese Americans who sided against the empire.
That said, I personally don't hold with airsofters using such imagery, since the subject matter is more for real world people dealing with difficult times.
Firstly, thanks for reading and taking time to comment.
I don't think you're right in saying that's what Muslim culture calls us. They probably did at one point, but I think it's probably certain elements of Muslim culture who would still refer to westerners as Infidels. I know a lot of Muslims and not one has ever referred to me in that way. The element of Muslim society that does refer to non-Muslims as Infidels are also the element that it would be prudent not to antagonise.
Look at it this way. If your country was being occupied by a Muslim coalition force and members of that coalition walked around the streets around your house with a patch on their arm saying 'cross burner' or 'Jihadi', how would you feel?
If we had muslim forces here walking around with guns a patch would be the least of my worries. A patch and a saying will not be a priority then or ever will be. And you are right. Not all call us that. There are respectable muslims. I'm mainly refering to the radicals. Like the Sheites, some Suni's, Taliban, Alkida, groups like them. They believe and want us to die because we don't conform into their religion. They torture their people and our people when givin the oppertunity. Theres blood being spilt for a belief and for lesser reasons. Some words on a patch isn't going to hurt anyone.
The point of the moral patches are for humor. And quite frankly and I don't mean to offend anyone who, but whoever does get offended by patches their just too thin skinned. If you want to talk about offencive things talk about the genocide the people you are defending in this thread cause. That in my eyes and the eyes of the rest of the world is offencive. Not some words.
I do agree with you. Don't get me wrong, much as I am a fan of military history and technology and a supporter of the armed forces, I deplore the act of war in all its forms. Acts of terrorsim and war crime on both sides are deplorable and unforgivable, perhaps I should have said all this in my original post. It was just the patches that particularly irked me on that occasion.
That is understandable. And I agree with that. The way I see it is. In airsofting we wear them for humor. The infidel ones I see them as sarcasm in a way. Their not made to insult a group or to insult anyone. They make people laugh. Although I can not speak for everyone but when I airsoft I wear my explicit moral patches ans we all get a kick out of them. Although I am the type of person who is cool with everyone in one way or another so they know my intentions. But i've never heard or seen anyone been hurt over them. So I don't see them as an important issue.
Cool man, we'll have to agree to disagree over the patches, but I appreciate your point of view. Thanks for posting.
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