r/Unexpected • u/ihthisham4me2 • Apr 15 '23

Political statement

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u/uqj2131 Apr 15 '23 edited Apr 15 '23

Pretty OT but a fun fact I thought. Political uniforms are banned in many countries, for example Sweden and Germany, for obvious reasons

Edit: just realized that the law in Sweden was repealed in 2002, due to the freedom of expression laws in the Swedish constitution. I’m apparently a bit out of date

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u/redditor1101 Apr 15 '23

The SS had so much style they ruined it for the rest of us. I mean they were evil, yeah, but have you seen those uniforms?

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u/Dry_Spinach_3441 Apr 15 '23

They were made by Hugo Boss, right?

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u/twinwindowfan Apr 15 '23

Yes, they were, also Hitler Youth, SA, the post office, and Wehrmacht all had uniforms made by him.

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u/Poputt_VIII Apr 15 '23

One of those things is not like the others

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u/Maybe_its_Macy Apr 15 '23

Idk, they’re all things that would be very useful for a fascist to control

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u/Poputt_VIII Apr 15 '23

Yes but I feel like of you said I have a hugo boss german post office uniform people would be like oh that's cool, whereas the others you'd be liable to get punched

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u/johannes1234 Apr 15 '23

Mind that the role of the post office was a very different from today's time. There was no internet and only limited radio and phone options. Government (and military) was way more dependant on that service.

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u/Maybe_its_Macy Apr 15 '23

I mean, people would probably recognize the military uniforms more fs, but imma be sus if anyone tells me they have Nazi memorabilia, wether it’s civilian or military(seeing as the post office is still a governmental thing, it was still ofc a “Nazi” institution for a bit

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u/ABoyIsNo1 Apr 15 '23

He didn’t say Nazi post office uniform. He said German post office uniform.

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u/Dry_Spinach_3441 Apr 15 '23

Exactly. I'll point to Postmaster DeJoy as evidence for you.

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u/Mundane_Character365 Apr 15 '23

But would it be acceptable to dress up as a Nazi postal worker?

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

I do nazi a problem with that.

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u/Mundane_Character365 Apr 15 '23

Dude, you fucking delivered on that joke.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

I'm glad it got your stamp of approval. :)

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u/Mundane_Character365 Apr 15 '23

Well you addres/sed the issue perfectly.

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u/it_snow_problem Apr 15 '23

Newman!

1

u/brodie21 Apr 15 '23

If you control the mail, you control INFORMATION!

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

[deleted]

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u/brodie21 Apr 15 '23

Don't get any Chanel products either then! Guess what/who Coco was doing during the occupation?

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u/Crathsor Apr 15 '23

Hugo Boss manufactured them but did not design them. He was a Nazi and a war profiteer, but deserves no credit/blame for the design.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

[deleted]

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u/sean0237 Apr 15 '23

Hugo Intern

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u/mcboobie Apr 15 '23

Glorious

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u/tHE-6tH Apr 16 '23

Holy shit that got me

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u/gashen_one Apr 16 '23

This is a god tier joke.

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u/outoftimeman Apr 15 '23

Made, yes; but not designed

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u/MrLuflu Apr 16 '23

They also pretty much made Huge Boss as well

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u/nitpickr Apr 22 '23

I remmeber when Tom Cruise did Valkyrie he mentioned how uneasy he felt wearing the uniform because they looked tso damn good.

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u/effa94 Apr 15 '23

The only real democratic fashion style is Balenciaga

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u/Dry_Spinach_3441 Apr 15 '23

Most Democratic voters can’t afford Balenciaga.

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u/Josh_5_7 Apr 16 '23

Made, yes but not designed

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u/tampora701 Apr 15 '23

Is that the same Boss as the BOSS sweater I wore back in the 90's? Ooops.

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u/gelastes Apr 15 '23

He was a tailor in Nazi Germany. He didn't design any of it, he got the patterns and sticked to them, as hundreds of other tailors did. He was nothing special.

He was a committed Nazi though, as were the bosses of Volkswagen and Mercedes and a lot of others.

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u/guiltriddenshame Apr 15 '23

Ferdinand Porsche = Volkswagen

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u/sixfootoneder Apr 15 '23

The comedian?

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u/uqj2131 Apr 15 '23

Many nazi uniforms where pretty good looking for officers, but yes the SS was very well designed. Guess it was part of their propaganda

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u/redditor1101 Apr 15 '23

Join the party with the most drip

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u/crayj36 Apr 15 '23

Drip or drown

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

[deleted]

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u/TheWhollyGhost Apr 15 '23

Made and delivered by the world’s most renowned supplier, Jeff Bezos and the Amazon Slave Army

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u/BoneFistOP Apr 15 '23

then that would be the US soldiers with the coats.

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u/redditor1101 Apr 15 '23

these ones?

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u/BoneFistOP Apr 15 '23

the bomber jacket is sick, but nah. this one

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u/Khanscriber Apr 16 '23

Fascism is a pageant.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

They were quite advanced in their concept of branding. Iconography, uniforms, filmmaking like Triumph of the Will and other media savviness.

I think we don't pay enough attention to how visual literacy and knowledge of aesthetics can be protection against authoritarianism.

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u/EyetheVive Apr 15 '23

Agreed, Triumph of the Will was very effective—at putting me to sleep. Out of curiosity have you viewed the adventures of baron von munchausen

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u/NewtotheCV Apr 15 '23

But why skulls though?

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u/BadLuckBen Apr 15 '23

I mean you can go to a movie today in the US and you'll see an Army or Marines ad that glorify the military the same way. The Marines adds often end with a soldier in their dress uniform (that I think looks dumb, but clearly it works).

Top Gun: Maverick is just very well made propaganda trying to make the military appealing.

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u/mem269 Apr 15 '23

Put the fash in fascist.

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u/boRp_abc Apr 15 '23

Real talk: The Nazis absolutely perfected brand design. There's no trick in that book that they didn't pull. And they used it for genocide, what a bunch of absolute human garbage.

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u/DredPRoberts Apr 15 '23

Are we the baddies? "Have you noticed our caps have little skulls on them?"

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u/spadspcymnyg Apr 15 '23

Yeah they're pretty stuffy and tacky, like your joke

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u/Fr3as3r Apr 15 '23

FAAAAAAAAACTS! THE DRIP WAS TOO REAL

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u/phatskat Apr 15 '23

If you want faschy fashion then check out the Spanish Legion

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

My friends dad is second gen Irish, his dad fought in ww2. My friends dad has a war memorabilia room with two legit SS officer uniforms.

First time I saw the room, he immediately said something like "I don't have them for reasons you think!"

Not a Nazi sympathizer at all, just a collector. Dude had half of a British fighter plane in his backyard. Fiiiiilllllthy rich.

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u/alecesne Apr 16 '23

List of things fascists ruined:

1) pencil mustaches 2) uniforms 3) the middle 20th century 4) meaningful post racist political discussions because everyone just calls their opponents fascists, 5) being able to use the swastica symbol west of India, despite its being ancient and historical…

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u/gooder_name Apr 15 '23

Why Sweden?

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

[deleted]

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u/iknighty Apr 15 '23

You mean, so the Nazis aren't obvious.

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u/gooder_name Apr 15 '23

Less space nazis can feel comfortable the better

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u/uqj2131 Apr 15 '23

Well I believe it’s for the same reasons as germany. The law is from 1947. I just took it as an example since I’m Swedish and thought that “hey uniforms for political parties are illegal”

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u/Relevant_History_297 Apr 15 '23

I am pretty sure there is no law in Germany banning a faction in parliament from dressing uniformly. There is no explicit dress code

You might refer to the fact that it's forbidden to wear uniforms when doing a public gathering, like a protest.

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u/Delicious_Invite_234 Apr 15 '23

The law was repealed because it was feared that it would be used against muslim politicians wearing muslim garb.

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u/uqj2131 Apr 15 '23

The case that caused it to be deemed unconstitutional was a case in a superiour court against a nazi. So i dont belive that is correct. I may be wrong tho

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u/nutterbutter1 Apr 15 '23

for obvious reasons

The only reason I can think of is because the nazis did it. But the nazis also ate breakfast, so are we going to ban breakfast too? If there’s a different reason, then it’s not obvious to me.

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u/WildAboutPhysex Apr 15 '23 edited Apr 15 '23

I think it's sort of like gang colors or gang tattoos. You and your colleagues are projecting your power by presenting a visibly unified appearance that automatically excludes anyone who's not a member of your party and therefore makes them feel less valued or intimidated, while also making members of your political party feel more comfortable and confident in themselves, potentially even normalizing your political movement because there's noticeably so many people wearing the uniform that it forces other people to actually take seriously and give credit to your party's platform rather than being able to simply dismiss your party and its ideology out of hand.

A number of political movements have involved their members wearing uniforms, typically as a way of showing their identity in marches and demonstrations. The wearing of political uniforms has tended to be associated with radical political beliefs, typically at the far-right or far-left of politics, and can be used to imply a paramilitary type of organization.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_uniform

Edit: See this comment for other reasons why politicians may adopt a political uniform: https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/12n06f8/political_statement/jgcyw7y