The thing is, the OBVIO second hand pants, are confiscated symbolically and very publicly. Someone either hoped to have a stash of war memorabilia to sell, or a just cheap source of clothing. It doesn't matter. They ridiculed that person. How dare they. What if someone wanted to wear camo pants on the daily? Does that make them an undercover agent, or partizan, or spy? I dunno. These days, for akshual soldiers, it's more about the embroidered badge, I believe, although they also wear camo pants.
The outrage at things Russian, while mumbling about Soviet-era wrongs (while conveniently forgetting the repressions from the neighbors from the other direction, who were very nattily dressed by Hugo Boss).
The hatred has chrystalized upon hatred of Rus, or even Slav. We apparently shouldn't possibly blame Fascism, or Communism, or the privations and costs of war in general.
This part has me boiling. And as I said - the confiscation of someone's property is ideological and comes with burning books, ripping down statues and yelling at Russian-speaking Babushkas in the shop.
I am all for taking contraband as a government policy, but confiscation is also typical of third-rate chihuahua-banana countries. And yes, my family had to stock up on shiny pirate-brand watches bought on street-markets in London, and pack them in little gift-boxes, to dot around one's suitcase, so that they could be confiscated by the corrupt border officials. Just so that the cheese that was also packed in there (because the supermarket shelves were literally empty where we were going) was left alone.
I agree.
The thing is, the OBVIO second hand pants, are confiscated symbolically and very publicly. Someone either hoped to have a stash of war memorabilia to sell, or a just cheap source of clothing. It doesn't matter. They ridiculed that person. How dare they. What if someone wanted to wear camo pants on the daily? Does that make them an undercover agent, or partizan, or spy? I dunno. These days, for akshual soldiers, it's more about the embroidered badge, I believe, although they also wear camo pants.
The outrage at things Russian, while mumbling about Soviet-era wrongs (while conveniently forgetting the repressions from the neighbors from the other direction, who were very nattily dressed by Hugo Boss).
The hatred has chrystalized upon hatred of Rus, or even Slav. We apparently shouldn't possibly blame Fascism, or Communism, or the privations and costs of war in general.
This part has me boiling. And as I said - the confiscation of someone's property is ideological and comes with burning books, ripping down statues and yelling at Russian-speaking Babushkas in the shop.
I am all for taking contraband as a government policy, but confiscation is also typical of third-rate chihuahua-banana countries. And yes, my family had to stock up on shiny pirate-brand watches bought on street-markets in London, and pack them in little gift-boxes, to dot around one's suitcase, so that they could be confiscated by the corrupt border officials. Just so that the cheese that was also packed in there (because the supermarket shelves were literally empty where we were going) was left alone.