Moral Dilemma

from WinCustomize Forums
A while back, someone requested and OD icon in the rare icon thread for a video game called 'Panzers', a WWII based game. I made the icons, posted them and never looked back.



Then, yesterday, I received a PM on another skinning site.
"Hello
Very good work. Can you made Icons like this for my clan please?
We use the LAH Division symbol. [link]
it would be great if this possible."

From a person whose handle is a German word for 'racist'.

SO, after my initial shock, my first thought was to remove the work from that site and any other I posted it on. Then, I had to ask myself, who am I punishing here? Who wins? The thought of someone 'liking' them or 'using' them for other than what they were intended...specifically for something so disgusting is hard to take.
community
4,762 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The art itself is not racist.
You are not endorsing it's use by a racist group.
Sounds like you are in the clear.

Me . . . I'd turn down their request and request that they not use any of my work.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
d turn down their request and request that they not use any of my work


Pretty much ignoring the request all together. No brainer.

I guess the thought of some cockroach with my icons on a wallpaper that's probably the Nazi flag as he chats in messenger with his fellow cockroaches just makes me wanna wretch.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Send them some icons with hebrew text on them...probably so stupid they wouldnt even notice.  
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Send them some icons with hebrew text on them...probably so stupid they wouldnt even notice.


yeah good idea
(just send it from an other address email )

Not joking i had to agree with Zubaz. And i understand your feelings about that Po'
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Send them some icons with Hebrew text on them.


lmao I'll start the email with 'Shalom, Mouth-Breather,...."

just send it from an other address email


How about Menorah4u@gmail?

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How about Menorah4u@gmail?


Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I agree with the given advice. You can ignore them or you can choose to politely reply and turn them down. There isn't a need for you to explain yourself to them. If they ask for one, just simply give a general reason.

Regardless if they pay you or not, you have the privilege of turning them down. If things get ugly, let us know. I'm sure a few of us will step out there with you.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Careful Po...they haff vays of making you skeen.    
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you can choose to politely reply and turn them down.


I agree...

Careful Po...they haff vays of making you skeen.



Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ditto. Politely turn them down. I think if they ask why (which I doubt will happen) tell them the truth, that you do not want your work associated with a group like theirs.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
they haff vays of making you skeen.


SO do I... MUHAHAHAHAHA !


  


Po... Moral dillema's i feel cannot be adressed by others... thats the beauty\pain lurking behind the word morality.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Probably the only issue you have is deciding whether you wish to be associated, however tenuously, with what may or may not be neo-fascist...or white supremacist, KKK, etc.

Historically the LAH Divisions etc were/are simply facets of WW11 German militaria...and not necessarily different to any other, Axis OR Allied.

I've always been interested in WW2 Armour, since I was a rug-rat.  There was a chap called Michel Wittmann who was the armour equivalent of a 'Fighter Ace', as Commander of a Tiger 1 he destroyed 88 allied tanks before losing his own...and went on to 138 before becoming MIA in Aug, '44.  This showed both a tactical and technical superiority over his opponents which could be 'appreciated' as a skill, albeit undesired.

He was assigned to the LAH [Waffen SS .... LAH stands for Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler], eventually receiving a Knight's Cross [Oak Leaves and swords].  Von Richtoffen had much the same [Cross] in WW1 [the Red Baron].

Military historians have no 'issue' with all of that...it's simply 'history'.

Where it may become an issue is with spotty-faced skin-heads who have absolutely no idea of what it was all about in 39-45 abusing it all as a rally-point for present-day disingenuation with society.

That means it is not about WHAT you may have created as an image/icon but rather WHO is wanting to use it....and WHY.

If you think it'll be misused....simply say "Thanks, but NO." ...

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would politely turn them down - yet, I would also tell them why.

IE : I really do not wish my art/name to be associated with your group as we do not share the same views.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I don't see any dilemna. Why advance their cause with pretty pictures and logos?
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks everyone.

I never even considered honoring the request. Just torn over leaving the dock icons up for freaks like this guy to download.

Where it may become an issue is with spotty-faced skin-heads who have absolutely no idea of what it was all about in 39-45 abusing it all as a rally-point for present-day disingenuation with society.


Bingo. The guy's gallery of 'favorites' is all swastika's and other nazi crap. And now my icons are in his fav gallery. ugh. WWII buff's I understand. This crap just freaks me out. The amazing part is that it's a kid and he lives in Germany.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The amazing part is that it's a kid and he lives in Germany

Hitler was a kid at one time ..... I think
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The amazing part is that it's a kid and he lives in Germany.


There's no tolerance for this kind of Nazi worship by the German people as a whole, so hopefully this kid 'll grow out of it...being he'll garner little support and find himself the odd one out more often than not.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I know it feels good to have people liking your work and asking for something personal. That's how we know we make it as artists. At the same time, I have to offer another piece of advice that seems like common sense but isn't very common.

Check them out and see what they represent.

Asians are horribly over egotistical about "face", but their concerns do have merits (just not merit enough to be so over the top). When we're not there to show people who we are, those who carry our symbols will associate themselves with us.

While we don't intend to do it, we often reflect the characteristics of one person we know onto another person just because they have something we made or used.

It's your face they're using to represent them. Since no lines in life are very clear-cut, it's not that difficult for one person to easily assume that there are no borders.

As a writer, we have a saying along these lines: "It's not what you wrote. It's how people read and interpret what you wrote that causes misunderstanding."
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
As a writer, we have a saying along these lines: "It's not what you wrote. It's how people read and interpret what you wrote that causes misunderstanding."


Every once in awhile a statement is made that gives us a one of life's rulls. This is one of them.