I hate Minnesota Nazis
EDITOR'S NOTE: We're back, after some technical difficulties. As a result, the following posting should have been done at least a week ago. We apologize for the delay. On a related note, The New Blogger can bite me.
Just when I think my former home of Columbia, MO seemed to be getting less weird, the Nazis dropped by. Minnesota Nazis, to be exact. The National Socialist Movement, including their 2008 presidential candidate, decided to march on Columbia to protest the University of Missouri's "Marxism". As both an alumnus and former employee, I can testify that the University's flaws are legion (and usually hilarious), but Marxism is news to me. I always thought of it as the other extreme, if anything.
Anyway, the Minnesota Nazis showed up, had their parade cut a bit short (predictably enough) by the anti-demonstration demonstrators, cost the Columbia police a nice chunk of overtime, and left with a minimal amount of violence and pepper spray. Meanwhile, in a rare display of surprisingly good sense, thousands of locals skipped the freak show and went to a picnic instead.
All this, as you might have gathered from the title of this post, raises one main point in my mind: I miss John Belushi.
The Blues Brothers did such an admirable job of taking a thoroughly nasty situation and making fun of it that few people today remember that the dreaded "Illinois Nazis" were real. While I am a bit startled that nobody in Columbia tried to run the Nazis off a bridge with their car, turning their backs and going to a picnic is at least as good. And for once, I think maybe it's not such a bad place. At least, not until the next time the fraternities or the basketball team do something astonishingly stupid, and they're overdue for a big one.
PS- while researching this post, I learned an important lesson: Illinois Nazis are even funnier in Italian.
Just when I think my former home of Columbia, MO seemed to be getting less weird, the Nazis dropped by. Minnesota Nazis, to be exact. The National Socialist Movement, including their 2008 presidential candidate, decided to march on Columbia to protest the University of Missouri's "Marxism". As both an alumnus and former employee, I can testify that the University's flaws are legion (and usually hilarious), but Marxism is news to me. I always thought of it as the other extreme, if anything.
Anyway, the Minnesota Nazis showed up, had their parade cut a bit short (predictably enough) by the anti-demonstration demonstrators, cost the Columbia police a nice chunk of overtime, and left with a minimal amount of violence and pepper spray. Meanwhile, in a rare display of surprisingly good sense, thousands of locals skipped the freak show and went to a picnic instead.
All this, as you might have gathered from the title of this post, raises one main point in my mind: I miss John Belushi.
The Blues Brothers did such an admirable job of taking a thoroughly nasty situation and making fun of it that few people today remember that the dreaded "Illinois Nazis" were real. While I am a bit startled that nobody in Columbia tried to run the Nazis off a bridge with their car, turning their backs and going to a picnic is at least as good. And for once, I think maybe it's not such a bad place. At least, not until the next time the fraternities or the basketball team do something astonishingly stupid, and they're overdue for a big one.
PS- while researching this post, I learned an important lesson: Illinois Nazis are even funnier in Italian.
posted by Skippy | 3:28 PM
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