Talk:Paramilitary woo

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This article requires attention for the following reason(s): Lacks depth of content. Requires more sources. Possesses Americentric bias.

Stuff

C'mon folks, have at it and add some stuff. As far as I'm concerned this is still a rough stub. Secret Squirrel (talk) 01:39, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

This article is aching for citations. Also, segun Wikipedia, Soldier of Fortune was started by a veteran turned mercenary and covered mercenary operations in Oman. Of course, knowing Wikipedia, the article was likely hijacked by enthusiasts who revert anything that doesn't match their narrative on sight.--"Shut up, Brx." 03:04, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

No Fun Allowed: The Article 67.186.15.193 (talk) 02:02, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Some unclear "left and right wing" distinctions in the movies section

I'm wondering in which sense Death Wish (1974) is a "left wing" film by any stretch of the imagination. It's about a rugged individual going on vigilante spree; granted it starts out with a personal tragedy, but it includes (if I remember correctly) such standard right wing tropes as the essentially faceless evil criminals and rampant crime necessitating vigilantism - even if the main character is less one dimensional than Rambo.
Indeed, a far more interesting contrast is between First Blood (1982) and the rest of the Rambo franchise. In First Blood, Rambo is a troubled veteran, whose behaviour could suggest that he's suffering something like PTSD, who's confronted by an uncaring and petty local law enforcement system and then rebels first against it and later against "US officialdom" which apparently had neglected the problems of him (and by extension Vietnam veterans in general), not to mention that the film strongly condemns the "more and bigger guns" approach to law enforcement taken by the authorities (here the voice of reason is Rambo's former commander who argues for a decidedly non-military approach of letting things cool down so that Rambo can be arrested quietly, rather than being brought in "dead or alive"). By contrast, the subsequent Rambo films all have Rambo as the standard one-man army gunning down oodles of baddies (not incidentally practically all of them non-Americans, not to say outright US enemies of their day, e.g. Vietnamese and Russians) and the entire government tends to be depicted as deliberately obstructive and outright evil such as in the conspiracy to hide the existence of remaining US POWs in Vietnam in the ludicrously titled Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). Effectively, the Rambo franchise began with a film which contained a strong indictment of the treatment of US veterans, but then turned into a celebration of the "special forces superman" who'll fix any problem with a hail of bullets. ScepticWombat (talk) 09:25, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

"THE ULTIMATE AR-15 MALL NINJA TACTICAL ZOMBIE DESTROYER!"

Does this qualify as paramilitary woo? I mean, it does have mall ninja in the title, which is nice. Notice how he exclaims "Wolverines!" as he begins shooting — a reference to Red Dawn. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 22:29, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

Reenactment societies

Where do they fit into this?

OK most of those not so involved think it a slightly odd hobby - but why shouldn't people dress up as Vikings, Romans and Samurai, get told the relevant Health and Safety regulations and how much damage they are allowed to do, and then have a free-for-all and/or get free entrance to an event or historical place because they are dressed up? 86.146.99.29 (talk) 21:55, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

Americentric bias

Paramilitarism is a global phenomenon, but this article is focused on American paramilitarism. Granted, there is a big difference between a LARPer (although as we saw with the Bundy standoff, the feds will still back down before a large group of armed larpers, so that doesn't mean just because some gun nut is a LARPer implies they're harmless) and paramilitaries who have actively seen combat (Palestinian militant groups, Ulster paramilitaries, narco-militias et cetera). Carthage (talk) 06:46, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

I will say that many organized crime groups would probably make better guerrillas than our current crop of militia assholes, though. Much better organization too, what with having to hold up to sustained law enforcement scrutiny. I also distinguish between cartels, who are proper paramilitaries now, and "traditional" organized crime. There's overlap, certainly, but the cartels are now proper belligerents, not "just" gangs. Carthage (talk) 06:49, 13 December 2023 (UTC)