[bamboo]

Mevin Costa - Keepers of The Cage



Tattooed with the iron eagle carrying a swastika. ex prisoner melvin costa is up and coming in KOTC.

What really worries me is the idea of fucking nazis having a man to rally behind in the sport of mma. In my opinion something like this could really damage the image of the sport and fuel the arguement of mma being nothing but brutal violence. A little hatred makes for bad headlines.

Or am I over reacting?

Anyone know anything about this guy?

-bamboo

[zefff]

I dont think its a problem really. Just helps as a visual aid for his opponents to focus on and smash through.

Yes he may get fans but all fighters have political views of one sort or another wether they display them or not. The sport of MMA might bring him and his fans into close contact with people they usually would avoid so maybe its a good thing. err... :s

[bamboo]

SamCaplan.proelite.com » Q&A with Melvin Costa from King of the Cage: King of the Cage, Melvin Costa: SamCaplan article

Sam caplan interviews him about the tattoos and his beliefs.

[Hengest]

That's actually a really interesting article bamboo. Cheers for that. While I don't agree with Costa's views, I agree that he has the right to explain himself, and kudos to that website for allowing him to do so. However, while, to some extent, I can see where Costa is coming from, his arguements are seriously flawed to my mind, and not just because of the obvious.

First of all, and most obvious, as many commented on the site, is that the choice of the Iron Eagle is a poor one if he simply wants to communicate his belief in the white race. I think most would agree that Nazi Germany was probably one of the lowest points in white history and, contrary to what Costa argues, I think there are plenty of other images he could've used that would symbolise his belief in his heritage without raising accusations of being Neo-Nazi.

However, more interestingly, I think his arguement is more fundamentally flawed in his poor understanding of what race is, which seems to be very common amongst White Power types, and perhaps activists of other races, particularly in the US. His views contain two main sophistries: (1) that race and culture are the same thing; and (2) that all whites share a common culture. These points are simply not true, as any examination of Europe will show.

I've made my political and religious views known on this forum on many an occassion. Both of these stem from having an intense interest in my heritage and the history of my country, and it is through researching these issues that one can only conclude that their is no such thing as racial purity for a start. To illustrate, when used together, genetic, historical, archaeological and linguistic evidence shows that the English as a people have their routes in two main migrations shortly after the Ice Age, a flood of Iberian immigrants coming into the south, and Scandinavian immigrants coming into the north. Immigration and interbreeding from that point becomes more and more regular: Celtic, Italic, Sarmatian, Germanic, North African, Hunnic, Slavic, Persian and Mongolian blood all get thrown into the mix. Not exactly my idea of racial purity. And the same can be said for most European nations, contrary to what Hitler thought. Yet, despite this, for the large part, each European state has developed a distinct and seperate culture from its neighbours. Sure, parts are related, particularly linguistically, but nobody would ever argue that English and German are the same language, and the same can be said of the countries' cultures.

It is for this reason that I am an English nationalist rather than anything else. I don't stand for whites, I don't even stand for English whites, I stand for the English people as a whole. I believe that I have more in common with a black Englishman than I do with a white Scotsman, a white Frenchman, a white German, or a white American for that matter. But this seems to escape the White Power movement. They have such a poor understanding of the issue that they fail to realise that the average white American probably has more in common with a black American than he does a white of any other country.

[bamboo]

Hengest.

Interesting post. I differ somewhat in opinion as to the language being used and the idea that what costa is spewing is ignorance.

I'll start off to say that yes, his beliefs are completely ignorant and full of flaws but I seriously doubt he made a choice to get a "white nationalist" tattoo not knowing the implications of his design choice. I am speaking of course of the iron eagle carrying the swastika and the spiderweb with an iron cross over top. White power/supremecist groups are smarter in their marketing skills and the way they project thier image, at least in north america. The words I read in his interview where what I have heard dozens or even hundreds of times from north american white "heritage" groups. From the "church of the creator" to the now defunct "heritage front" to even the new KKK and david duke. "We don't hate others, we just want to be proud of our race".

Its carefully calculated bullshit coated in white chocolate to make it easier for the masses to swallow. Now that we have the "war on terrorism" going and fear is the language of the us gov't, these groups will only grow in numbers all under the name of "racial pride". All costa did in my opinion was follow the script.

cheers,

bamboo

[Hengest]

Oh bamboo, you old cynic you!

No, actually, I agree completely. I'm sure what he says is carefully calculated bullshit, but, in the spirit of the interview, I was taking his remarks at face value to illustrate the fact that even the "friendly neighbourhood Neo-Nazi" public image that White Power types try to project is still based on an inherently flawed premise.

Another thing I'm trying to point out, which I may get flamed for, is that, in the eyes of most Europeans at least, Americans generally seem to have a very poor understanding of what race and nationality actually mean. That's not to say that the Extreme Right is extinct in Europe, far from it, but they tend take on the mantle of nationalism rather than racism in Europe. Now, you could quite rightly say that extreme right-wing nationalism is not really much better than racism, but at least the concept of race is understood a lot better.

I have a group of Irish friends here that I regularly hang out with. When an American walks into the pub, their reaction is quite amusing: money starts changing hands. The first time I saw this, I had no clue what was going on, so I asked one of my mates what they were doing. "Taking bets," he said. "On what?" I asked. "How long it takes the yank to say he's Irish," was the reply. This is a great illustration of the differences between the European and American attitudes toward race and culture. Now, the aforementioned American may well be of Irish descent, but never in a million years would an Irishman consider him Irish; he will always be an American in European eyes.

Generally, Americans seem to view race and nationality in incredibly basic terms. If you'll pardon the pun, it's a very black-and-white issue for them. Just as Costa believes he is part of an all-encompassing white brotherhood, the American in the pub thinks he's the same as any other Irish guy, which couldn't be more wrong. To my mind, this is why white supremacists are far more prevelant in the US than in any other "white" nation. It's also the reason for such issues as the IRA's terrorist efforts being largely funded by New Yorkers. If Americans had a better understanding of race, of culture, of nationality, perhaps these problems wouldn't be quite so prevelant.

[bamboo]

Americans generally seem to have a very poor understanding of what race and nationality actually mean.

Agreed. Its quite interesting being north of the american border having access to the media and culture and to see just how skewed the concept of socalled "race" and "heritage" really is in that country.

Everyone there seems to be of a different nationality plus american- ie- Irish american, german american, japanese american etc. I find it rather amusing when finding out that the people claiming these titles often have never been to the country they claim nor do they have any family in that country. Race is often identified through national borders- ie- a french race and a belgian race somehow being different.

I certianly do understand your second post much better than the first and completely agree. The north american nazi lives with a fantasy mindset taking solice in the "fact" (as they believe) that there will soon be a grand race war and they will be the heroes of a new and improved fatherland.
In europe they may be able to organise, but here, its just pockets of morons and gang members (nazi low riders, hammerskins, etc..) that stick together stroking eachothers' ego.

Great post Hengest, made me use my brain before 8am.

-bamboo