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The swastika
- Thread starter Jonathan Ainsley Bain
- Start date
Pranam @Jonathan Ainsley Bain ji, Is this a debate? Or are you trying to enlighten us on the original meaning of the Swastika? 
oldbadger
Skanky Old Mongrel!
Hi to Jonathan, Madhuri and all,
There can be a problem with logos, flags, signs, emblems and 'colours'.
It's all about short-, mid- and longterm feels, fashions, opinions and hearts.
Where a logo has been used by a murdering, conquering, psychotic, who has undertaken infanticide, genocide, racism, bigotry and unbelievable hatred to further his own megalomanic causes, its probable that his logos, flags and emblems will be remembered with mistrust and hatred.
My mother drove an ambulance during the Blitz until she broke with shell shock, and if you had shown her a Swastika you would have only received one response.
I am sad that your emblem which means beauty to you is received with such negative responses even today, but in this situation the empathy and understanding would need to be strong in you, because the Eastern Europeans and Jews were slaughtered; religions like the Jehovah Witnesses were slaughtered, the gypsies, the Gays were slaughtered., cities like the Londoners, Brummies, Liverpudlians and all were layed waste, sons, husbands and fathers were slaughtered like the American, Brit, Canadian, Indian, Aussie, NZ and countless other nationalities of soldiers......................... far from their homes.
Our Merchant Seamen, thousands of them! Our Sailors and Airmen. The list is endless, caused by the mad-man who chose your emblem for his flag
We will hate the swastika for a long time yet............... but please, please understand why, and give us your empathy, and a bit of sympathy too?
There can be a problem with logos, flags, signs, emblems and 'colours'.
It's all about short-, mid- and longterm feels, fashions, opinions and hearts.
Where a logo has been used by a murdering, conquering, psychotic, who has undertaken infanticide, genocide, racism, bigotry and unbelievable hatred to further his own megalomanic causes, its probable that his logos, flags and emblems will be remembered with mistrust and hatred.
My mother drove an ambulance during the Blitz until she broke with shell shock, and if you had shown her a Swastika you would have only received one response.
I am sad that your emblem which means beauty to you is received with such negative responses even today, but in this situation the empathy and understanding would need to be strong in you, because the Eastern Europeans and Jews were slaughtered; religions like the Jehovah Witnesses were slaughtered, the gypsies, the Gays were slaughtered., cities like the Londoners, Brummies, Liverpudlians and all were layed waste, sons, husbands and fathers were slaughtered like the American, Brit, Canadian, Indian, Aussie, NZ and countless other nationalities of soldiers......................... far from their homes.
Our Merchant Seamen, thousands of them! Our Sailors and Airmen. The list is endless, caused by the mad-man who chose your emblem for his flag
We will hate the swastika for a long time yet............... but please, please understand why, and give us your empathy, and a bit of sympathy too?
The point is, since this is a major symbol in Hinduism, should Hindus hide or reject it now that the Nazis have hijacked it? Or should we display it with pride and educate people of its other meanings?
Display it all you want. But at the same time, understand that in the West that symbol has come to mean the industrialized murder of six million people for the crime of being born to the wrong parents. It is not fair, but it is true all the same.
Flankerl
Well-Known Member
Huh?
Hindu or Buddhist Swastikas aren't even banned in Germany where I am not even allowed to wash my car on my own property.
I know of no current event where a Buddhist or Hindu swastika was mistaken for a Nazi Swastika, so perhaps just chill?
Yeah uhm that didn't happen.
A lot of cultures and religions use/d it. But currently at least a billion Hindus consider it an important religious symbol. It's used by Hindus for many things and is readily displayed; probably as it is believed to bring good fortune. So if a Hindu displays their symbol, should people be offended?
That's kind of my point.
Spiderman
Veteran Member
Exactly! That is total garbage that so many people let Hitler define the meaning of it. He had no copyright and it existed long before he got a hold of it. It should not be viewed as an evil symbol
Flankerl
Well-Known Member
Then I don't really get why this Thread exists.
Neo Deist
Th.D. & D.Div. h.c.
No.
Because we don't all live in Germany.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
In my area there is a county building that has miniature swastikas layed into the floor among its design. It caused a stir for awhile, but the swastikas won out as a benign symbol not representive of Nazism. Best way to get rid of stigmas imo is to normalize them by reclamation. Worked wonderfully in this case. No one bats an eye anymore.
Spiderman
Veteran Member
Yeah.... There is a Polish Church built in the 1920's in Buffalo New York, and most people that go to that Church are black now and quite offended.
There was a debate about remodeling it now that it went from being a Polish to a black neighborhood, but The swastikas stayed because it was 1920 when they were put there and it had nothing to do with fascism. The newcomers that see them and are offended are quickly given a correct sermon on what it means.
It is better that way. But it was kinda weird when I'd go to mass there (a mission in the ghetto ) and the pews were full of black people yet there were swastikas on the floor tiles and walls lol
saint Lukes mission of Mercy
oldbadger
Skanky Old Mongrel!
Kartari
Active Member
Sorry, but dead Nazis don't get to continue appropriating and twisting the meaning of the religious symbol of Hindus, American Indians, and others. I can understand why those of the WW2 generation who fought Nazis would have had a hard time with it. But it's high time we know the truth and get past this.
If the Nazis had appropriated the Christian cross instead, would we still react with hatred towards it today? Or would Christians reeducate the world about its earlier meaning and reclaim the symbol?
If the Nazis had appropriated the Christian cross instead, would we still react with hatred towards it today? Or would Christians reeducate the world about its earlier meaning and reclaim the symbol?
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
hi kartari
the ''swastika', besides being a european trditional symbol./ in various areas,,
is actually also a ''cross''. it's a type of ''cross''.
some clarification there