BANNING THE SWASTIKA OR THE CROSS

The Daily Waster

Happy Nazi Day

Posted on September 29, 2011

0

Free dress days at school are always killer, but the lustre was lost for students at a Thai school who were told to abide by a Nazi theme this year.

Sacred Heart School in Chiang Mai resembled the Nuremberg Rally, as students rocked up in swastika armbands, goose stepping and sieg heiling, some even donning little Hitler moustaches for the day.



Awwww.

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Tagged: Chiang Mai, Nazi, Nuremberg, School, Swastika, Thailand

Posted in: Waste of Time

rug

Should the Swastika Be Banned? Sam Panthaky/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Hindu religious men gave final touches to a folk art piece shaped in the form of the Swastika on Oct. 24, 2011. By Diksha Sahni, Wall Street Journal (Blog), January 13, 2012 New Delhi, India -- The Swastika, a Hindu and Buddhist symbol later associated with Nazi Germany, sparked fresh controversy as local authorities requested a store in a New York borough to stop selling Swastika-shaped earrings because they deemed them offensive. “Let me be clear – a swastika is not a fashion statement. It is the most hateful symbol in our culture, and an insult to any civilized person,” Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a statement, adding that selling the earrings amounted to a “hate crime.” Arguing that the sale of the Swastika earrings was “shocking to the sensibilities of all New Yorkers,” he demanded a recall of the earrings. In an interview with Fox News, the store’s manager said the design of the earrings was “not a Nazi symbol.” “I don’t know what’s the problem. My earrings are coming from India as a Buddhist symbol,” she said. In Hindu culture, the Swastika is depicted as an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles. In the Nazi version, the Swastika is tilted. The earrings could’ve been either. http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,10679,0,0,1,0 2

1. No, why ban a symbol because the nazi's adopted a counter clockwise version of it.

Would we want to ban the cross because the KKK uses it?

9. Actually, the Nazis used the clockwise orientation. But for certain historical dramas and docudramas

filmed on location in Europe after the war, law or strong local sentiment has prevented display of the clockwise swastika during filming so film-makers have instead used a counter-clockwise swastika in props such as the Nazi-era flag

10. My mistake. Thanks for the info. Very interesting.

11. The rotation does not matter, cos both versions predate the Nazis

Its not uncommon to see the right as well as the left rotating Swastikas in the East, Especially Hindu and Buddhist temples. During religious ceremonies my grand mom usually draws four swastikas(in two mirrored pairs) on the doors of the room where the ceremony is held. It's a way of denoting sacred space, if a i remember correctly. Furthermore, some of the swastikas are angled too(but rarer), like the Nazi one. The only way I can differentiate the Nazi Hakenkreuz(hooked cross) from the Eastern Swastika is by the background and the colors used. Also it has to be pointed out that the Nazis never called it the Swastika..they called it the Hakenkreuz.

14. Yep. I got it now. Thanks.

A real travesty that such a time honored symbol was misappropriated by the forces of evil.

2. No (nt)

3. Wherever they are banned, the Nazis just make alterations to bypass the rules.

Banning them doesn't do any good, but education does.

4. Uh.

First Amendment, anyone? This isn't even a Nazi thing, and GODDAMN NAZIS CAN PARADE. This is America. Geez.

5. Sure, but Only after the Cross is banned

Last edited Sat Jan 21, 2012, 02:53 AM USA/ET - Edit history (2) The fact that even such a question arises speaks volumes about the ignorance of the ones who raise such a question. Scott Stringer should take a history 101 class. People like him make me sick. Ps: Ok I was just gonna put "nt" on the heading but decided I should explain a bit more. The Swastika has been used for more than 6000 years In the Indian subcontinent/Asia(not to mention the native American traditions). Hinduism and Buddhism consider it one of their major symbols. And no it is not just found in the right-turning form, but also as its mirror image, and anything in between. Hitler hijacked it (it had no relation to Hitler whatsoever till he hijacked it!) and used it for his agenda.The Nazi symbol has absolutely nothing to do with Hinduism/Buddhism..nothing nada.. The Nazis called it the Hakenkreuz (Hooked cross) We Hindus/Buddhists do understand what our Jewish brothers and sisters went through and do not flaunt the symbol openly in the west ( Anyone who visited Asia will know how ubiquitous this symbol is, used in the Hindu/Buddhist iconography). But to make such a big issue out of a piece of Buddhist/Hindu jewellery, and have it taken down only serves to underscore the ignorance of the accuser. If only he had known a bit about the world, he would not have made such a stupid claim. As a Hindu I find these actions highly offending. And yeah...btw Hindus are the only people; in the History of Judaism who have held no ill will towards Jewish people. Jews have lived/live in India for more than 2000 years, from the time long ago,when they came as refugees after their temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. More came from Spain after the Spanish inquisition. India was the only nation where there was not even a single incident of AntiSemitism( Except during the Goanese Inquisition by the Portuguese who carried out pogroms against both Hindus and Jews). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_India Unlike many parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in India without any instances of antisemitism from the local majority populace, the Hindus. However, Jews were persecuted by the Portuguese during their control of Goa Why does not Mr Scott Stringer also make such a statement against the cross then? after all countless pogroms and inquisitions were  carried out on its name...not to mention the KKK. Hell..during the crusades and the inquisitions the cross was the rallying icon for all  religious fundies. But we are more than willing to not associate the cross with any such actions...however its fair game when it comes  to Hindus and Buddhists though. PPS: In fact There is less of a connection between the Nazi hakenkreuz(hooked-cross) and Hinduism than there is between the KKK/Conquistadors/Crusaders/Inquisitors and the cross. The former were not Hindus/Buddihsts, however the latter were most definitely Christian. ^^ OMG Nazi Buddha!!! (Hindu Children celebrate Diwali, the festival of light) ^^ OMG Nazi Hindu Children!! ^^ OMG Holy (Nazi) cow!! BUT ^^ ^^ 8. It has a long history with Native Americans, particularly the Navajo and Hopi. Chilocco Indian Agricultural School basketball team in 1909 12. yep. Also the Celtic people and seem to have used it as well. I did mention the native americans in my post. Thank you for the pictures, The first one is pretty interesting. 6. No. Not if we want the first amendment to retain any meaning. - n/t 7. United States of America: Freedom of Religion except yours I'll admit, the first time I saw photos from India and saw the swastika, I thought, "I didn't know Indians hated Jews..." and then I did some research and found out that Hitler misappropriated a religious symbol for his nefarious purposes. As others have stated, Nazi's have the freedom to have parade's/marches, well Buddhists and Hindus should have the same freedom for their religious symbols. I think if we started thinking of the swastika as religious symbols other than the symbol of Nazi Germany, that could take some of the power away from racists. 13. Have you guys seen this Hindu Symbol? Last edited Sat Jan 21, 2012, 01:42 PM USA/ET - Edit history (2) ^^ This commonly found Hindu symbol is made out of the Shatkona(known as david's star in the west) and the Swastika.  The Shatkona in Hinduism stands for the union of opposites.  (Similar to the yin-yang symbolism) Fun linguistic fact Shatkona = Six pointed Shat=Six Kona=corner  Often one sees both the Shatkona and the Swastika in various combinations in Hindu places of worship/homes etc etc Shatkona also belongs to the class of symbols in Hinduism/Buddhism known as Yantras Yantra (यन्त्र is the Sanskrit word for "instrument" or "machine". Much like the word "instrument" itself, it can stand for symbols, processes, automata, machinery or anything that has structure and organization, depending on context. One usage popular in the west is as symbols or geometric figures. Traditionally such symbols are used in Eastern mysticism to balance the mind or focus it on spiritual concepts. The act of wearing, depicting, enacting and/or concentrating on a yantra is held to have spiritual or astrological or magical benefits in the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. Ironically, a museum in irvine had to take the Shatkona-Swastika Symbol down( which was put up as part of a exibit about Hinduism) due to protests, they Put it up again with an explanatory text a few days later. http://www.dailytitan.com/2010/09/hindu-swastika-to-be-rehung-at-children%E2%80%99s-museum/ Some more pictures of the Shatkona A Children's SuperHero Character from the 90s in India, known as Shaktiman has the Shatkona as his symbol 15. Fascinating. nt. 16. A friend of mine worked with an Indian man years ago, and he had a swastika displayed at his desk. At first, she was upset. (She is Jewish, and it struck her as inappropriate.) She spoke to the man and Human Resources in a meeting together, where she learned that it was indeed a Hindu symbol; when she learned that, she accepted that he displayed it at his work station, next to her. But, it still disturbed her when she saw it, despite knowing it wasn't meant as an anti Semitic symbol that it seems to overwhelmingly represent these days. It's curious. The Nazi symbol is so embedded in our minds as an anti-Semitic symbol, it's difficult to separate even when you know it's origin. So, what to do? I don't know the right answer.

17. Lafayette Escadrille (American) aircraft, WWI...

When I was in Korea, I visited a Buddhist retreat that had swastikas all over the place. They were even worked into the elaborate trim of the railings on foot bridges.

And here in Los Angeles, there was an uproar not long ago when a Buddhist Center had small swastikas decorating some ironwork on its front gate (IIRC). They had been there for a long time before anybody noticed.

This topic comes up all the time in my Weird Hobby - I build scale models. Germany is very strict about ANY display of the swastika, even in 1/72 scale.

If the box art of a model plane shows a swastika on the tail, it gets a big black sticker slapped on it. Even inside the box, if the decal sheet has swastikas, they are individually cut out.

Most kit manufacturers have caught on, and now print swastika decals as crosses-inside-diamonds. Then
the builder just trims them and presto - instant swastikas.

When I lived in Saudi Arabia, the hobby shops didn't care about the swastika...cough. But in one shop, I noticed that on the box art for WWII German kits, the regular Luftwaffe crosses on the fuselage were crudely blacked out with a marker.

Turned out the shop owner viewed those crosses as some sort of Xian propaganda, and didn't want them displayed in his store.

I guess you can't win...