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Swastikas & Disputes About The Swastika Symbol

I've seen Nazi flag designs featured in clothes sold in boutiques in both Korea and Japan, but it must be said they're very rare. I'm also not convinced they're used in complete ignorance; everyone knows it's a Nazi symbol but - given the geographic gulf and the populace not having had much direct experience with either Nazism or Judaism - they would reason that that isn't all the swastika - Nazi or otherwise - can represent. The Nazi flags themselves arrived in East Asia through the late-punk ascetic of the 80s and so the symbol they feature has passed through a number of appropriations already.

A friend went to work for (a large, famous) software company. His first day at work he was very shocked to see so many programmers had swastikas as screensavers. The reason became clear - many of the programmers were originally from India, so to them the symbol only had positive associations. He says it took some time to get used to it, though!

I had a similar experience upon entering a Buddhist temple, once - some of the statues had swastikas in the "third eye" area, which is something I couldn't help but associate with the Manson family. Even though I knew it had nothing to do with that, I wasn't able to really shake that association. It did teach me something about how powerfully we can react to symbols, however they are used.
 
I know you've lived in country, Yithian, which is why I'm surprised at your statement "everyone knows".

Allow me to refine my statement: everybody designing fashion featuring swastikas, buying fashionable clothes and frequenting boutiques and nightclubs knows. I once had dinner with a family on their farm who astounded me by telling me that it was the first time the parents had ever been in a room with a person from another country - so I take your point!
 
It was hale and hearty.

I'd just lent a hand harvesting some persimmons and it was the first time I'd ever tried one in a non-dried state: incredibly soft and gooey, so that one would scoop the middle out with a spoon.
 
It can be surprising what some people don't know. A colleague had an "import wife" from the Philipines. He was surprised to learn she had no idea who Hitler was.
 
I met a woman from the US who had never heard of Bob Marley.
I'd always assumed he was world-famous and not just Commonwealth-famous.
 
Allow me to refine my statement: everybody designing fashion featuring swastikas, buying fashionable clothes and frequenting boutiques and nightclubs knows. I once had dinner with a family on their farm who astounded me by telling me that it was the first time the parents had ever been in a room with a person from another country - so I take your point!

(for Swifty)

And what part of Norfolk was that farm in Yith?
 
Ahhhh - mention of the old Swastika Laundry just gave me a hit of nostalgia which set me searching for this old thread; can't believe it's well over ten years old - and I'd forgotten that Rynner was once a mod.

It's always stuck in my mind because the subsequent departure of an individual who partook of that discussion probably constituted the most prolonged flounce the board has ever seen. It always reminded me of this particular episode in Tony Hancock's spoof of The Archers:

 
I met a woman from the US who had never heard of Bob Marley.
I'd always assumed he was world-famous and not just Commonwealth-famous.
Think nothing of it. I knew people who never heard of George Washington. Much less Charles Dickens. This is a strange country. More so in the past couple of decades. I'm referring to the United States, mind you.
 
The boys' washroom in my high school had tile swastikas all over the floor. The building was constructed in 1914 and burned down in 1962.

There's an apartment building in Cincinnati (a block from the Universities' main campus) with inlaid swastikas in the entrance foyer. That building was constructed in 1919.

Old Time Radio (he's back!)
 
The boys' washroom in my high school had tile swastikas all over the floor. The building was constructed in 1914 and burned down in 1962.

There's an apartment building in Cincinnati (a block from the Universities' main campus) with inlaid swastikas in the entrance foyer. That building was constructed in 1919.

Old Time Radio (he's back!)


Welcome back 0TR!!!
 
I remember years ago I saw a review of a book by a Canadian artist with the interestingly nonspecific name Man woman, called The Gentle Swastika. It was an illustrated history of the pre Nazi use of the Swastika, you could only buy it from the guy direct.
Was going to buy it, but felt a little self conscious about it at the time lol :)
 
The boys' washroom in my high school had tile swastikas all over the floor. The building was constructed in 1914 and burned down in 1962.

There's an apartment building in Cincinnati (a block from the Universities' main campus) with inlaid swastikas in the entrance foyer. That building was constructed in 1919.

Old Time Radio (he's back!)
So glad to see you posting again, OTR :glee:
 
I remember years ago I saw a review of a book by a Canadian artist with the interestingly nonspecific name Man woman, called The Gentle Swastika. It was an illustrated history of the pre Nazi use of the Swastika, you could only buy it from the guy direct.
Was going to buy it, but felt a little self conscious about it at the time lol :)
You may not be able to get it now.
Manwoman is dead, apparently.
 
The boys' washroom in my high school had tile swastikas all over the floor. The building was constructed in 1914 and burned down in 1962.

There's an apartment building in Cincinnati (a block from the Universities' main campus) with inlaid swastikas in the entrance foyer. That building was constructed in 1919.

Old Time Radio (he's back!)
Well before WW2 my mother-in-law made a quilt displaying swastikas. When the Nazis ruined the symbol, she put it away and only brought it back out long after the war. At the time it was an Indian good luck symbol.
 
The boys' washroom in my high school had tile swastikas all over the floor. The building was constructed in 1914 and burned down in 1962.

There's an apartment building in Cincinnati (a block from the Universities' main campus) with inlaid swastikas in the entrance foyer. That building was constructed in 1919.

Old Time Radio (he's back!)

Welcome Back!

Wait: are you a Zombie?
 
I guess that would depend on your definition of a "zombie"?
 
The Carlsberg brewery still has swastikas on the sides of the entrance. There was also some Coca Cola merchandise featuring swastikas, I'm surprised the conspiracy nuts haven't jumped all over that one.
 
The Carlsberg brewery still has swastikas on the sides of the entrance. There was also some Coca Cola merchandise featuring swastikas, I'm surprised the conspiracy nuts haven't jumped all over that one.

There's the CT about Coca-Cola's Fanta line of orange drink being a Nazi concoction, which is about half-true I seem to recall.
 
"Little India" magazine reported a Worst Embarrassing Immigrant Moment wherein an academic couple secured jobs in a liberal university town, and soon after married. Their wedding invitations were decorated with such auspicious swastkas! They were already fluent in English but they were not fluent in common western icons of evil. They became fluent quickly.
I see no way that this ancient symbol can be rehabbed, between the nightmare history of Nazi iconography and the current use by knuckle-dragging U.S. hate groups. It's too bad, it looks rather nice on some pre-late 30's buildings.
 
Didn't the good luck symbol have the legs going the other way?
used to see ships on the Manchester ship channel with them on
the bow 40 or so years back.
 
We really should not blame the symbol. The swastika was in use for centuries before the Nazis turned it into a symbol of hate.
 
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