United States | News & Politics
In the US, neonazis fuck up the symbol so often that it makes no sense to differentiate between the two. I don't even think most neonazis know there's a difference.
I don't think you're going to get rid of that symbolic appropriation either. Once you see a family member murdered by someone carrying a symbol, you're never going to see that symbol the same again. A trauma has been fused to it.
I think we all know the context this was used in. Not much we can do.
this is your response to a story about someone spreading anti-jewish rhetoric
And yet, you want to using a word that is sacred for some other culture.
don't put words in my mouth. i never used either term. im criticizing your decision to call out people for using the wrong term instead of the person who wants jewish people dead.
your point is true, it's just that you're defending it in a way that diverts attention away from the more immediate problem of anti-jewish hate
Normally I would play devils advocate and agree with you, but when someone explicitly draws/presents a swastika as a swastika… it’s a swastika.
"Swastika" is the Sanskrit word for the symbol. Hakenkreuz ("hooked cross") is the German word for a visually similar symbol.
The Hindu meaning of the symbol is not offensive. It is the German association of the symbol with the Nazi party that is offensive.
This is the first time I've encountered an attempt at de-appropriating the term "swastika" from the Nazis, but it's not an unreasonable correction.
The Hakenkreuz was on the flag, but other swastikas were used too, and they used both orientations of the swastika.
The only thing differentiating between the Hakenkreuz and the swastika does is give Nazis plausible deniability. We can talk about letting it be a symbol of peace again when we don't have fucking Nazis actively using it all the time.