The design should remind you of traditional Greek border motifs. They were used on the borders of clothing, and on the top and bottom of frieze designs, ceiling and floor mosaics, etc. The Chinese Shang dynasty Taotie mask has a great similarity. The original animal face design, by the Zhou dynasty, had become a stylized version.
In more modern times, they are abstracted into simpler designs and repeated as borders. Because they're simple and classic, they're taken into purposes that are nefarious. That doesn't mean that other people don't use variations of the pattern in an innocent manner. Yes, once the design has a nefarious purpose, those believing in that purpose will copy it. And the vast population, who hasn't the faintest idea that said nefarious purpose exists as a cult, will continue to use variations of the pattern because it's simple, classic and beautiful.
