Asian faiths try to save swastika symbol corrupted by Hitler

Associated Press ^ | November 27, 2022 | Deepa Bharath

[Olog-hai]

AP takes the side of paganism, just because.

[kosciusko51]

Imagine the outcry if Christians tried to save the rainbow from the corruption foisted on it.

[jaydubya2]

[Bringbackthedraft]

Ever go to Thailand? They still have statues of Axis figures.

[Vermont Lt]

What is actually interesting is the cross cultural use of the swastika on different continents and people…who had “no contact” with each other.

I understand the concern, but it’s also an opportunity to teach context and cultural history. I live in a high Jewish population town. I don’t think I have enough energy for the history lesson that would come about if I displayed it. But, I understand context.

[Dogbert41]

Because Ukraine has a large bastion of Hindus?

[Chode]

iirc the Hopi Indians used it...

[Leaning Right]

Well, it was good enough for Prince Harry at a party. So there’s that.

[loucon]

What is actually interesting is the cross cultural use of the swastika on different continents and people…who had “no contact” with each other.

There were some American Indian tribes who also used the reverse swastika.

[Don Corleone]

Can’t unring that bell.

[Vendome]

I go to the cemetery to pay respects to a friend each month and the Vietnamese graves are beautiful and they have this symbol on most headstones.

Nazi’s bastardized it.

Nothing nefarious about it except for context.

[Magnum44]

OMG, all the fuss over a few squiggly lines. Where is the concern about this?

(Do I need a sarc tag?)

[struggle]

卍IT’S LITERALLY A CHINESE SYMBOL卍

[IYAS9YAS]

The 45th Infantry Division used the swastika as a unit patch well before the nazis ever used it. It was a yellow right facing (not tilted) swastika on a red square (tilted 45°) background. It was a tribute to the tribes of the southwest. It was changed to the current yellow thunderbird on the same red square background.

[PallMal]

If anything, I think they should have already known it was a symbol used in other cultures centuries before Hitler used it.

[MeganC]

I see swastikas all the time in the USA. They’re VERY popular and I sometimes laugh at reporters who will wear Columbia sportswear while denouncing someone using swastikas...while the Columbia logo IS a swastika!!!

[Vermont Lt]

And the symbols meant similar things in their ceremonial uses. But, nope…never any cross cultural exposure there. Lol.

[C19fan]

The ancient swastika goes back to the Proto-Indo Europeans living on the Pontic Steppe. Hitler and the Nazis claiming to be the most pure descendents of the Indo-Europens, i.e., the Aryans, asserted the symbol as their own.

[fidelis]

[Sirius Lee]

This symbol or its near equivalent, exist or existed in almost every culture on earth. India, Native Americans, Meso Americans, Slavs, you name it.