Posted on 09/18/2021 9:58:21 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
If someone were to ask you to think of either extreme of the political spectrum, odds are you would immediately picture a swastika at one end, and a hammer and sickle at the other. Regardless of your views of the left-right paradigm, or whether you subscribe to horseshoe theory or not, we (rightfully) tend to perceive fascism and communism as the standard ideologies of the extreme.
As such, many of us would also feel rather uneasy seeing those two symbols. Upon seeing a swastika, we are immediately reminded of the evils of the Nazi regime, and are accordingly repulsed. To publicly display the logo is even a crime in many European countries. We understand how abhorrent the ideology is, and treat it accordingly with disrespect and disgust.
But how do we react to the hammer and sickle? I don’t have to write an article explaining the millions of deaths that occurred at the hands of communist regimes; like the holocaust, the gulags of the Soviet Union and killing fields of Cambodia are known by many.
Yet, journalists in the UK openly and proudly advocate communism. Statues of Karl Marx are erected. Even the U.S., historically one of the most passionately anti-communist states in history, has a statue of Vladimir Lenin in its Northwestern city of Seattle.
So, why exactly do we treat two equally bloody ideologies in such starkly different ways?
The answer may lie the in misperceptions of virtue. Nazis, rightfully, are seen as hateful and vicious because their ideology is built around the idea that one group is superior to the other. It is an inherently anti-egalitarian ideology, a violent belief that was put into practice only once by those who devised it.
As such, there is no justifiable way in which a fascist could argue ‘but that wasn’t real Nazism’. The same is not true for communism.
On the contrary; we see this line of argument all the time. Those on the far-left have a whole umbrella of communist styles, from Stalinism to Anarchism, Maoism to Trotskyism, or even just classic Marxism. Since Karl Marx never implemented communism himself, the leaders of communist states always have that get-out-of-jail-free card. Any shortcomings, tragedies, or crises a communist regime faces can always be blamed on a misapplication of Marx’s infallible roadmap to utopia.
Conveniently, communists can always detach themselves from the horrors of the past. They can paint themselves as pioneers of an ideology that simply hasn’t had the opportunity to flourish (‘real communism has never been tried!’).
In this way, advocates of communism can continue to paint themselves as protagonists. They are only ever fighting for the liberation of the working class and the creation of workers paradise, and have nothing to do with the false prophets of before. At worst, advocates of communism are seen as misguided, but ultimately well-intentioned.
This is the nub of the issue. While Naziism is intrinsically linked to the crimes of its followers, communism can always be separated. No one would tolerate a t-shirt emblazoned with Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, yet the wildly oppressive Che Guevara is easily detached and morphed into a symbol of revolution.
But at what do we draw the line? The communist ideology in its purest form might be separated from its implementations, but at what point does it’s awful track record discredit any attempts to advocate it?
As economist Murray Rothbard once said: “It is no crime to be ignorant of economics [...] But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.”
We need to say the same about communism. To continue advocating communism despite its dismal track record is neither well-intentioned nor misguided; it is a deliberate attempt to push a provably dangerous ideology. The history of communism is as bloodstained as that of Naziism; much more so, actually. It’s time we treated it as such.
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NOTE TO READERS: The original article misstated Seattle as a Northeastern U.S. city. We apologize for the error.
Either side defines LEFT or Right so as to place Nazi's on the other guys team. Since the terms originated by where a rep sat during the French Revolution an objective definition for America should be by where the Representatives sit in Congress. If that is done the Democrats are clearly the enemies of liberty just like the Nazi's were.
we (rightfully) tend to perceive fascism and communism as the standard ideologies of the extreme …How “rightfully”? They are both left-wing ideologies, and hence the same thing.
Too simplistic since it excuses RINOs.
Agreed.
Don’t let the leftards bullshit you, the National Socialist German Workers Party weren’t a bunch of Republicans. Shocking, I know.
It is us, or them.
Evil people rarely see themselves as evil. Just about any Government worker thinks of themselves as the good guys when , in fact, most Government activities bring more harm than good. I call these Good Government fools Goo Goo's and Rino's are a prime example. They really should sit on the Left.
Nazism is a LEFTIST system of government.
God, I can’t believe people still don’t understand that both it and Communism are systems of top down totalitarianism and are NOT conservative or of the American Right.
Are Europeans just stupid or something?
The Auspicious Swastika
The East’s right to this millennia-old global mark of good fortune suffers from decades of abuse as the symbol of the Nazi Party and racial supremacy
By Jane Srivastava, South Carolina, USA
Hinduism Today Magazine
April-May-June 2005
The swastika is as holy to the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists as it is evil to people from the West. When a symbol represents diametrically opposite concepts to different groups of people, a natural conflict arises. Asians who immigrate to the United States encounter obstacles when trying to incorporate the swastika into their religious ceremonies. Here in America, like in the rest of the Western world, the Hindus’ and Jains’ most cherished and holy symbol is viewed only as a legacy of the atrocities and murders committed under the Nazi black swastika. Many Americans do not know the history or the importance of the symbol to Hindus. The results of this ignorance are real. Hindu temples have been vandalized, religious ceremonies displaying swastikas interrupted and upright devotees accused of neo-Nazism. The swastika is such a ubiquitous symbol of goodness throughout the East that many less-educated Asians are themselves unaware that the swastika could signify any evil concept.
My great-grandparents were murdered by the Nazis. As a Jewish person raised in Europe, for most of my life I have associated the swastika with the Nazis and Nazi heritage—extermination of millions of people, destruction of countries and superior racist ideology. The sight of a swastika alone rouses such strong feelings in me that I naturally want to look away after a second or two. The pain I feel when looking at the swastika is as strong as if I had lived through the war myself.
When I first saw a swastika on an Indian greeting card, I was taken aback: “Why is this offensive Nazi symbol displayed on a wedding invitation?” I knew that the Nazis stole the symbol from the ancient cultures, particularly India. However, I had assumed that, after World War II, the evil associated with the symbol prevented the original cultures from using it.
As I am learning more about the Indian culture and religion, I am becoming more curious about the symbolism of the swastika and the present-day conflict surrounding it.
Swastika is a Sanskrit word, su meaning “good, “ asti meaning “to be “ and ka, a suffix. It is translated as “good being, “ “fortune, “ literally “it is well “ or “conducive to well-being.” For Hindus, the swastika is a symbol of auspiciousness, prosperity and good fortune. It also represents the sun and the cycle of life. In Loving Ganesha, Satguru Sivaya Subramaniyaswami, founder of Hinduism Today, explains the significance of the swastika to Hindus: “The swastika’s right-angled arms reflect the fact that the path toward our objectives is often not straight, but takes unexpected turns. They denote also the indirect way in which Divinity is reached—through intuition and not by intellect. Symbolically, the swastika’s cross is said to represent God and creation. The four bent arms stand for the four human aims, called purushartha: righteousness, dharma; wealth, artha; love, kama; and liberation, moksha. This is a potent emblem of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal truth. It also represents the world wheel, eternally changing around a fixed center, God. The swastika is regarded as a symbol of the muladhara chakra, the center of consciousness at the base of the spine, and in some yoga schools with the manipura chakra at the navel, the center of the microcosmic sun (Surya). Hindus use the swastika to mark the opening pages of account books, thresholds, doors and offerings. No ceremony or sacrifice is considered complete without it, for it is believed to have the power to ward off misfortune and negative forces.”
For the Jains, the swastika represents four types of birth which an embodied soul might attain. The swastika has been adopted as part of a single symbol to represent the Jain community. In the Buddhist tradition, the swastika symbolizes the feet or footprints of the Buddha. It is often used to mark the beginning of texts. Modern Tibetan Buddhists use it as a clothing decoration. In China and Japan, the swastika has been used to represent abundance, prosperity and long life.
Before the Nazis stole the swastika from the ancient world, various cultures throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas had been uniform in assigning some positive and favorable meaning to the symbol. For the most part, these peoples had used the swastika sign in their religious practices to symbolize life, the sun, good fortune and prosperity. In the decades before World War II, the swastika was used as a design motif and symbol of good fortune in the United States, appearing ubiquitously on such items as greeting cards, magazine covers, book jackets, posters, playing cards, poker chips, jewelry, fruit wrappers and business logos. Even the Boy Scouts issued a “Swastika Thanks Badge, “ to be given to anyone who had done a kindness to a scout. Before the Nazis, the swastika sign had never been used to represent an evil concept or racist ideology. After World War II, Western cultures no longer used the symbol as they had prior to the Third Reich. Most Europeans and Americans still perceive any swastika as a Nazi or neo-Nazi symbol, despite differences in its color and the direction in which it points.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the swastika became a common symbol of German nationalism, meant to represent a long Germanic/Aryan history. As well it became a symbol of many anti-Semitic organizations. Adolf Hitler adopted the swastika when the German National Socialist Party (Nazi Party) was formed in 1919-1920.
The Nazis regarded themselves a superior race. Based on information from Hitler’s pet archaeologist Gustaf Kossinna, Hitler believed and propagated the idea that Aryans (from arya, “superior being “ or “noble “) were a master race of Indo-Europeans living in Eurasia, Nordic in appearance and directly ancestral to the German people.
The Jews are understandably sensitive to the swastika. Anti-Semitism was central to the Nazi movement. In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the symbolic meaning of the Nazi flag: “In red we see the social idea of the movement, in the white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic.” As an ethnic group targeted for systematic elimination under the mark of the black slanted swastika, all Jewish people had been touched by the Holocaust. It is hard, therefore, for any Jew to see a sign of good fortune in a scrawled swastika on a door or wall.
Thus, a conflict arises between the significance that Hindus assign to the swastika and the treatment of the sign by most Westerners as a symbol of hatred inherited from the Nazis, intensified as so many people from India and Asia arrive to work or live in Europe and America. Those immigrants include simple, uneducated people from rural areas who do not know of the prevalent stigma of the swastika in the West. Just as Westerners are unaware of the positive history of this ancient symbol, many less educated Asians do not know that it could be anything but auspicious. Because of the difference in the meaning of the symbol for the two cultures, people from India who display the sign may lose their job, be ostracized or threatened, even become victims of hate crimes.
Often when something is written in the Western media about the possibility of bringing back the ancient symbol of the swastika notwithstanding its Nazi significance, such words as redemption or rehabilitation are used. Even Hindus and Jains use similar words in their appeal to “rehabilitate “ their sacred symbol. Some authors discussing the return of the swastika opine that once the swastika is used for evil purposes, it cannot be redeemed. “Certain symbols might easily exist ambiguously or with multiple meanings, but ultimately not the swastika. For what once exemplified good fortune now manifests malevolence. What was once innocent is forever guilty & As long as it embodies even an iota of evil, it will never again be redeemed, “ declared graphic design guru Steven Heller in his book The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption?
To redeem something means to extricate from an undesirable state or make up for defects. To rehabilitate means to bring something back to its previous normal condition, to cure it. None of these words seems appropriate. There was nothing wrong with the swastika that we now need to make up for its defects or cure it. It got into the wrong hands which used it as a symbol for their hateful deeds and ideology in perhaps what was the world’s most effective, integrated propaganda campaign. Thus, more appropriate words to describe what needs to be done with the swastika’s image would be acceptance, education, reconciliation and harmonization. So how do we reconcile the importance of the swastika for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains with its negative legacy in the West? How can we reduce the conflict and promote acceptance?
Education is the only thing that might promote a better understanding between the Hindus living in the Western world and their new countrymen. It is important that in the United States there be more written and said about the meaning of the symbol to Asian cultures and religions. Such an education should start in schools where Hindu, Christian and Jewish kids are taught world religions. When discussing Hinduism, the swastika and its important place in Hinduism must be taught to children. Learning more about Asian cultures and religions will result in tolerance and respect for other cultures’ ways of life and their religious practices.
The swastika is not the only symbol whose original godly and favorable significance was used for evil purposes. Under the Christian cross, brutal crusades to convert masses to Christianity took place, during the Medieval Inquisition millions of heretics were burned in fires, and in the United States, black Americans were persecuted and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. However, the cross has not become a forever detested and condemned symbol.
Because of our differences in geography, culture and experience, people from different parts of the world will treat symbols differently. As an Eastern European immigrant, I don’t believe I can disassociate the swastika from the meaning I grew up with. But after learning about Hindu culture, I have become aware of the importance of the swastika to Hindus and now deeply respect the symbol’s significance and holiness. With knowledge and understanding, people from the Western world, while not forgetting their countries’ experiences, can embrace the swastika as an auspicious sign of the Asian world. As education and awareness replace prejudice, intolerance and narrow-mindedness, there is hope people will start to see the historical richness as well as the present-day significance of the swastika, and not just its Nazi past.
Jane Srivastava holds a bachelor’s degree from Vilnius State University, Lithuania, and a degree from the Albany Law School, Albany, New York.
https://www.hinduismtoday.com/magazine/april-may-june-2005/2005-04-the-auspicious-swastika/
bkmk
I’ve been saying for a very long time that Fascists and Commies are one and the same, and even more so in today’s world.
Two rabid dogs fighting over the same bone.
Indeed... but communism and progressives are rooted in the European right when measured on its political spectrum through WW I. Classic liberalism, which was the cult and creed of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and many of our principle signers/authors of the Constitution during the 17th and 18th centuries... fell on the left side of the European political spectrum.
So, within the definition of the European spectrum... the more left and the more John Locke disciple you were, the more libertarian or Laissez-faire governance was. The more right you went... the more you fell under the classic feudalistic, monarchistic, oligarchic, socialist, theocratic authoritarian/totalitarian and fascist governance.
The American political spectrum is simply the reverse of the European political spectrum. Classic European liberalism on the left became the American right, or the conservative side of the western political spectrum which was established after the American revolutionary war and synonymous with the European liberal left of the 17/18th century. And of course the Fabian socialist left and Karl-Marx/Trotsky/Engels central state authoritarians of the European right... became the progressive American left, or the socialist/authoritarian left side on the western political spectrum.
That’s how the American communist left have gotten away with projected their tyrannical ideology onto the American right and justifies calling them fascist and Nazi’s... simply by overlaying the western political spectrum on top of the European political spectrum of the 17-19th century...
... and Presto! Conservatives became Nazi’s and Fascists as long as you conflated European right with American right! The left has been using that disinformation and misdirection since the end of WW II! Nazi’s and fascists were authoritarian ideologies which were an extension/fork of the European right wing governance that placed supreme central authority in the hands of government, not the people. But thanks to the left brainwashing 2 generations of Americans into believing that the European and the Western spectrum were one in the same, left to right. And that’s how the American right(conservatives) were deliberately characterized as sharing the same European ‘right-wing’ ideals by calling American right and the European classic right both ‘Right Wing’... without revealing they were polar opposites when positioned in their historic respective spectrums!
Although our modern socialists' promise of greater freedom is genuine and sincere, in recent years observer after observer has been impressed by the unforeseen consequences of socialism, the extraordinary similarity in many respects of the conditions under "communism" and "fascism." As the writer Peter Drucker expressed it in 1939, "the complete collapse of the belief in the attainability of freedom and equality through Marxism has forced Russia to travel the same road toward a totalitarian society of un-freedom and inequality which Germany has been following. Not that communism and fascism are essentially the same. Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion, and it has proved as much an illusion in Russia as in pre-Hitler Germany."
No less significant is the intellectual outlook of the rank and file in the communist and fascist movements in Germany before 1933. The relative ease with which a young communist could be converted into a Nazi or vice versa was well known, best of all to the propagandists of the two parties. The communists and Nazis clashed more frequently with each other than with other parties simply because they competed for the same type of mind and reserved for each other the hatred of the heretic. Their practice showed how closely they are related. To both, the real enemy, the man with whom they had nothing in common, was the liberal of the old type. While to the Nazi the communist and to the communist the Nazi, and to both the socialist, are potential recruits made of the right timber, they both know that there can be no compromise between them and those who really believe in individual freedom.
-- F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
A history lesson about the origins of ANTIFA...
ANTIFA, the very definition of fascism... began as a core activist movement of the communists organizers in order to compete against Hitlers NAZI party.
Antifa was created in 1932 as a paramilitary opposition by the socialist Communist Party of Germany (KPD), called Antifaschistische Aktion (ANTIFA), to appose Hitler’s National Socialist Party (the Nazis) and their fascist platform. An internal idealistic rivalry within the Proletariat class on which Bolshevik ideas would rule. Ironic that a rival fascist party(KPD) would slogan their opposition to Hitler’s fascist ideas by calling themselves ‘anti-fascists.’ Political demagoguery & projection to paint/accuse a rival fascist movement with the same political ideals of their own in order to win control over the same herd of socialist useful-idiots...
This is exactly what the DNC is doing today, but the difference is not to control the party’s internal rivalry, but to eliminate their political/economic opposition.
Socialist left Dems use Antifa as their own paramilitary arm to intimidate; suppress/silence any apposition or resistance to the lefts agenda by shoving it down the throats of the right using rioting, destruction, threats & killing. The same tactics used by any organization or militant group in order to take control of a process/governance that rejected their demands at the ballot box.
Not only is Antifa itself fascist but the most anti-democratic tyrants you can find! A cult of crybabies that if they don’t get their way, they will force it on you and then exterminate anyone who gets in their way.
ANTIFA is a far left nihilist group wrapped in fascist ideology.
You are correct. See my previous post.
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