This reminds me of a comedian that was telling a story about narrowly avoiding getting stupid impulse tattoos with his friend years ago and ended a rant about how he could never be sure something wouldn’t became a hate symbol later on down the road and he be stuck marked with it.
“and he got the name of favorite metal band right there down the side of his arm:
Isis.”
I honestly wish the swastika could be reclaimed but I doubt it ever will. Its is actually an aesthetically pleasing shape and the original meaning was good.
Even considering that the Swastika was inverted by the Nazi party, it likely will remain a symbol of hate. – Purple
I thought the abuse of the swastika was a pretty common thing people knew but its not which is such a shame because it has basically become the nazi symbol in the eyes of a lot of people.
This made it very awkward in my lesson yesterday because one of my source images on screen was this
Which has the Buddhist swastika on it and my tutor was not aware there was a difference
It’s not an exclusively Buddhist/Hindu/Jain (etc.) symbol. It has a very long history of use in Europe. You’re talking about a symbol that predates most (if not all) civilisations. That it was so ancient is why it was misappropriated by Nazis.
And the Nazis didn’t invert it, the symbol already existed in both orientations. About all they did was sit it on its corner. Even then, that was often done before them.
It is also still often used in Finland and the Baltic states. Including by Finland’s airforce.
That people continuously view it as a “symbol of hate” only enables those that want to use it that way.
(That a BBC documentary is flagged as offensive is rather funny)
Indeed, the swastika actually goes back as far as neolithic rock art, and right up until the 1930s was found everywhere in the United States, on boxes of dried fruit, playing cards and lots and lots of coca cola merchandise:
But yeah, all the above is a very good reason to be very careful about what you get tattooed…
Carlsberg, a danish brewing company, got 4 statues like this near their breweries
Obscure Fandoms 