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Should the Swastika still be considered evil?
Note (An important one): I am not discussing if Facism/Racism/Nazism is not evil anymore. I am discussing about the religious symbol that has been used for thousands of years.
The Swastika was used as a symbol of peace, unity and is the main symbol of Jainism, Hinduism and is an important part of many other religions. The word Swastika is based off the Sanskrit word Svastika, loosely meaning 'self-existing'. It was part of many old cultures. However, when the Nazi party adopted it, it became a universal (Apart from quite a bit of Asia) symbol of hate. It has been quite a while since the end of the Nazi party, though, and many religions still use the symbol, so should it be accepted into society as a symbol of peace and unity again? |
Well for one thing there's a difference between the Nazi symbol and the original Swastika. The religious symbol has flat sections at the top and bottom not the points and the protrusions face the opposite direction.
Seeing as the two are similar, but actually different symbols overall, I don't see why both sides of this debate can't be correct. The religious symbol can still be a symbol of peace and unity but the Nazi Swastika is always going to represent a genocidal ideology of hatred and segregation. |
Well, for starters, the Swastika was never "evil." That's just ridiculous. It is a symbol of peace, and sometimes, you need peace through strength. Such is fascism.
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Still evil, what with neo-Naziism and far-rightism on the rise.
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Or a better comparison would be the cross, a religious symbol used by the KKK. As for if it is still evil, no. It's as evil as the color red is for being the choice of communism. Even if all the racists and neo-Nazi's are coming out in the west because their candidates are winning elections in the west, we shouldn't ruin a symbols good meaning because they misuse it. |
Neo nazis are around and still using the symbol, and so are people in parts of the world where it denotes a religious idea or place. If you're in Asian and you see it carved out of stone on a temple wall then you can probably assume it has nothing to do with nazis, but if you see it graffiti'd somewhere (especially in areas where Hinduism, Buddhism, and the like are not and have never been common) then you've got a neo nazi (or some idiot troll) around trying to make people afraid, mad, or uncomfortable. That person isn't making a peace offering. As long as there are people espousing and being sympathetic to or (un)intentionally paralleling nazi ideas the swastika can't ever shake off its racist and deadly associations as a hate symbol.
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Neo-Nazi groups today are still using it in the name of anti-semitism/racism so as far as I'm concerned, yes, it should still be "evil".
As far as the difference between the original sign or w/e... It's too easy to conflate it with the one popularized through nazism so frankly I don't even understand why someone would want to use it. |
Speaking only in terms of the United States here. Look at these two pictures.
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What would you call this? You'd probably say "that's the Nazi salute." And you'd be right - for the second one. The first one is the Bellamy salute. Without me telling you that, you may or may not have known that they weren't the same thing. If I hadn't known about the Bellamy salute, I wouldn't have been able to guess, and even if you showed me pictures of random schoolchildren doing either the Bellamy salute or the Nazi salute, I would still guess Nazi salute 90% of the time. This is part of the reason the swastika is still considered evil. If I showed someone this picture: Spoiler:
and they didn't know that it was from Hinduism, they would call it a Swastika. That's why this whole argument about "well it's part of Hinduism" is really irrelevant, at least in the United States. I don't know about other countries and how they would approach something like this, but I know that's how it'd happen here. Knowledge is important. Knowing the difference between things like the Hindu swastika and the German swastika is important. But it's also important to recognize that most people don't know that difference. Most people immediately associate these symbols with Nazism. That's why it's still considered evil (and should be) despite the origins. Now, context matters. If you're seeing these symbols in, say, a country that primarily practices Hinduism, it's important to be culturally aware enough to understand the importance behind those symbols so you don't yell at a practicing Hindu child for having a swastika on their head during their Upanayana. Outside of these contexts, though, it's probably not a good idea to argue that this symbol is associated with good things. |
The meaning of symbols can change over time, but until something regarding the symbol changes, it still represents evil.
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Why shouldn't it, is a better question I suppose? When it's still a hateful symbol still being utilised by hateful people I don't see how you even could arbitrarily change the distinction of it. You can hardly just make a decree that this symbol doesn't represent that anymore considering symbols gain the power of symbolism through cultural & public views on them
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The swastika is a symbol of the great evil of fascism, whatever it meant before that is no longer as prevalent as the dark association it now has.
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Lets also not forget the death count of the communists in the 20th century. Historically, fascists have killed far less people than Far-Left regimes. Add the total of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, *Pinochet, and Tojo and compare that with the USSR, China, and Cuba (I'm listing the latter as countries because the fascists only had 1 ruler while the communists lasted longer). Even if you compare ruler to ruler, Stalin killed more people than Hitler. But this is not an argument in favor of fascism. Fascism is responsible for some of the greatest evils of the world including war and genocide. It is inexcusable what fascists have done and fascism should be rejected and shut away. In short, the evils of the USSR or the Far-Left do not justify the evils of fascism, or vice-versa. The Swastika is still a symbol of Nazism. *Pinochet is arguably a fascist because he demonstrated characteristics of fascists, such as silencing and killing opposition, running a single-party state, and being authoritarian and nationalistic in nature. However, he introduced free market reforms and abided by the constitution, leaving his position with a democratic vote. |
you cant exactly reverse 6 million deaths so yeah
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I mean obviously there's no problem with them being used that way. Fortunately I know enough about Jainism and Hinduism respectively to understand how the symbol is used, but it's just more a personal musing than anything lol
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Unfortunately, we can't expect most Westerners to be culturally aware enough to observe the distinction. As someone who has lived here for his entire life, I can tell you through experience that #mostnotall Americans are really clueless when it comes to symbols relating to any religion that isn't Christianity, so even if they saw a traditional Hindu/Jaini swastika in a Hindu/Jaini context, they'd probably still lose their shit over it.
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In addition, its not Westerners being culturally unaware. Its that the symbols have to be taken within context of the culture and to Westerners, other meanings are irrelevant because the great majority of Westerners do not observe those customs or religions. |
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Also, that is literally cultural unawareness. I just didn't describe it like that haha |
For the Olympics in Tokyo the maps in subways and around the place are being changed to replace the swastikas that used to be there because of the large numbers of Western tourists expected to attend. Normally maps will use the symbol to designate the location of a shrine or temple, but someone, somewhere either knew enough about this or had it suggested to them so they're making the change.
I know it's not exactly about this debate, but it's related and interesting. |
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I'm going to have to say by itself, no. Now, many here have already pointed out that Hinduism also utilizes a similar symbol but there are several different religious sects that also utilize similar, if not the same exact symbol.
The Swastika or Suavastika can trace its roots all the way back to the pyramids. It doesn't take much research to show this. I will, however, acknowledge that in the right circumstance, the Swastika is a symbol of terrible crimes such as the Eagle clutching the Swastika or the Nazi Flag. Anything that is traced and associated with the Third Reich, yes, bad. Anything not associated with the third Reich? Not bad. There are symbols that you probably didn't even know that are technically Swastikas I'll bet. Now, the Nazis did indeed abuse the symbol itself and have damned the thing to oblivion, however, the Swastika alone is not evil. There are parameters that must be met. If someone is attempting to utilize it to convey hate, yes, bad. If they're using it to pray? Not bad (unless they're praying to Hitler or something akin to this). There needs to be a time where one can step back and disconnect themselves from symbols and objects and look at them as they are: objectively. If the Swastika is on an ancient coin, is it evil? How can it be if the symbol itself predates the acts of hatred by over 2000 years? What if the symbol is depicted on the wall of a pyramid? I think it's much more situational than people like to think. Now, when someone draws a Swastika, chances are that unless they're praying or using it for informational purposes they're probably drawing it to be 'funny' or controversial because the Nazi symbol is the general consensus revolving the Swastika. TL;DR Nazi Symbolism = Bad. Suavastika/Swastika = Not Bad unless Nazi Symbolism. Here, I'll give you a gallery to save you time: Spoiler:
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I hope I helped inform someone at least a little bit. Nazi Symbolism is far different than Buddhist, Hindu or other symbolism. I don't like Nazis, by the way. |
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