San Diego man walks around stores wearing swastika medical mask

[mercuryblues]

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/san-diego-man-walks-around-stores-wearing-swastika-medical-mask-627475

A San Diego man was spotted perusing local stores on Thursday evening, wearing a medical mask with a photo of a swastika taped to the front, local news channel CBS8 News reported on Friday evening.

NBC7 claimed that they had contacted the man for comment, who claimed that the mask was being taken out of context, and that in fact he had only worn it as a form of peaceful protest against the governor. He nevertheless stated that he would not return to the store wearing the mask.

The man reportedly complied after deputies asked for the symbol to be removed, the sheriff's office said, according to CBS8. "Sheriff's investigators will continue to look into the matter," it said. "The Sheriff's Department does not condone hate or acts of intolerance. We are a county that is welcoming of people from all backgrounds."

Employees of the supermarket where the event had occurred, called Food 4 Less, said, in contrast to the sheriff's report, that they had asked the man to remove the symbol numerous times, and he only complied when he reached the check-out counter.

Because apparently the image of a swastika brings peaceful thoughts to mind, according to this POS. There is only one type of person who would think of a swastika as peaceful.

[AllaN01Bear]

1. out of context my eye.

[at140]

2. Every Hindu temple in India will have swastika painted on walls

It has been the sacred symbol of Hindu's for 5000 years. Why the Germans stole it in 1930's, I will never understand.
Maybe Hitler was just ignorant, and was known to doodle a lot, and accidentally drew one. Swastika is a Sanskrit word.

[Newest Reality]

3. Yes,

Buddhists use it in some cases, too.

Ah, from what I recall, didn't Hitler reverse its direction though?

[Solomon]

8. Yes. The Nazis reversed its direction

[Celerity]

14. it is called a sauwastika if it is left facing, and both types were used by many cultures, not just

Hindus and Buddhists, before the NSDAP adopted it in 1920.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauwastika

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

The earliest known swastika is from 10,000 BCE – part of "an intricate meander pattern of joined-up swastikas" found on a late paleolithic figurine of a bird, carved from mammoth ivory, found in Mezine, Ukraine. It has been suggested that this swastika may be a stylized picture of a stork in flight. As the carving was found near phallic objects, this may also support the idea that the pattern was a fertility symbol.

In England, neolithic or Bronze Age stone carvings of the symbol have been found on Ilkley Moor, such as the Swastika Stone.

Mirror-image swastikas (clockwise and anti-clockwise) have been found on ceramic pottery in the Devetashka cave, Bulgaria, dated to 6,000 BCE.

[Chainfire]

19. The symbol arose independently all over the world

The theory is that it was a representation of an astronomical event from way back.

The symbol is not evil, it is the context that it is used that makes it evil. A Nazi symbol with Nazi colors and patterns represents one of the worlds great evils. While I suppose that the user has the right to free speech, he also has to face the consequences of his speech. I know that my uncles who served in WWII would have known how to deal with the fellow. The are all gone now. How quickly we forget.

[Celerity]

23. it is beyond redemption in the West, that is for sure

Top Rock Stars who saluted Nazi Sieg Heil; Sixx, Hetfield, Ulrich & Bowie

http://metalsludge.tv/top-rockers-who-saluted-nazi-sieg-heil/

more on Bowie

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/six-70s-myths-about-david-bowie-761066

The evidence: Around the ‘intense’ recording sessions of 1975’s ‘Station To Station’ (see ‘He Was A Rampant Coke-Head’), Bowie was delving into historical reading on Hitler and the Third Reich, collecting Nazi paraphernalia and describing his latest person The Thin White Duke as “a very Aryan, fascist type”. He also began making some rather dodgy press comments warning of imminent fascist uprising in the UK. His theoretical/theatrical concept of his words coming from his Thin White Duke character wasn’t helped by – d’oh! – being detained at an Eastern European border for transporting Nazi memorabilia. Finally he was snapped at Victoria Station on the eve of the UK leg of the Isolar Tour apparently raising a Nazi salute. He claimed to the press that he’d just been stitched up while waving at a cloud and then ran off to bunker down in, of all places, Berlin. These days, of course, all of this would make him a shoo-in for Pope.

Likelihood of accuracy: 37 per cent – Bowie later sang in ‘China Girl’ of “visions of swastikas in my head/Plans for everyone”, and it seems likely that his disorientated ‘Station to Station’ state may well have led him to consider some pretty unsavoury political philosophies. “My interest in [the Nazis],” he told NME in 1993, “was the fact they supposedly came to England before the war to find the Holy Grail at Glastonbury… the idea that it was about putting Jews in concentration camps and the complete oppression of different races completely evaded my extraordinary fucked-up nature at that particular time.”





Golden years: David Bowie and the Third Reich

While touring with Station to Station, Bowie’s admiration for Adolf Hitler became apparent. In an interview with Playboy, he said:

“Rock stars are fascists. Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars. . .Look at some of his films and see how he moved. I think he was quite as good as Jagger. It’s astounding. And boy, when he hit that stage, he worked an audience. Good God! He was no politician. He was a media artist. He used politics and theatrics and created this thing that governed and controlled the show for 12 years. The world will never see his like again. He staged a country […] People aren’t very bright, you know? They say they want freedom, but when they get the chance, they pass up Nietzsche and choose Hitler because he would march into a room to speak and music and lights would come on at strategic moments. It was rather like a rock ‘n roll concert. The kids would get very excited — girls got hot and sweaty and guys wished it was them up there. That, for me, is the rock ‘n roll experience.”

(source)

[mercuryblues]

6. Yeah well, productive members of

society don't call a cigarette a f-- anymore, nor do they use the term to describe a gay man. IOW it doesn't matter the origin of the symbol after it became the emblem Nazi's used to commit genocide. It does not offer peace, it is used to terrorize. The same as a noose hanging from a tree does.

[at140]

9. So as a Hindu, my rights to use my sacred religious symbol have been usurped

How is that fair to me?

[mercuryblues]

12. Poor you

Blame Hitler for that. I personally wouldn't want to use such a symbol to affirm my religious beliefs. When so many were murdered for their religious beliefs by people using a swastika as an emblem. While that same religious sect are still be terrorized today by those using that symbol.

[Hekate]

24. Ask how it is fair to 9 million children, women, men murdered for being Jews & many millions more...

...slaughtered for being Gypsies/Romany, mentally ill, mentally or physically handicapped, in the wrong place at the wrong time, or for being artists, poets, musicians deemed undesirable, or for daring to oppose the Third Reich. Their souls still cry out for justice.

Blame Adolf Hitler and the movement he spawned. Blame the fools who continue to use it today to spread hatred and terror. It was not we who irredeemably soiled what was once a sacred symbol.

I have studied mythology and symbolism and have taught the same. When you have the opportunity to educate people, do so. We can acknowledge the symbol's long-ago history, and move on.

But don't expect the decent people of Europe and America to embrace the swastika publically as anything but the Nazi symbol of terror and death -- too many still actually like its hellish and negative power. Open your eyes. Trump has unleashed them.

[at140]

33. Exactly, so it is unfair I can never display my religious symbol in America

America has been my adopted country since became US citizen 50 years ago.
My God, where did the 50 years go?

On a side issue, I could have never stayed this healthy at age 80 if I had returned to India.
It was walking 30 miles every week on golf courses in America is why my body is still strong.
Only the very rich play golf in India, while golf has been affordable to middle class in USA.

[LanternWaste]

43. You cam display whatever the hell you want to.

Don't pretend oppression when there is none... it trivializes the real thing.

Attainment of nibbāna is not predicated on wearing that particular symbol, maybe try practicing indriyasamvara rather than fixating on the outward and the physical.

Or continue to rage righteously, and deny yourself the very wisdom of the path you have chosen,

[Newest Reality]

11. Yes,

What do you do with an ancient symbol that predates the use you are referring to? I don't think that equates with what you call a cigarette.

It is a different intent and context and that matters. It might take a bit of adjustment to perhaps realize that you must refer to the reversed NAZI Swastika to be correct. Hindus are not going to desecrate or destroy their symbols for that view.

What do you think about them being displayed right now in India? Are you aware that it can be found in several cultures in various styles?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

[mercuryblues]

15. My point is symbols can change over time

and the usage. This symbol will forever be associated with genocide.

it was the other poster who said the swastika was his religious symbol. He/she did not make the same distinction you are.

here's a pic:



now please tell me again how that is a symbol of peace.

[Newest Reality]

16. I have seen that.

It is a black, reversed swastika in a white circle on a red background. That's a Nazi symbol. Both the presentation and context indicate that to me and I can distinguish it from other depictions that have a different meaning. Maybe you can, too? You are making an association from a Western POV.

I think we would both agree that that depiction is not a sign of peace.

Do you think the Nazi's, who stole the symbol, should win here, though? I don't think the symbol was used by permission and to impose the attributed meaning from a modern use to an ancient and prevalent symbol is specious. Still, the two types are different, just as there are many kinds of crosses with many meanings.

Taking your perspective, what would you do about this:

?fit=700%2C401&ssl=1

Can you see a difference here? Or does it have to fit your narrative?



A symbol of true peace and equanimity:

[mercuryblues]

18. The poster I was replying to indicated

no difference, just upset that they were being inconvenienced. They also knew I was posting about the Nazi version and equated it to their sacred religious symbol. They could have just moved on and said this has nothing to do with me. The Op is about the Nazi version. Instead they chose to inject their religious beliefs as the "pure" use of the symbol ignoring that Nazi's used it to commit genocide to purify the German race. It cheapens the lives lost during that time, I suspect that was the point.

at140 (4,987 posts)

2. Every Hindu temple in India will have swastika painted on walls

It has been the sacred symbol of Hindu's for 5000 years. Why the Germans stole it in 1930's, I will never understand.
Maybe Hitler was just ignorant, and was known to doodle a lot, and accidentally drew one. Swastika is a Sanskrit word.

Star Member at140 (4,987 posts)

9. So as a Hindu, my rights to use my sacred religious symbol have been usurped

How is that fair to me?

[Hekate]

25. India is India, and they never fought Hitler there, nor had death camps. If there are neo-Nazi in...

... Japan and India, I imagine they are few and far between. The swastika has not been soiled there as it has been in the West; it is not a symbol of terror and death. Let it stay there, at home.

We know what it means to America and Europe, and it is nothing good. Blame Hitler.

[Jake Stern]

27. Speaking as a Jew

Who lost almost half his family in the camps, I am educated enough to know the difference between the symbol that asshat was wearing and the symbol used by many other cultures.

Seeing this guy’s mask is offensive to me, seeing a Hindu temple decorated with the swastika is not.

And the flippant “Blame Hitler” schtick is the icing on the cake. Hitler is not to blame for folks who cannot be bothered to take a few moments and learn the difference and dispel their ignorance, they are.

[Behind the Aegis]

28. Also speaking as a Jew

It gets really tiresome anytime some asshole wears a swastika we are "treated" to a lecture and a pity party about how the original symbol has been misused, when, in reality, at least according to the 'splainers, the symbol used by the Nazis is not the same symbol, which most people here already know.

Did you see the mask? Yes? Then anyone who is familiar with that symbol knows it is not a fucking religious symbol used by Hindus and therefore doesn't need a goddamned lecture about the history of the symbol. No need to "kosher" it.

[Hekate]

40. Thank you

"No need to 'kosher' it" -- spot on.

I was tempted to to reply: "When it comes to mythology, trust me, I'm a doctor," but you did it better.

Ye gods and little catfish, what a world.

[jimfields33]

17. Are you sure they don't in England?

I was there in 2011 and I heard it at the clubs. I’m gay and knew what they meant. Didn’t bother me. I think if you understand the name of the cigarette is that, then you wouldn’t get upset.

[mercuryblues]

20. That is something we no longer do in America

once the usage changed. Well the same people that use the swastika to protest do. I tend to not want to be associated with racists and bigots and don't use that term for anything. But that's just me.

There are also some other terms that the English use, that aren't acceptable here.

Care to say anything about a guy wearing a swastika as a peaceful protest?

[csziggy]

7. Hree is a pretty good, though short, discussion of the history of the swastika

How Nazis twisted the swastika, a symbol of the Buddha, into an emblem of hate
September 3, 2017
By James M. Skidmore

<SNIP>

In Buddhism, the swastika is thought to represent the footprints of the Buddha. It takes on a liturgical function in Jainism, and in Hinduism the clockwise symbol (the swastika as we know it, with the arms pointing right) and the counterclockwise symbol, the sauvistika, pair up to portray opposites such as light and darkness.

In Mesopotamia it was used on coins, and the Navajo nation wove it into blankets. It has been found on ancient pottery in Africa and Asia. It was sometimes used as a single element, but often it was repeated as a series of interlocking swastikas to form a border on a garment or in architecture, as was common in Roman times.

It made an appearance in Germanic and Viking cultures, and you can find it in medieval churches and religious vestments across Europe.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the swastika became well-established in Western culture as a good luck symbol, similar to a four-leaf clover or a horseshoe.

More: https://qz.com/india/1068860/how-nazis-twisted-the-swastika-a-symbol-of-buddhism-hinduism-jainism-into-an-emblem-of-hate/

[at140]

10. Thank you for this, and please note that Buddha was born a Hindu in India

so his adopting the symbol for Buddhism was a natural act.

[JI7]

13. The OM Symbol is used more by Hindus than the swastika . and Hindu temples are different than

walking around in public with it .

Most Hindus don't really wear any religious symbols .

[at140]

35. I don't push my religious symbols in public or any of my personal preferences

But my sister who was more religious than me, bless her soul,
had framed pictures with swastika (the Hindu version, not the reverses Nazi version) in her home,
and growing up in India, we did not hear much about the Nazi's or Hitler.
The British ruled India for 150 years ending in 1947, and all our exposure about foreign history was all about Britain.

[Ex Lurker]

21. German racialists had been theorizing an ancient aryan race

Somewhere in Asia since the mid 19th century. The Nazis built on that. Hitler, and especially Himmler sent archaeological teams all over Asia in the thirties. The Nazis were big on adopting ancient symbols that suited their ideology, from Viking runes to swastikas. Raiders of the Lost Ark took that history and spun an adventure yarn out of it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. I'm sure this gentleman wore the swastika as a symbol of his Hindu faith.

namaste.

[McCamy Taylor]

31. ROFLMAO

[McCamy Taylor]

30. There is a Buddhist one and there is a Nazi one.

[Hekate]

41. Hitler also thought he was an Aryan, and that the "Aryan race" was superior to all others....

He did not mean brown people of any description, such as one might find in India, he meant blond, blue-eyed people in Europe, and not by any means all Europeans.

There was a species of folkloric and mythological research in Europe from the time of the Brothers Grimm on, purporting to show that the Germanic tribes the Romans encountered had a more ancient history going back to ancient India, where Sanskrit was the "father of all languages." This would give the Germans a cultural pedigree like no other.

(Why Sanskrit? As the British moved to militarily colonize India, some of them became fascinated with the languages and became scholars of language. The more they learned the more they recognized that modern European languages had their roots in the ancient language of India.)

Jumping forward considerably to Hitler -- he wasn't so much ignorant as he was twisted and evil. He appropriated an ancient symbol consciously and deliberately, just as he did everything else.

[at140]

47. Agree with everything, and you are one of the smartest posters on DU!

I mean that sincerely, your knowledge of issues is on display via your posts.

[Hekate]

48. That is very kind of you

Thank you.
I blush

[BigmanPigman]

4. That jackass in the KKK hood at the market in San Diego

last week was tracked down after his photo went viral. They found out who he is and "it is being taken care of". I wonder how many other red neck hicks from Santee are going to copy this shit? Being a racist asshole is more contagious than Covid.

[FreeState]

5. Santee is not San Diego

Regardless this reprehensible behavior.

[abqtommy]

22. There are many places in the U.S. and around the world where a person would be putting

themselves at serious risk by pulling that...

[LuckyCharms]

26. He seems nice.

[Silent3]

32. I'm curious why the Sherrif's office was involved

Like it or not, we don't have laws against hate symbols in this country. That's covered by the First Amendment.

Of course, private citizens who own businesses do have a right to serve or not serve assholes who act like this, and to tell them to either take off such a symbol or leave. When someone doesn't comply with that, they can certainly call the police in. But I can't tell whether that's what happened here, or if the Sherrif's office decided on their own to get involved.

[Jedi Guy]

34. I was actually wondering the same thing.

If deputies approached him in public (but not on private property such as a store) and asked/demanded that he remove it, could he not bring action against them for violating his First Amendment right to freedom of speech?

[Devil Child]

36. Because freedom of speech is being eroded by erroneous belief of freedom from being offended n/t

[mercuryblues]

38. Yeah well. excuse me for being offended

by the symbol that Nazi's wore while torturing and gassing millions of people. Something like this has no place in civilized society.

So instead I use my freedom of speech to denounce it. That freedom of speech works both ways. Freedom of speech doe not give a person freedom to say or do what ever they want without criticism.

[Devil Child]

39. OK, you're excused.

[Silent3]

44. This doesn't have anything to do with whether you're offended, or rightly express that offense.

It's about if, how and why law enforcement gets involved.

[Dr. Strange]

49. That's how free speech works.

...I use my freedom of speech to denounce it. That freedom of speech works both ways. Freedom of speech doe not give a person freedom to say or do what ever they want without criticism.

Exactly. Everybody speaks. And the government can butt right out.

[Hekate]

42. Incitement to riot is against the law

[Silent3]

45. This doesn't amount to incitement, however. n/t

[Hekate]

46. How about Tiki torches? You know, those are only simple patio decor. White hoods?

Just misplaced pillow cases.

We could go down the list of implied threats of violence, and oddly enough, it's usually the bearers of these tokens who break out in violence when challenged on any level.

[Hortensis]

37. RW propaganda says Democrats/liberals are Nazis/fascists,

and so on. Fascism is archconservative, far right, and we're seeing many aspects in the Republican Party's ruthless lawlessness. But most people have no idea what it is, just a scary word for some kind of police state. But how many ordinary people know to watch their right, not Democrats and evil" liberals," for fascism?

This propaganda is, of course, part of the vast RW, billionaire-funded, anti- progressive government/anti-tax/ant-regulation plot. Spread everywhere. OAN just did a program claiming this pandemic and laws are part of a LW plan to take over the planet and impose the most ruthless authoritarian government ever. And that's merely a slightly hopped-up version of Fox's propaganda.

Between that and the pernicious lies from dissident leftists (augmented to everyone on the left by RW agents and Russia) that Democrats ARE essentially the same as Republicans, there's enormous confusion across the spectrum. Not just on the right.

Elon Musk (!) is calling CA laws trying to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 fascist. Is his disgracefully irresponsible acting out against the state of California really all that different from this man's acting out against this store's "fascistic" management?

(Btw, there is literally no such thing as liberal fascism. Liberals are the biggest anti-fascists humanity has. LW extremists are far more like RW extremists the more extreme they become, so fascistic attitudes have developed in the control of supposedly LW "universalist" states, but by then any vestiges of liberalism have been left far behind.)