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In reply to the discussion: Shooter, Wade Page, was Army vet, white supremacist [View all]Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)on the numbers 14 and 88. Tattoos, online usernames, greetings, etc...
14 is from David Lane's infamous 14 words: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children
88 is a reference to Heil Hitler (H is the 8th letter in the alphabet).
Many times, they will be seen together as 1488 or 14/88.
Others less common are 419 or 4/19 (Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing), 420 or 4/20 (April 20th - Hitlers birthday) and 33 or 33/6 (K is the 11th letter, 33 references KKK).
The celtic cross is a reference to "treasured" eastern european heritage - and is more 'socially acceptable' than a swastika for those WNs who actually want to hold down a job. The Iron Cross and Iron Eagle are also relatively common, but those often feature a swastika in their designs, just less prominent.
As soon as I saw that tat, it registered to me why someone might think that was a 9-11 reference, if they didn't know the meaning of the cross and the symbolism of 14. Being as large as it is and as prominent (and dude was apparently in a sleeveless wife-beater t-shirt), it may have looked like some kind of memorial symbol. Or, as he had full sleeves, it may have been a completely different tattoo they were referring to.
This one is more obvious than a neon billboard that dude was a full on nazi.
Edit - here are images: http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/default_graphics.asp and numbers: http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/numbers.asp