The Circle Game or Neo Nazi symbol?

[Dill]

(05-13-2019, 09:11 AM)Au165 Wrote: The Swastika was once a Buddhist and Hinduism symbol before being commandeered by the Nazi's (Although slight directional difference). Part of the issue with symbolism is that symbols can have different meanings to different people. Over time symbols take on accepted meanings in cultures because enough of the population agrees with that meaning. The issue in this case is there has been a meaning interjected into the mainstream that has a negative connotation and people are flocking to condemn it rather than risk being associated with the negative meaning.

It is possible that the symbol can be a game (I played years ago), a hate symbol, and possibly a million other things. I think in cases like this and others it is important to look at the context of a person as a whole before we immediately jump to a conclusion of what a symbol may mean in that use case.

This reminds me. About 10 years ago I was a a Jain temple in Mumbai with a group of Indian students. There were swastikas decorating banners and statues and various things. I told the students that people do not publicly display such symbols in the US; people would only see the swastika as a Nazi symbol. They were very surprised. "Why?" they wanted to know. 

They knew about Nazis too. The difference is likely that they saw the swastika all around them daily growing up in a culture where everyone associated it with a religion. So the Nazi association was minor, accidental and foreign.  For most people in the US, it ONLY appears as a Nazi symbol.  So if I am walking around Mumbai with a gold swastika dangling from a neck chain that wouldn't be much different than wearing a Christian cross. Just bling. In New York it could mean at the least confused and hostile stares.