Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Symbol of Brotherhood… or Race Hatred?

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Old Rule: it isn’t socially acceptable for Americans to display the swastika, an ancient symbol expropriated by the Nazi Party that has become synonymous with race hatred.

New Rule: it isn’t kosher for Americans to display  a symbol that sensitive individuals might construe to resemble a swastika, however remotely.

The superintendent of Hanover County Public Schools has issued a groveling apology for imprinting the logo, shown above, upon t-shirts at a professional learning conference.

“One of our teachers designed the logo intending for it to represent four hands and arms grasping together – a symbol of unity for our all-county professional learning conference. Nothing more,” wrote Superintendent Michael Gill in a message to families and staff, as reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “While we are confident that the logo was created without any ill-intent, we understand that this has deeply upset members of our staff and community who see the logo as resembling a swastika.”

You know who deserves an apology? The person who designed the logo.

In 21st-century American society, the swastika is arguably the ultimate symbol of evil. Thousands of Americans died fighting a war to defeat everything the symbol stood for. Americans still repudiate it for good reason. But we approach the point of absurdity when we apologize for logos and other symbols that bear superficial parallels to the emblem.

Here’s a reminder of what the Nazi swastika looks like:

Compare that to the Hanover logo. Different colors. Different background treatment. Two intersecting lines compared to four interlocking lines. No circles at the end of the lines. But, yeah, I suppose it resembles the Hanover logo in that it does have lines.

I’m sorry. This controversy is just crazy. The brotherhood and unity message of the Hanover logo, which evokes the common, uplifting image of four interlocking arms, is entirely appropriate.

The teacher who designed the logo deserves an apology; the Hanover superintendent needs to grow a pair; and those who went into conniptions need to get over it.

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Comments

43 responses to “Symbol of Brotherhood… or Race Hatred?”

  1. kls Avatar
    kls

    But the designer used the color WHITE — we all know what was intended.
    Minimum punishment: several weeks of re-indoctrination, then firing.

  2. kls Avatar
    kls

    But the designer used the color WHITE — we all know what was intended.
    Minimum punishment: several weeks of re-indoctrination, then firing.

  3. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    Imagine the offense at taking four of the newer pride flags to do this… That’s a real swastika. And the creator of the image was arrested for it – in England…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee3790922260d5d0f6d8a146fb4203a159c2aef33a3ab37918d94126253fdde3.jpg

    1. kls Avatar
      kls

      It’s very apparent what the designer is stating with his symbol. It’s disgusting!!!!

      1. walter smith Avatar
        walter smith

        Yes. That was intentional. Still, like words, it is inanimate. Taking offense at the Hanover thing is ridiculous. This is at least offensive – intentionally, and an adult should be able to see it and not get triggered into a mass of quivering jelly.

        1. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          Oh, yeah, no accident that.

    2. Rosie Avatar
      Rosie

      This is so patently ridiculous I have to assume you’re joking.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        You know what they say about assuming…

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11066477/Veteran-arrested-causing-anxiety-retweeting-meme-swastika-Pride-flags.html

  4. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    That is not a swastika.

  5. James C. Sherlock Avatar
    James C. Sherlock

    Posturing by pretending offense is a sacrament on the left.

  6. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    Apparently, a swastika symbol is also sacred to the Navajo people.

    https://www.cpr.org/2018/08/15/those-are-sacred-navajo-symbols-not-swastikas-on-that-pueblo-art-collectors-rug/

  7. JayCee Avatar
    JayCee

    So I guess crosses and American flags are taboo too. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50d63ce6ba20460112fee6b99b869b8c42aa006139e6c5908d7d1ff21c788ef7.png

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      So, yes, they appropriated an ancient symbol, just as the Nazi’s did. They turned it into a message of hate and intimidation, opposite its original meaning, just as the Nazi’s did. (The robes, copying the Inquisition, were always a symbol of intimidation.) But even at their height they were a secretive, minority group, officially spurned, sometimes prosecuted, influential but never officially in charge. They didn’t ruin the cross, but they sure have made white sheet robes and hoods verboten!

      1. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        ” … but they sure have made white sheet robes and hoods verboten!”

        Unless, of course, you attended parties with former Governor Northam.

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    And the Youngkin sign in the classroom?
    https://bluevirginia.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/lynnesign.jpg

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      What signs are on the other three wall?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Nixon, Reagan, Trump… just a guess. No wall for GW.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          I was thinking more along the lines that maybe U.S. history or government is taught in that classroom and perhaps there is a “McAuliff” sign on the opposite wall.

          After all, we have only the word of the less-than-unbiased person who posted the picture that it was the only sign the teacher “left up”.

  9. VaPragamtist Avatar
    VaPragamtist

    I agree that the controversy is a non-issue.

    But I’m failing to see how the logo represents four hands and arms grasping each other. The image JAB included of the same thing is perfect; based on that, the artist should have designed a square with each line extending outward, and a circle at each corner representing the fists.

    If we take that as the design, then the four lines on the outside–the lines that give the overly-sensitive a reason to complain–become unnecessary.

    So it’s a non-issue. But also an odd design. Unless I missing something (I never liked modern art).

    . . .also. . .”it isn’t kosher for Americans to display”. . .I see what you did there.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      You’re right. The fists are in the wrong place. Looks like arms in a blender.

      1. VaPragamtist Avatar
        VaPragamtist

        I suppose maybe the corners are supposed to be elbow bends? But then each arm is grabbing the next person’s bicep, which is just weird.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          CINNA THE POET Truly, my name is Cinna.
          First Citizen Tear him to pieces; he’s a conspirator.
          CINNA THE POET I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet. 29
          Fourth Citizen Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.
          CINNA THE POET I am not Cinna the conspirator.
          Fourth Citizen It is no matter, his name’s Cinna;

          Meh, bad verse, bad art.. whatever.

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        …or a melting pot?

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Hanover?

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            An aspirational melting pot?

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      It is an odd design, but no matter how I turn my head or rotate the picture I cannot make it look like a swastika to me.

      It reminds me of the zealots who got all bent out of shape a few years back because they thought a Union Jack was a confederate battle flag. Only a moron or a grievance-monger could mistake the flag of the United Kingdom for a confederate flag.

      I think some people need to get their eyes checked; still others need to get their heads examined…

    3. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      It is an odd design, but no matter how I turn my head or rotate the picture I cannot make it look like a swastika to me.

      It reminds me of the zealots who got all bent out of shape a few years back because they thought a Union Jack was a confederate battle flag. Only a moron or a grievance-monger could mistake the flag of the United Kingdom for a confederate flag.

      I think some people need to get their eyes checked; still others need to get their heads examined…

  10. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Unintended, yes. Unacceptable, also yes. But complaints of harm, ill effect, insult, being offended, etc, are all just bogus posturing. Move on. The truth is, knowledge of and sensitivity to the history of 80 years ago is shrinking — another indication of poor educational outcomes. My daughter in her school daze was amazed a few years ago when she found out how few of her peers understood the story or even meaning of “D-Day,” at the time of one of the big anniversaries. I shudder to imagine the results if 100 high school students were asked what political movement used the swastika, and why it is now reviled.

    1. Matt Adams Avatar
      Matt Adams

      “I shudder to imagine the results if 100 high school students were asked what political movement used the swastika.”

      Even better question, where did that political movement appropriate the symbol from.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        India as I recall. The so-called “Aryan race” did not originate in Europe!

        1. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          Sanskrit, just imagine the blanks stairs of this conversation.

          Uncle Adolph was a poser on all accounts, down to his $hi*y art.

        2. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          Sanskrit, just imagine the blanks stairs of this conversation.

          Uncle Adolph was a poser on all accounts, down to his $hi*y art.

        3. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
          James Wyatt Whitehead

          It means good luck in India. Go back 12,000 years and the symbol is reversed.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            The swastika on the first page (I think it’s called the flyleaf) of my 1894 first edition of “The Jungle Book” is reversed from that used by the Nazis.

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/755a5cc3d86f576d9e7df7251db8c13f19ea0d25583412e2b681dbe35dea2a0d.png

          3. VaPragamtist Avatar
            VaPragamtist

            Same thing embossed on the cover of my 1931 reprint of “Humorous Tales of Rudyard Kipling” (2 years before the swastika replaced the flag of the Wiemar Republic). The red cover makes it especially ominous.

          4. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            Yes. Having never lived in a time when the swastika was not reviled, that particular book cover was a bit disturbing the first time I saw it.

            But we need to remember that at the time it was used, the swastika had a positive message, and there was nothing evil, ominous or disturbing about it .

        4. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          It means “conducive to well-being”.

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Better question: WHY did the Nazis appropriate the swastika?

        https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-brought-swastika-germany-and-how-nazis-stole-it-180962812/

        1. JayCee Avatar
          JayCee

          For the same reason the Democrats appropriated the American Flag. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19f6d0e59c6a966f2240a9e5c6530427680973475a83fefbc13c42627b286d98.png

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      I disagree about it being unacceptable. People need to increase the thickness of their skins, and decrease the thickness of their heads.

    3. Merchantseamen Avatar
      Merchantseamen

      I worked in a ABC store near a college. We had a lot of “college kids” coming in and buying cheap vodka. Of course I had to ID everyone if they appear to be under 30. These “I’m smart (kids) because I went to college” could not tell me the date of D-Day or what it was about. One out of 10 could tell me about Pearl Harbor none could tell me the date. Non could tell me if Australia or the UK was in the fight. None could tell me what country was first to be invaded. Germany into Poland in 1939. As a topper, which state had more Civil War battles fought in. This was the state of the $35,000 a year college. Of course one of the 2 History “Professors” is offended over the Confederate Memorial in front of the court house….He comes from who knows where to create a fuss. I surveyed the kids. They know nothing. They are not offended nor should it be removed. Majority of these kids are from New England. Upper education is in a sad state. One other thing…One fellow could answer those questions for me. A Swiss Foreign Exchange Student. As a
      reminder he went into military training at 16 issued a service weapon at
      18 and it is in his home ready for duty at a moments notice. He will be active till the age of 65 and then is released to the reserves. So…the anti-gun types don’t get the vapors and faint from reading this.

  11. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    It is Hanover, but really, a four-color silk screening really would have gone a long way to avoiding the issue. Still, could’ve been worse. Coulda picked black and red, and German.

    I just don’t see it…
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0mtGkUAAfec&noapp=1

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