Re: PC Police squelch Manji

From: necoandjeff (spam_at_schrepfer.com)
Date: 12/31/04 

Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 01:25:39 GMT

James Rose wrote:
> But I
> thought how insane... I mean who is this mysterious fool that will
> not be able to tell the difference from context - this fool that some
> are so afraid of stirring up? As any reasonable person familiar with
> things asian knows this is a symbol of peace and love... and is
> embossed on countless Buddhist icons. My colleague by the way, was
> not Jewish.

Are you serious? If you were to show that picture to 100 people on the
street, how many do you think would look at the photo and say it is a
swastika and how many do you think would say, "oh that is a Buddhist symbol
of love and peace." Again, I agree with you on some level. I think it is a
shame. But the reality is that Hitler clearly won the propaganda war over
that symbol. The swastika has probably become one of the most recognizable
symbols in modern culture and Hitler, historians and the media have done
such an effective job with it that even the mirror image has become
virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. I'm afriad you are chucking
simple human nature (including the powerful emotional reaction evoked in
many by that symbol) in favor of a purely logical analysis that few would
undertake. I don't expect the Japanese to change anything here in Japan.
That would be going too far. But I completely understand the decision by a
karate group that wants to internationalize.