You guys know that Britain's Heavy Infantry used the Afrika Corps logo for a good long while. It's a symbol. Get over yourselves. 75% of the people posting here don't know what the fuck they're talking about, and are just jumping on the "Lets Hate America" bandwagon.
Marines posed with Nazi SS symbol in Afghanistan
- Thread starter 3 legged goat
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Sorry, no. Symbols have meaning. There's a whole history behind symbolism, and it stands for and represents periods of human history that are best left untouched. Saying "it's just a symbol" doesn't erase what it stands for, and how many people died and suffered under that same symbol. Symbols have power. Hell, the Nazis themselves used that same power to rally their country to war, and in case very effectively throwing one symbol against another, a simplified version of the greater war. You saw it on posters all over the place, used by all nations. Never is a symbol, especially one such as this, "just" a symbol.Bradeck said:
Does "anywhere" include China, India, Japan and various smaller SE-Asian nations? I also don't know of a single nation that bans the public use of the swastika in Hinduist/Buddhist context, provided that the religious context is obvious, not just, say, a tattoo where the wearer will later just claim that he's a Hunduist. Majority perceptions don't overrule freedom of religion just yet.thatguy105 said:
He can always claim it's a Charlie Chaplin 'stache.kasperbbs said:
Besides, as I explained earlier, saying "it's just a symbol" is wrong for every possible reason. Try showing that flag to a jewish survivor, and then telling him "hey, it's just a symbol". I'd love to see that.
You think they would have learnt that in school, WW2, History, have that not even watched or played war games or movies? Atleast someone could have pointed it out to them. I guess you can put it down to ignorance, or maybe someone played a joke on the dumb soldiers. They could have chose it for the look and had no idea what the connection was.
By anywhere I meant anywhere in America. My point was that context plays a large part in determining the meaning of symbols and part of what shapes that context is historical ignorance.Staskala said:
I'll agree that while the symbol up there is similar to the Nazi SS symbol, there are some differences. The slight difference of the angles, the crosshairs, the numbers. There's no way of mistaking that for an SS symbol.wintercoat said:I would just like to point out that this:
has been in use for a bit now.
So what I wanna know is why didn't they use that symbol on the flag? Opting instead to use an SS symbol?
you can tell just by looking at them that they are probably good boys who risk their lives- who the hell care if they have a little bit of dark humor? Because using the SS symbol is just that- dark humor. People have no right to harass them. If they had an holocaust survivor in the team- which I doubt- and he protested then well they should have apologized- to him and in private. But professional expert of outrage should shut the hell up and think about more serious problem in the military like gang members, not clean-cut white boys with a little bit of dark humor.
I REALLY don't think that anyone there would be stupid enough to KNOWINGLY associate themselves with Nazi symbolism.
I can believe people not knowing the SS symbol. Most of the Nazi history i was taught focuses on the allies and the Jewish side of the holocaust. There was no mention of the SS, just like there was no mention of any other specialized military force. The guards at the death camps where never branded SS, so we just though of them as random guards.
The only reason i know what the SS symbol means is that i looked up stormtroopers on the internet and found the symbol in a small box to the left on Wikipedia.
So you can believe that a bunch of idiots looked up a symbol that looked like the scout sniper symbol and bought it thinking it looked cool.
Or you can believe that the marines are a neo-nazi conspiracy.
Yeah.. you got to have some pretty overzealous America hate going on to believe in the second one.
Personally i follow Hanlons razor. Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity
I can believe people not knowing the SS symbol. Most of the Nazi history i was taught focuses on the allies and the Jewish side of the holocaust. There was no mention of the SS, just like there was no mention of any other specialized military force. The guards at the death camps where never branded SS, so we just though of them as random guards.
The only reason i know what the SS symbol means is that i looked up stormtroopers on the internet and found the symbol in a small box to the left on Wikipedia.
So you can believe that a bunch of idiots looked up a symbol that looked like the scout sniper symbol and bought it thinking it looked cool.
Or you can believe that the marines are a neo-nazi conspiracy.
Yeah.. you got to have some pretty overzealous America hate going on to believe in the second one.
Personally i follow Hanlons razor. Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity
Funny how perspective can change how you see things. I just see a bunch of nationalist hatred coming from Europeans.GoaThief said:
Add another lightning bolt to harry potter's head and OMG... racism! They're two tiny fucking lightning bolts. Get over it already. 90% of people sleep through history. It's a boring, redundant class that most people have no interest in.
Not being an expert in history doesn't make you stupid. I don't know how to operate brain surgery, neither do you, a bunch of asshole doctors might think we're both retarded for that fact, but thats all PERSPECTIVE.
I'm 25 years old and I recognize a swastika, but I've never for the life of me seen the SS symbol before. Hate me for that all you want, but I think that just makes you a douchebag.
Fine. Then let them come out from behind the head and speak for themselves. I equate their silence with acceptance. If they don't want their PR department to represent them, they can represent themselves. Cowering behind the skirts of bureaucracy does not impress me.Thistlehart said:
I would totally buy that they are wresting this symbol away from a long-dead regime as loot from a war they never fought in for their own use, if only they'd say it. So let them say it.
And now let's ask: why is this a fiasco? Didn't they want to be pictured with an SS flag? They posed for the shot and everything; this isn't like they were caught accidentally wandering in front of big American-flag-and-SS-logo display that just happened to be there.
[/quote]
Fair enough. They still wanted one that looked just like it, though.Thistlehart said:
Time to get real. in posing in front of this symbol did these Snipers cause any real harm to anyone? Quick answer- NO. I understand that the symbol is often associated with Nazi Germany, and maybe that what the snipers were going for, but in all actuality no one was hurt so why rage over it.
Where they being stupid? Probably, but again not worth raging over.
Sidenote: There is a town in Ontario Canada that is named Swastika. It was incorporated in 1908 and named after the gold mine established in 1907 that supported the town.
Should we demand that the town change its name because it could be offense to someone?
Where they being stupid? Probably, but again not worth raging over.
Sidenote: There is a town in Ontario Canada that is named Swastika. It was incorporated in 1908 and named after the gold mine established in 1907 that supported the town.
Should we demand that the town change its name because it could be offense to someone?
Point of order: the town was established in 1907. The Nazi party didn't exist yet. World War I hadn't happened yet, let alone World War II. People offended by Swastika, Ontario have no right to demand anything against that town. If a town changed it's name to Swastika nowadays, I'd have serious questions about that.RoBi3.0 said:
I honestly don't care anymore, but I have to admit, I did chuckle a little thinking of US marines posing with a Nazi SS symbol. The only word that came to mind was "suitable".