I saw somebody with a swastika tatoo today

[bluestateguy]

What a day! First I hear somebody in the elevator saying that Dennis Kucinich should run for president of the Soviet Union, but that was nothing comapred to what I saw this afternoon at Best Buy while I was computer shopping. I saw this trashy looking woman with a swastika tatoo on her arm. I looked real hard to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me, while being careful not to look like I was staring, but indeed, that is what is was: a swastika. She was with some equally trashy guy with a lot of tatoos as well, though I did not see any Nazi tatoos. After seeing that, I decided to finsih my business at the store and leave without buying anything.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. All I can say is.......

:puke:

[SweetZombieJesus]

2. Welcome to my world

At the convenience store I work at, I wait on people with swastika tatoos about once a month. Usually I excuse myself and let someone else wait on them, but if I can't, I'm just icily silent.

[roughsatori]

5. Why don't you just beat them up?

:P

[DemocratSinceBirth]

28. If They Are Anyrhing Like Edward Norton's Character in American History

X I would recommend against it.

[Clete]

3. Where do you live?

I used to see things like that up in the inland northwest.

[bluestateguy]

4. I don't want to get thrown into this whole South bashing issue

But I live in Austin, Texas. Still, when I was a kid a saw three Nazi skinheads at a shopping mall in the SF Bay Area.

[Clete]

7. I think they are all over the place.

They are just more visible in redneck country. Although, I always found Austin to be pretty liberal. Screw them. I avoid them as much as possible. I found out a lot of these skinhead types are nothing more than common criminals.

[roughsatori]

10. They are all over South Jersey where I now live

Many days outside the ACME a man has signs promoting the KKK and other things. The rural road between my home and my brother's home has a sign that reads "Aryan Brotherhood, responsible for cleaning this portion of the road." I am serious, and imagine if that were down South there would probably be news articles about it in the Philly papers.

[Kbowe]

29. These people are the reason the RW succeeds in elections...

They don't give a damn about how difficult their lives are, they are anti-government for one reason...social programs that help the poor and minorities. Everything in their ignorant minds equates to this. If there were no social programs, no minorities, they would not be against the government and they would happily pay any taxes that were required to maintain US standard of living. They simply don't want others to benefit. They will cut off their noses and their tatooed arms to spite their faces. They are a sorry lot of losers who spend most of their time blaming their own sorry plight on Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and all others of brown skinned people. I live among a hornets nest of them here in New Jersey. They make me ashamed to be white.

[SweetZombieJesus]

8. Middle of Nebraska

There's quite a few skinheads here, and I'm too old and out of shape to fight them anymore.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Whaddaya think of the Kucinich-Putin matchup?

I think the fact that Dennis doesn't speak Russian is gonna hurt him.

But what do I know? :shrug: /

[Minstrel Boy]

12. lol! I worry, though, that

Bush's inability to get a sense of Kucinich's soul would damage US-Russian relations.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. Worrisome. Worrisome.

:scared:

[sujan]

9. It saddens me

that the neo nazis have hijacked the meaning of that symbol.

Damn you nazis.

[sistersofmercy]

11. Truth is if they checked their geneology the ignorant fools.....

would quite possibly find some of the groups they hate in their in their own bloodlines.

[liberalmuse]

13. It wasn't the Hindu symbol?

The swastika was a sacred, mystical symbol before the Nazi's decided to adopt it and give it a more sinister meaning.

I don't know what the world is coming to, either. Every day I see hundreds of cars with flag stickers on them. This too, used to be a sacred symbol, but it is being turned into the new 'swastika' for the new 'Nazi's'.

[Walt Starr]

16. Yes, the swastika is a Hindu symbol, but it is different from the

Nazi swastika.

Hindus knew for a fact that Hitler was going to lose the war.

See, the Nazi Swastika is backwards.

I can verify this too. I have a British Officers campaign chest from the mid 1800's that was built in India. There are swastikas all over it. Ever one of them are exactly opposite of the Nazi swastika.

[HawkerHurricane]

17. Southwest Native American Tribes

Also used the swastika (not that they called it that). The symbol was so common in what is now New Mexico, that the New Mexico National Gaurd had it on their uniform: a red oval, with a white circle centered and a black swastika in the circle. It was changed in 1940 for some reason...

Native American artists in the region forswore use of the symbol for public artwork in the 1940's, and still don't use it in public displays: it's a holy symbol to them, but still has too many negative connotations.

[ForrestGump]

18. Buddhists, too, and theirs is also the mirror-image of Hitler's

One story that I saw regarding the swastika's origin was that it was a representation of the palce where life began, from which four rivers diverged. I'm sure that Google will turn up swastika lore for anyone interested.

[liberalmuse]

26. That's right!

I had forgotten that the Nazi symbol went the opposite way. Thanks for the reminder. I thought I saw a performer wearing the Hindu symbol in the documentary, 'Woodstock'--was it someone from Jefferson Airplane?

[Fridays Child]

14. So, you saw a bush voter? Most of them wear their swastikas in their...

...hearts and minds. The one you saw is just too stupid to be devious.

[Toots]

19. A Swastika is to a Buddhist as a Cross is to a Christian

It doesn't necessarily have to mean Nazi. :shrug:

[htuttle]

21. Where did you get that idea?

The reversed 'swastika' (or rather, the original form of the glyph) isn't nearly as common as many other symbols in Buddhism, such as the eight-spoked Wheel , or in some sects, the Bell, or something called a 'Vajra diamond' pointy, 3D sort of thing over in Tibet.

I'm fairly sure that it's not actually used anywhere today for that purpose, and when the Nazis adopted (and flipped it the other way), I'm pretty sure it had already fallen into disuse.

As a matter of fact, Buddhism isn't really big on symbols in the first place. It would be somewhat in opposition to the whole idea of Buddhism to adorn one's body with it's symbols (not entirely unlike a Muslim attempting to paint a portrait of Allah).

[ForrestGump]

24. Swastikas are still extant on buildings, etc, in Hong Kong, at least....

http://bigwhiteguy.com/archive/2003_08.php

Scroll down the page for a photo - also includes photos and an account of the recent selling of Nazi-inspired clothing lines in a Hong Kong store.

[Art_from_Ark]

22. Not in Japan, at least

While reverse swastikas, or fylfots, are still used to denote Buddhist temples on Japanese maps, they are almost never seen in real temples in Japan. Perhaps it is because of Japan's past connection with Nazi Germany. At any rate, the Kenkyusha dictionary notes that the reverse swastika "is a transformed cross" that was "used in the past as a symbol of good luck".

[JI7]

25. you mean hinduism ?

swastika is a symbol in the hindu religion. never heard much about it being associated with buddhism though.

[Art_from_Ark]

27. The reverse swastika has been associated with Buddhism

As I said before, it is still used to denote Buddhist temples on Japanese maps, like the temples on the right side of this map of the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo.

http://map.mapion.co.jp/m/k?el=139/47/53.153&scl=20000&pnf=1&uc=24&icon=map_icon_11,0,01,0,0,&grp=all&nl=35/40/39.894&size=500,500&mp=35/40/39.894,139/47/53.153&fi=0&amap=3013914800266680001

[Hubert Flottz]

20. Prolly Jessco White!

Was he dancin' in an Elvis cape?

[Blue-Jay]

23. Hitler also ruined

that little Charlie Chaplin-esque moustache for all of us. Damn you, Hitler. Damn you for denying me yet another grooming option!