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Notabot@lemmy.ml

Pulled a sneaky on ya (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 days ago by its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/animememes@lemmy.ml

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[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Swastikas evidently go back at least 12Kyrs, so there’s some point in not letting passing ugliness spoil the historic usage / symbolism.

i wish i could understand why people ascribe different ideas behind shared symbols like this. i presume that it was just ignorance of how the symbols was used before they decided to apply their own beliefs.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

Okay, now if I understand you correctly:

Ancient symbols like the swastika and many others tended to have somewhat different meanings across different time and place, so right away there's that. Some of them also arose completely independently, not unlike global myths such as 'the flood' and 'Rip Van Winkle."

Flash ahead in time, and my understanding is that various modern-day fascists appropriated the symbols for their own purposes, expressly because those symbols had historicity, a certain legitimacy, and prior meaning. For example, as opposed to such dictators trying to freshly create their own symbols, risking various peoples finding their new symbols ridiculous, risking deflating the very movement they were trying to pump up at the time.

The idea that the new usage of such symbols could in fact be a direct betrayal of the originals doesn't seem to mattered in the end, because the useful propaganda factor weighed more. For example, the very term "fascist" is direct betrayal of the original (Greek I believe) meaning, which was physically a bunch of sticks wrapped in a cord, signifying "strength in unity."

Anyway, hope that helps!