US T-Shirt Company is selling Swastika tee shirts aiming to make them a "symbol of love and peace."

[grossproffit]

The US-based clothing design website Teespring is selling tee shirts and sweatshirts branded with swastikas, aiming to make them a “symbol of love and peace.”

“Here at KA we explore boundaries. We push them forward,” the company wrote as a description for the products. “Let's make the Swastika a symbol of Love and Peace. Together, we can succeed.”

Before being used by Hitler’s Nazi regime, swastikas were recognized as Buddhist and Hindu signs carrying positive associations like harmony and good fortune. KA Designs is attempting to relate the now-negative sign to its more amicable origins.

The company even made a promotional video claiming that the Nazis “took the swastika, rotated it 45 degrees, and turned it into a symbol of hatred, fear, war, racism, power.”

“They stigmatized the swastika, they won, they limited our freedom...or maybe not?” the video continues. “The swastika is coming back.”

On some of the tee shirts sold by KA Designs, the swastika remains turned by 45 degrees, identical to the Nazis’ use of the symbol.

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/US-T-shirt-company-sells-swastika-design-as-symbol-of-love-and-peace-501687?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Ninsianna]

1. It still is a symbol of peace and auspiciousness and the orientation doesn't matter in Hindu

Buddhist or the other cultures that use this rather basic symbol.

This is something that members of those communities feel strongly about, since their symbol that has been in continuous use since ancient times was basically appropriated by some white people who did horrendous things while wearing it, and that they don't to own it.

They point out that the Nazis were also wearing crosses while they went about their activities and that the cross also symbolizes a great many atrocities throughout history, but somehow that association isn't made.

It's how they're seeking to take back the symbols of their religion and their culture from the white Europeans who stole them, soiled them and culture that won't stop denigrating them.

The swastika has never been gone, the cultures that venerated it never gave it up, nor did anyone bother asking them.

[grossproffit]

3. Then why are they using the NAZI version?

[Ninsianna]

4. As I stated, there aren't two versions.

The orientation of the swastika isn't of importance in the cultures it's used in, and Sanskrit doesn't differentiate at all.

The Nazis didn't invent it, didn't create anything, they literally just stole it, and even the Sanskrit name for it. It's found in all sorts of "versions" literally all around the globe.

[grossproffit]

7. I really can't believe this conversation is taking place.

[Ninsianna]

10. I truly cannot either. It's disgusting how people keep puking

over Hindu/Buddhist/Jain symbols and demanding that they just stop defending their sacred symbols already, because white Europeans really do have all the power and the brown folk should just stop it and shut up already.

It's truly vomit inducing, but par for the course I guess. Appropriation, denigration and then silencing, a familiar pattern.

[yardwork]

21. The appropriation took place in the 1930s and, unfortunately, was highly successful.

I know that the swastika was used by other cultures for thousands of years before the Nazis appropriated it and made it the symbol of their identity. They did unforgivable things. It will be a very long time before most people in the world can look at a swastika and feel anything but revulsion.

Also, there is a growing neo-Nazi movement that is still using the swastika.

It's simply not possible right now to retake the swastika as a symbol of peace. The effort comes across, at best, as naive.

[JHB]

38. The name was coined from the Sanskrit in the 1870s, but it's been in use in Europe...

...from ancient times as well. It's those ancient uses the Nazis were trying to evoke with their use of it.

But of all the variations of the symbol, this company is using one that matches the variant that was made the official symbol of the 3rd Reich.

[Retrograde]

60. It was a popular design

for baby quilts in the US: there are several surviving examples from the late 1800s/early 1900s, and it's one of the patterns in McKim's seminal book, 101 Patchwork Patterns (originally published in 1931, still in print with all the original patterns and text). However, I don't know of anyone who has made one in the past 70 years.

I've seen the pattern in floor tiles in buildings constructed before 1920 in the US West, and on modern maps of Tokyo (it indicates a temple). It's the 45 degree offset that makes the difference, though - that seems to have been a Nazi invention. And that symbol carries strong connotations in the company's intended market place - I think they know who they're trying to attract, and it's not readers of DU.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. One, no one is being "silenced". Two, these people arent reclaiming, they're trolling.

Three, and most importantly, a symbol "means" what people interpret it to mean. Period.

There is a list, a short one to be sure but a list nonetheless- of words I could post on DU that would greatly offend various different groups of people, respectively....so much so that I would probably get banned from the site if I wrote any of them, here.

Now, I could offer a lengthy digression on the etymology of any of the words in question. i'm sure some of them had prior meanings, or were otherwise modified or 'appropriated' from a different language.

None if that would alter the offensiveness of the words. Things mean what they mean.

And we all know what the swatiska means, to the modern world.

[thucythucy]

43. Thank you.

Excellent summation.

[emulatorloo]

51. Well said, thank you n/t

[Ms. Toad]

58. I would be fine with the originators of the symbol reclaiming it.

Not so fine with a company that I'm pretty sure is no more the originator of the symbol than the nazis were.

It's like whites trying to reclaim the "N" word, or straights trying to reclaim F****t.

(The T-shirt appears to no longer be offered, FWIW.)

[Igel]

87. The fylfot's been used in Europe for thousands of years.

It's as European as it is S. Asian.

The Sanskrit *word* for it came into European languages, but it was used by the Romans and Slavs. "Fylfot" goes back to the 1500s. Probably was used in Britain before the Roman invasion--if not, then they brought it with them.

Gammadion is another non-Sanskrit word for it. It was common in Byzantium and Greek-speaking areas.

It's like whites trying to reclaim barley or the Chinese rice. It's nothing like whites trying to reclaim the n-word.

It's the same with the wolf's hook. There are carvings of it from 800 AD and earlier, but because nobody was taught that and they assume that what they know is complete, it has to be (solely) a Nazi symbol. But the Nazis corrupted that like they did the ancient European fylfot.

One wonders if we'll eventually find old settlements that were Indo-European (and from the time when Indo-European was a thing) with it. Would account for the distribution of the symbol. And meaning, most likely.

[JHB]

37. Let's phrase this a different way: of all the many variations of the symbol...

...the one this company is using for shirts they want to sell in the US is the variant used widely by the Nazis, for which it became a symbol (from a Western point of view) of their oppression and atrocities. The only people in the West who have waved it proudly (or used closely related variants) either supported the Nazis or try to pretend the atrocities didn't happen.

And the company picks THAT one for their "destigmatization" plan?

Couldn't use any of the others?

[yardwork]

25. Is the company making these designs a Hindu company?

Looking at the t-shirt design above, it looks like a rather typical neo-Nazi propaganda tool to me.

The white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups insist that white supremacy is the way to peace. That's their central argument. I won't go into the details here because their argument is abhorrent.

I feel that this design is probably being marketed to neo-Nazis, with a wide-eyed innocent "who me" kind of disingenuous trolling to the rest of us.

No sale.

[HAB911]

34. also wearing crosses while they went about their activities ++++++++++++++

[pnwmom]

91. No, it isn't a symbol of peace anymore. Not anywhere in the Western world.

Even Buddhists in the Western world understand that.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. As I said, fucking morons!

Typical bullshit about "reclaiming" something, but not even getting the correct symbol! Never fails to see those who are willing to give this process of "reclaiming" a pass.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. What's wrong with reclaiming it?

Ever heard of the Holocaust? There are some things, symbols or words, which are beyond redemption. There is something that turns the stomach of those who defend WHITE EUROPEANS trying to "reclaim" a symbol that isn't theirs!

[Ninsianna]

11. Because when Europeans steal things from brown people they stay stolen?

I have indeed heard of the holocaust, it was when White European Christians, with their crosses, did heinous things to European Jews (and 6 million others), whom they marked with yellow Stars of David. Some things, symbols and words that are stolen from cultures that had nothing to do with the crimes should not be tainted by the usage of White Europeans.

They don't need redemption, anymore than those yellow stars or the crosses do.

There really is a something disgusting about this, but it's not a sacred symbol of another culture who were also victimized, and gave their lives fighting the Nazis.

Please look up the Bengal Famine of 1943 and learn about the 2 million who died thanks to Churchill's war effort and the further 2.5 million that fought for the British in a war that had nothing to do with them.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. How fucking absurd.

You do realize the swastika is STILL in use, right?! It is hard to "rehabilitate" something still being used to terrorize and promote bigotry. While it is sad it was stolen, the other fact is it is still a symbol of hatred! What is even more confounding is the people, apparently, trying to "reclaim" the symbol aren't Buddhist, nor are they "brown", but WHITE.

Please look up the Holocuast and the symbol used to promote it!

[Ninsianna]

15. I agree your stance is absurd.

You realize I stated the fact that it has NEVER EVER EVER BEEN OUT OF USE, right?

It's being used to promote bigotry right now, against Hindus/Jains/Buddhists who are telling you to stop shitting all over our religious symbols.

That's sweet that you think it's sad that our symbol was stolen by white Europeans, but it's a fact that it's still a symbol that is still revered in many parts of the world that isn't about what white people have decided to do with it in what amounts to a blink of an eye.

What's confounding is how you arrived at this conclusion that people you're talking about are white, what profound powers were used to divine this? That it's an US based company? Hate to break it to you, but we brown Hindus/Buddhists and Jains do live and work here in the U.S. and you're currently yelling at a person who is one, while dismissing the millions of lives that were involved in fighting the people who did what you keep forgetting is common knowledge, by dismissing what is uncommon knowledge.

What promoted this Holocaust? People who venerated crosses, who used the symbol and the color in your avatar, to terrorize and murder them.

My question is why is it that one symbol belonging to those who had nothing to do with it, who died in the millions (and are dismissed so easily) to fight those evil white men and who in the US are targeted by the skinheads who still malign our sacred symbol while shooting at and killing us, in our own places of worship, the only one that is tainted?

Do our lives, our beliefs, our thousands of years of history mean nothing?

Please look up the events I mentioned that didn't even seem to make an impact and think about how you'd feel if the yellow 6 pointed star, which played a rather large role in this slaughter was to be so abused by people who just didn't seem to give a crap what it actually meant, and who attacked anyone who dared to voice their opinions?

Also, no one knows who KA are, but the site where it was being sold, whose color we don't know either has a pretty large investor, a company owned by a brown, Hindu, Indian guy. I don't know why that matters, or what bearing it has on the detoxifying of a stolen symbol, but since it matters, there you go.

[grossproffit]

41. #FAIL "we love libtards! $$ well, we love everyone, but e$pecially libtards" KA Design

Comment from KA Design via youtube.

Jam dk1 week ago

This has got to be a 4Chan prank, see how many libtards they can get to wear a gay swastika

Reply

KA design1 week ago
we love libtards! $$
well, we love everyone, but e$pecially libtards

Second page of comments.

I wish I had found this yesterday.

[LeftInTX]

53. More comments on their YouTube site

I am deeply offended. My great grandfather was killed in the concentration camps. 6 million of my people were gassed in the holocaust. This hate symbol needs to stay a distant memory.
KA design1 week ago
distant memory? We should not forget these atrocities! Buy a t-shirt and keep your great grandfather alive!

This has to be a joke I'm laughing so hard
KA design1 week ago
Then buy a t-shirt and you'll laugh everytime you wear it!

Nobody is gonna buy your t-shirts unless they want to be beat up the moment they leave their house
KA design1 week ago
then you'll die as a hero

I probably would have bought one if I had more time to think about it. I just can't help this gut feeling that buying a shirt with the swastika might be a bad idea.
KA design1 week ago
Thank you! Use your brain, not your gut 

______________________________________________________________________________________

A bunch of Neo-Nazis and holocaust deniers posting in that YouTube thread. Don't forget what the Nazis did to the Romani which were from India. Don't forget what the Nazis did to homosexuals.

This is just some sick troll company. I don't know their motives, but it doesn't look good to me.

[Foamfollower]

23. You cannot redeem that which is irredeemable.

The swastika is completely irredeemable.

End of discussion.

[EllieBC]

56. Agree

And those who think it is, I suspect they aren't very sympathetic to Jewish communities.

[steve2470]

55. More lefty than thou, eh ?

Okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk..........

[JHB]

82. It's not "stolen from brown people"...

...it's been in use by cultures across the world for thousands of years. Including Europe. It was those ancient European uses the Nazis were trying to evoke in order to manufacture timeless roots for their ideology.

It's a simple geometric design. It's appeared in artifacts of the Etruscans, Celts, Romans, and pre-Christian Germans (among many, many other cultures), the last of which is what the Nazis were trying to connect to to sell their ideology as some kind of pure, ancient truth casting aside a legacy of corruption instead of the vicious power grab that it really was.

[JI7]

93. the ones behind the shirt are not brown people , hindus, buddhists or anyone else associated with

pre nazi history of it.

it's right wing trolls who do things like affirmative action bake sales l, and james okeefe types.

[WinkyDink]

20. Get serious. There is no "reclaiming." This symbol must for all time BE REVILED. Never forget!!!

[krispos42]

31. It's not going to be reclaimed in at least 2 continents for quite some time

To Europe and North America it was and is a symbol of racial hatred and industrial slaughter.

Doesn't matter that it dates back thousands of years to tile decorations in Rome or weaving in India. It's a relatively simple geometric design so of course it's been in all kinds of cultures in all sorts of forms for millenia.

It's the convulsion of a war that killed over 60 million people worldwide within living memory. With photographic, audio, and video documentation. And of a political movement that is still alive and using this as a primary symbol of their racial ideas.

This is the current meaning of the swastika in North America and Europe. Anybody that is wearing one in the modern context (like on a tee shirt) is going to be perceived as some variant of pro-Nazi sympathizer, period.

[Solly Mack]

5. Yeah, no.

Nope.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Yeah, but I won't be surprised to see people defending it.

I have to wonder if someone won't eventually add it as his/her avatar.

[Solly Mack]

12. I hope not.

I know the pre-Nazi history of the swastika - but that knowledge will never stop it from being a symbol of terror and extermination.

There are some crimes committed by humans - mind numbing atrocities of unspeakable horrors - that forever link symbols used by the guilty with their heinous acts.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. Don't avert your eyes above.

It is nothing more than an extension of anti-Semitism not being worthy, just like Jews. We (Jews) are expected to over look anti-Semitism and slights against us.

[concreteblue]

16. Uhm, NO.

But none of that changes anything that was posted, either.

[Behind the Aegis]

42. Um, YES!

That is why there are those 'splainin' to the Jews here why it is OK to use this, why they are making it a racial issue and IGNORING the anti-Semitic issue, and why, any fucking time anti-Semitism comes up, there are those who tell Jewish posters what is and isn't anti-Semitism!

[concreteblue]

76. Sorry.

You are to have to support this statement: "why they are making it a racial issue and IGNORING the anti-Semitic issue,"
I read nothing that supports that statement.
But please, enlighten me.

[Behind the Aegis]

85. 8, 10, 11, 15

When I wrote that post, those posts dominated the discussion. I am relieved to see more people have joined and said "no!" I also have examples from past DU threads where "reclaiming" the swastika has been the topic, so if you are interested, search for it in GD.

[adigal]

66. Lots of "hippie" jewelers make jewelry,claiming they want to reclaim the

"whirling log." I got blocked by one jeweler, meg girard, on Instagram, cause she uses it a lot. She couldn't understand that putting a swastika on a young woman, hanging in her cleavage, could be offensive to about, um. 98% of people in western cultures. And all her little hippie followers think it's swell!
Lord.

[Solly Mack]

70. I get how the use of the symbol by the Nazis has caused some religions and cultures to

resent the negativity surrounding the symbol. I do. I get it.

But that doesn't change anything.

I'm not going to spit on the symbol at a Hindu Temple (for example) but I'm also not going to feel comfortable around the symbol.

That ship has sailed.

It's not disrespect - it comes from learning at a very young age what the Nazis did and no amount of knowledge about the symbol is going to change that for me. I experienced a profound change. It is visceral for me - I can't help that.

I lived for years in Germany and their sirens are exactly the same as one hears in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and other movies & documentaries about the Holocaust. My stomach churned each and every time I heard those sirens. I knew no one was coming to get me but that didn't matter. They still gave me pause.

I know that long before the KKK other countries and other cultures had people going about with white pointy hoods during religious ceremonies - doesn't change what a white pointy hood means in America.

The Klan threatened to burn my mother's family out when she was young. They picked up and moved in the dead of night to escape to safety.

Don't expect me to ever not wince at the sight of anyone in a white pointy hood.

Again, that's not me showing disrespect to another culture. That's my reaction and my experiences, and those of my family, to the symbols.

Some might have cause to celebrate the symbols in a positive manner - I don't.

That doesn't change my understanding of the varying histories of the symbols - but that understanding doesn't change my feelings about the symbols either.

[mountain grammy]

35. Exactly

And trolling nazis is my guess.

[Ms. Toad]

72. And - they appear to have exercised that editorial control.

The T-shirt is gone (even though the facebook page still exists).

[Ms. Toad]

78. On the other hand, it is likely the fact that their name was in the story,

that got the T-Shirt removed from the site.

[Warpy]

88. Teespring is not marketing this shirt on their site.

KA Designs exists only on Farcebook, which is where the t-shirts are being marketed. I agree that they're trolling.

So if anybody wants to write a flame, go there.

[Warren DeMontague]

89. I think teespring pulled the designs once they were made aware, which is all anyone could do.

I give them props for fast action.

[geek tragedy]

18. Fuck that. nt

[WinkyDink]

19. Vile, disingenuous, Right-Wing, Stephen Miller, NAZI propaganda. This must not STAND.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

22. That's like trying to raise the Titanic because you'd like to see it sail again.

I mean, honestly.

[LostOne4Ever]

24. Complete bullshit

The Buddhist Manji not only is not rotated 45 degrees, but it faces the complete opposite direction.

The swastika is completely beyond redemption. Anyone associating with it is a bigot.

[adigal]

68. People are not going to stop to see the distinction

Most will act with revulsion, as we should.

[Squinch]

26. That is completely revolting. Ignorant - or knowing and inhuman - assholes.

[demmiblue]

27. Repulsive. n/t

[spanone]

28. fuck that shit.

[Rustyeye77]

29. This will allow every anti-Semitic deplorable

to wear the t shirt with impunity.

[oasis]

30. "Peace" my ass!

[Zantar]

33. Who do you think will buy this shirt?

While this symbol may have had a different meaning many years ago, it has represented the worst of mankind for many years. No matter what the Hindu reperesentation is, the only people who will be buying it are white supremists. As a Jewish woman and having studied the Holocaust, merely seeing this symbol makes me physically ill, people were tortured and killed under it. No amount of marketing will change the meaning and again the only ones buying it will be nazi's. By marketing this symbol, we are ignoring what it represented and the cruelty, torture and inhumanity it has meant to Jews and I would say the majority of people worldwide.

[MiniMe]

39. tRump supporters

[Hortensis]

80. Yes, and so agree. My husband had dozens of Jewish relatives in Europe

when he was born. His mother corresponded frequently and visited occasionally. We still have a little silver drinking cup sent by one of them as a present. By the time he was 5 they were all dead.

Besides all that, this era, with its resurgence of white nationalism and hard-right fascism, nazi sympathy, widespread fashie haircuts, etcetera, is absolutely the wrong time to try to give this a new image by displaying it.

[left-of-center2012]

36. Two different swastikas

The Different Forms of Swastika Symbol

The swastika symbolizes much more than what the intention of the Nazis planned evil deeds. The swastika symbol signified good fortune and well-being thousands of years before the Nazis even existed. To the many civilisations and cultures an important one, representing their history and beliefs. The Nazis, by adopting the swastika, annihilated the significance of the ancient symbol. Today, the swastika is to most people a symbol of evil, a symbol of demise, and a symbol of ruination. It is extremely depressing to find that although the swastika is a symbol of life, and symbol of joy, it has been made a symbol of evil, something the people of the ancient world never intended it to be.

Fortunately, there are marked differences in forms and characteristics to distinguish between the Buddhist swastika symbol and the swastika symbol of evil Nazism.

The Buddhist swastika is left facing form put flat and mainly in gold, yellow and red colour and not in black. The Nazi used the right facing form and tilted the swastika symbol at an angle of 45 degrees with the corners pointing upwards and invariably in black.

[grossproffit]

40. "we love libtards! $$ well, we love everyone, but e$pecially libtards" KA Design comment

Comment by KA Design via their Youtube video:

Jam dk1 week ago

This has got to be a 4Chan prank, see how many libtards they can get to wear a gay swastika

KA design 1 week ago

we love libtards! $$ well, we love everyone, but e$pecially libtards

Second page of comments.

And, there you have it.

[Blue Owl]

44. Hitler Hippies

[Warren DeMontague]

61. I found one

[Blue Owl]

63. Bwahahaha...

[Warren DeMontague]

64. get this: I have a vivid memory of getting in an argument w/some horrible screaming rw blonde woman

in a parking lot at a dead show some time in the late 80s, over my left-wing bumper stickers I think.

I'm POSITIVE it was the Coultergeist.

[Blue Owl]

67. It HAD to be...

That Coultergeist is a real conundrum...

[yardwork]

84. This trauma could explain a lot....

[Warren DeMontague]

86. Oh, it wasn't trauma. I seem to remember being surprised, but amused.

I mean, you'd see all kinds of weirdness in the lot.

But that was ... unexpected.

[Blue_true]

77. I think that she head banged way too hard at that Dead concert. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

92. "head banged"? at a Dead show?

Reminds me of when I went to college and they stuck me in a dorm room with a guy into Death metal. I don't think whoever read the questionnaire about "what sort of music do you like" knew who the Grateful Dead were. Grateful Dead, Death Metal... sure, probably the same thing.



Anyway, I think the Coultergeist's problems run far deeper than even the strong medicine of Hunter/Garcia could solve. She obviously wasn't listening to the part about "aint no time to hate"

She was probably one of those people who wouldn't shut up about how cute Bobby looked in his cutoff shorts, talking all over the quiet songs.

[Blue_true]

100. Yeah, Annie does have problems.

Sorry about associating the Dead with head banging, I clearly am not a Deadhead. I am more of a U2, Flertwood Mac, Eagles, Tina Turner, Carly Simon, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson type of guy.

[briv1016]

45. What's next? Lightning bolt? Burning cross?

[AgadorSparticus]

46. There is a difference between the buddhist swastika v. The Nazi one.

It is in the orientation. I Have never known it to be a matter of it being in 45 degree orientation or not. It is the direction in which it turns is what matters. I could be wrong but I thought that in turning to the right it is a shifting of good energy outwards, of showing love and peace in the world (right is good). Hitler took it and turned the orientation around so that it goes to the left (which is considered bad) and inwards which is akin to selfishness and ego.

I can be wrong about the meaning. It has been a long time. But the difference is in the direction.

[steve2470]

47. neo-nazis wanting to be accepted

Nope, trolling par excellence.

[Crunchy Frog]

48. I can't believe this is even a discussion here.

[steve2470]

54. thankfully 99% of us are on the same page

I have very serious doubts about the other 1%. Nuff said.

[Takket]

49. i don't need the swastika back, thanks. we already have a peace symbol.

[Shandris]

50. Ugh. No one for whom this isn't a religious symbol should be wearing this, and even then...

...it should be in the context of said religion's iconography or other symbology if used on a solo path (but I really can't think of a reason a solo path'er might be interested in wearing a swastika; it's symbolic uses don't lend themselves to walking around very well and only work well when paired with it's opposite).

Trying to 'reclaim' it for non-Buddhists or non-Hindus (or the other religions it belongs to; its a truly ancient symbol, although some variations add other angles and whatnot) is pointless as it (intentionally, in my opinion) provides cover to Nazi's who, like it or not, have recently become a problem again, imo.

In short...just no.

[guillaumeb]

52. Is the next design to be a white robe and pointed hood?

A reclamation of that particular item also?

Perhaps a burning cross of cedar or apple wood to scent the back yard?

[ProfessorGAC]

57. Could They Be Stupider?

Probably impossible

[johnp3907]

59. Looks like it's gone.

https://teespring.com/PEACE-WITH-SWASTIKA#pid=2&cid=2122&sid=front

[VOX]

62. Can you hear the William Tell Overture and NOT think of the Lone Ranger?

No. Some bells cannot be unrung. The swastika will be forever connected to the Nazi Party and blind hatred.

[AgadorSparticus]

65. This is a Nazi swastika. If you are going to try and pass it off as the original AT THE VERY LEAST,

do a Google search. This symbol on this tshirt does not mean peace. It is nothing more than a Nazi symbol bathed in rainbows.

The origins swastika has a different orientation.

[benld74]

69. Swastika is what it is-Colorful or not. This just makes more

[braddy]

71. The 45th Infantry Division was recognized as a liberating unit

The patch for the American Army's 45th Infantry Division.



The 45th Infantry Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1985.

Casualty figures for the 45th Infantry Division, European theater of operations
Total battle casualties: 7,791
Total deaths in battle: 1,831

Division nickname
The 45th Infantry Division gained its nickname, "Thunderbird" division, from the gold thunderbird. This Native American symbol became the division's insignia in 1939. It replaced another previously used Native American symbol, a swastika, that was withdrawn when it became closely associated with the Nazi party.

[grossproffit]

83. The Nazi swastika is at a 45 degree angle.

[fleabiscuit]

74. Looks like a target. nt

[Blue_true]

75. That is going to go well for them.

They should burn the damned shirts and not think of anything like them ever again.

[Nevernose]

79. Gonna be a while before certain mustache styles are cool again, too

These people are either idiots or greedy, or maybe greedy idiots.

[sarisataka]

90. KA Designs...

Kampf Amerikanischer?

[grossproffit]

94. An Anti-Swastika store has just popped up on Teespring.

https://teespring.com/stores/anti-swastika-store

[KitSileya]

95. I'm glad so many spoke out against this.

It would be like if a group of people in the US decided that they wanted to celebrate their Spanish heritage by wearing white capirotes - you cannot wear that in the US without its KKK symbolism, not matter how usual it is in Spanish Catholic organizations. There's no reclaiming it, especially not now, when the KKK is practically in the White House. It isn't something dead, and neither is neo-nazis, so no one would think it was a "re-claiming", they'd think it was a straight up neo-nazi wearing of the swastika.

[yardwork]

96. I think it was trolling by neo-Nazis in the first place.

[KitSileya]

98. Most likely.

There is an argument for Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains re-claiming the symbol even in the West, but it would have to be done a lot more carefully and even then it would have to be made clear through context that it was a re-claiming. And it couldn't be done as facetiously as a rainbow flag peace symbol t-shirt (two symbols which in themselves are not symbols that are facetious, I hope you understand.)

[yardwork]

99. As a gay person, I noticed the rainbow flag component immediately.

This was trolling.

[hatrack]

97. Somebody thought this was a good idea?

Really?

Jesus . . .

[emulatorloo]

101. Allt-righters trying to troll "libtards"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029422285#post41

"KA design1 week ago
we love libtards! $$
well, we love everyone, but e$pecially libtards "