tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post175249062282609333..comments2023-07-06T13:37:06.039+03:00Comments on Cobwebs Of The Mind: On The Bastardization Of LanguageUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-27759783053541094162007-03-05T19:55:00.000+02:002007-03-05T19:55:00.000+02:00>>some things once so turned and twisted - as the ...>>some things once so turned and twisted - as the swastika was - can never be untwisted<<<BR/><BR/>I honestly don't see why we would want such a thing to be untwisted. Returning the swastika to its original peaceful meaning--removing the connotation of hate and murder--is the first step in removing the history of hate and murder.<BR/><BR/>The Nazis branded themselves forever with this symbol, claiming it for evil. If we forget the symbols of evil we will eventually forget the evil. That cannot be allowed to happen.alternatefishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02738065777302939097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-90117401116060495752007-03-05T06:41:00.000+02:002007-03-05T06:41:00.000+02:00This is Kayla here. Slight correction to my degre...This is Kayla here. Slight correction to my degree from Harvard-I have a Masters in Theological Studies from the Divinity School ( a 2 year degree) not a MDiv (a 3 year degree) lest those on AW think that Teddy and I are trying to inflate my education and pull a fast one on the readers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-8803353348453712762007-03-04T23:15:00.000+02:002007-03-04T23:15:00.000+02:00For we know not where evil hidesOnly by speaking o...For we know not where evil hides<BR/>Only by speaking out and defending human rights to live in peace can we truly unearth and defend against it.<BR/><BR/>Proactive instead of reactive.Paula and Elwood's Poetic Palacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13343194029961318354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-45657664609476419312007-03-04T20:46:00.000+02:002007-03-04T20:46:00.000+02:00Well said.Well said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-6469074731854999362007-03-04T19:23:00.000+02:002007-03-04T19:23:00.000+02:00AW seems hell bent on calling Ted’s original post ...AW seems hell bent on calling Ted’s original post on the subject a knee-jerk reaction, and numerous other charming names.<BR/><BR/>Being a simple person, I am going to try and draw an analogy, so this will be a bit wordy.<BR/><BR/>Step back, take a deep breath, close your eyes and remember September 11, 2001. Now think of the faces of those who committed those acts of terrorism – Arabs, dark skinned, Middle Eastern looking Arabs.<BR/><BR/>Now, count the times that Americans have ejected dark skinned, Middle Eastern looking people from U.S. aircraft for fear of what “they” symbolized. Those ejected ranged from an Arab American Secret Service Agent (Presidential Detail); people speaking Arabic on/before boarding; someone wearing a tee-shirt with English and Arabic writing (“We will not be silent”) and the list goes on and on.<BR/><BR/>These incidents were true knee-jerk reactions to the “symbol” of terrorist, dark skinned, Arab looking people. The U.S. implemented the Patriot Act, which in part singles out and permits racial profiling.<BR/><BR/>Okay, now the majority will simply say, it’s just racism and a bunch of idiots that work for the government, airline companies, etc.<BR/><BR/>It has been roughly five and a half years ago that the attacks took place. Imagine, in this same time frame <B>six thousand more 9/11 attacks</B> took place, that my friends is roughly the scale of horrors that took place under the symbol you are trying to defend. <BR/><BR/>Now go on to AW and read the past posts, reactions and comments related to the above analogy. I remember a number of posters who clearly stated they would not fly on an aircraft with Arab speaking/looking men (symbol).<BR/><BR/>AW would defend a white supremacist right to wear a swastika on a tee shirt boarding your flight, but if he was an Arab speaking/looking man, you want his ass off your flight.<BR/><BR/>AW, you are trying to unring a bell, the Buddhist/Hindu/Navaho, etc. symbol of peace has, and will forever be tarnished.<BR/><BR/>How soon we forget.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-87258465815909185142007-03-04T16:14:00.000+02:002007-03-04T16:14:00.000+02:00According to them who thus perceive themselves to ...According to them who thus perceive themselves to be the epitome of heightened intellect, regardless our degrees, we are and will be seen as Pimple-headed Dunderbrains. Be we all to them the undereducated masses unless, of course, we solemnly forswear our predilection for just prudence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-77845562938820990512007-03-04T15:49:00.000+02:002007-03-04T15:49:00.000+02:00Anon happens to be one, Kayla Ship, a graduate of ...Anon happens to be one, Kayla Ship, a graduate of Dartmouth with a degree in Divinity from Harvard.<BR/><BR/>Lest she too be called uneducated.<BR/><BR/>Teddy<BR/><BR/>(She simply forgot to sign it.)Ted Grosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12173139925309399068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-18011122105968339692007-03-04T15:40:00.000+02:002007-03-04T15:40:00.000+02:00Thank you, Anon-.Thank you, Anon-.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-26707658949690228832007-03-04T15:31:00.000+02:002007-03-04T15:31:00.000+02:00Dear Teddy,I am not one to "blog" much but I have ...Dear Teddy,<BR/>I am not one to "blog" much but I have been following this discussion-if it can be called that since that usually entails 2 or more parties listening and responding, which is not what is happening here-and to put it mildly, it's gotten me upset.<BR/><BR/>I am a Jewish women, who made aliyah 10 years ago. I am a licensed Israeli tour guide, which means that among other things, I visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial complex ALOT with tourists. That means that I have to get into this very difficult "headspace" of relating the immensity of the Shoah (I prefer this term to "Holocaust" since holocuast has connotations of sacrifice and I really don't think that any of those killed by the Nazi War machine were sacrifices "up to" anyone or "on behalf" of anything.)<BR/><BR/>The immensity of the Shoah-how do you begin to deal with the sheer number of victims? with the ability of the most advanced society of the time to turn into something so evil in such a small amount of time? with the relative ease the "bystanders" let the Nazis perpetuate their crimes? Can we really say that there were bystanders? I also don't believe that there are 3 categories of people: perpetrators, victims and bystanders. Because by "standing by" and letting evil run rampant, you become one of the perpetrators. You see, you must choose sides-you can't just stand by.<BR/><BR/>This is why this whole discussion irks me so. Those willing to defend the use of the swastika symbol are the epitome of the "bystander" attitude. There is a quote in the Yad Vashem Museum: <I>A country is not just what it does—it is also what it tolerates…--Kurt Tucholsky</I> I just hope that these self-named defenders of peace and freedom who are so quick to point out that the swastika is NOT an offensive term and who wish to rally together in order to reclaim the true meaning of that symbol would have shown the same concern as the Nuremberg laws were rolled out in Germany in the 1930s. I hope that they would not have been bystanders as the Nazis unfolded their plan for the "final solution". I hope that they would have tried to hide their Jewish neighbors and friends; or to protest against the Nazis (who by the way were elected to office democratically); or would have refused to rat on their Jewish colleagues to the Gestapo.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, history has taught us the harsh lesson: it is much easier to be a bystander and blame evil on others than to take action and try to stop it. As one enters the Yad Vashem complex, there is a tree-lined avenue. It is called the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations and there are trees planted to honor those "Righteous Gentiles" (currently 21,758 have been identified) who saved at least one Jewish life for no monetary reward and at personal risk. I tip my hat to these 21,758 people. However, part of me can't help but ask: Why is this just a tree-lined path and a garden? Why isn't this an entire forest, with trees too numerous to count? See, if it there had been a forest of Righteous Gentiles, of people who were NOT bystanders to the Nazis, then there would have been no need for Yad Vashem at all. If all of Europe had risen up against the Nazis, there would have been no Shoah and this entire discussion about the symbolism of the swastika would have been moot.<BR/><BR/><BR/>BUT, that didn't happen! There was a Shoah! And that symbol was appropriated by the Nazis! And so, that symbol will for now on be associated with Hitler, the Reich, the gas chambers, the reduction of an entire people to unhuman vermin with numbers instead of names. <BR/><BR/>Two comments in particular made my hair stand up on my neck. I will quote them here: <I>What a maroon.<BR/><BR/>The Teddys of the world have allowed a few decades of hate to totally obliterate a symbol that for thousands of years meant peace, luck, and power over dark forces. </I><BR/><BR/>I won't even go into the whole "maroon" for "moron" bit. People make typos. But the glibness of the comment is just so upsetting. The flippant reference to a "few decades of hate" is so disturbing on many levels. First of all, the Shoah was THE LARGEST genocide seen in human history. Jews do not have a monopoly on suffering but there has not been a single event as destructive and deliberate as the Nazi doctrine of the Final Solution. Secondly, the anti-Semitism that permitted the Shoah to happen was not only a few decades in the making but traces back to centuries of Christian anti-Semitism in Europe. Lastly, this person seems to have no concept as to how symbols work. Which brings me to the other offensive comment: <I>Simply put, it's a different perspective. The issue here is that the symbol itself is not the problem. It's the reaction.</I><BR/><BR/>Yet, another person who doesn't undestand how symbols work and where their power resides. Symbols are effective communicators precisely because of the emotion/thoughts/feelings/gut reaction/whatever that are elicited by the perceiver. The reaction is what is critical to a symbol. Otherwise it wouldn't be a symbol, just an icon or picture or some doodle. It only becomes something of meaning when the person seeing it associates it with a deeper meaning. <BR/><BR/> Unfortunately, the Nazis warped the original meaning of the swastika. I say "original" and not "true" since the meaning now of the swastika is NOT peace and hope but everything bad and evil the Nazis represented. Sorry folks, but that's the reality. The symbolic meaning of the swastika HAS been changed and to try to rationalize that away is fruitless...and offensive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29620281.post-65560654959064143282007-03-04T15:23:00.000+02:002007-03-04T15:23:00.000+02:00Hear here.Hear here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com