U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols

[Behind the Aegis]

74. How fascinating!

The topic is about the Coast Guard allegedly allowing for hate symbols and you feel the need to "criticize" the ADL. Hmmm.

The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika, an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and that more than 400,000 U.S. troops died fighting against in World War II, as a hate symbol, according to a new policy that takes effect next month.

Instead, the Coast Guard will classify the Nazi-era insignia as “potentially divisive” under its new guidelines. The new policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the definition of nooses and the Confederate flag, though display of the latter remains banned, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

By the way...

Swastika
The swastika is an ancient symbol that emerged independently among many cultures on several continents. Before the 20th century, its use (including in the United States) was almost always benign. Even today, the swastika is a common symbol across Asia, used by Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of other religions, where it is often associated with good fortune.

However, in the early 20th century, various right-wing adherents of the so-called “völkisch” movement in Germany, a movement in large part dedicated to uncovering a romanticized and largely mythical German/“Aryan” past, adopted the swastika as a symbol. The use of the swastika in this context subsequently influenced Adolf Hitler to adopt the swastika as the primary symbol for the Nazi Party in 1920. The murderous legacy of the Nazi regime, especially the Holocaust, permanently converted the swastika into a symbol of hate, anti-Semitism and infamy.

Since 1945, the swastika has served as the most significant and notorious of hate symbols, anti-Semitism and white supremacy for most of the world outside of Asia. Its display is prohibited in Germany and some other countries, leading some right-wing extremists to devise variants or alternatives to the swastika that would evoke a similar effect. In the United States, the swastika is overwhelmingly viewed as a hate symbol.

The swastika as adopted by the Nazis has “arms” that hook to the right; later white supremacists maintained this tradition. Though sometimes more ignorant white supremacists accidentally render swastikas “backwards,” the backwards or left-pointing swastika is typically the hallmark of someone not actually that familiar with white supremacist iconography. The swastika, along with the letters “KKK” and the numbers “666,” is one of the most common forms of “shock” graffiti in the United States, typically spray-painted by juveniles who are not actually white supremacists but simply want to use the image to shock and alarm people.

Among white supremacists, the swastika is a very common symbol, rendered in many different ways and often combined with other hate symbols. The most common swastika variant is a round or curved swastika. Since the release of “American History X,” a favorite movie of white supremacists, it has been very common for male white supremacists to get a swastika tattoo on their left breast in imitation of the main character in that movie. One trend seen most often in California among members of white power gangs is the popularity of very large outline swastika tattoos.

Confederate Flag
In 1860-61, eleven southern states seceded from the United States to protect the institution of slavery, forming the Confederate States of America and precipitating the Civil War. During the war, the Confederacy and its military forces used a variety of flags, but the flag that became most associated with the Confederacy was the so-called "battle flag." Organizations such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans adopted the flag as a symbol of Southern heritage but the flag also served as a potent symbol of slavery and white supremacy, which has caused it to be very popular among white supremacists in the 20th and 21st centuries. This popularity extends to white supremacists beyond the borders of the United States.

Noose
The hangman's noose has come to be one of the most powerful visual symbols directed against African Americans, comparable in the emotions that it evokes to that of the swastika for Jews. Its origins are connected to the history of lynching in America, particularly in the South after the Civil War, when violence or threat of violence replaced slavery as one of the main forms of social control that whites used on African Americans. The noose quickly became associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

In the early twentieth century, when the rise of the Second Ku Klux Klan coincided with the height of lynching incidents (most of the victims of which were African American), the noose became cemented as a key hate symbol targeting African Americans. The noose may appear as a drawing or rendering, but also quite common is the use of actual nooses to intimidate or harass African Americans (or sometimes other minorities) - for example, by leaving one at someone's home or at their workplace.

And just for funsies...

Totenkopf
Neo-Nazi Symbols
Totenkopf
ALTERNATE NAMES: Death's Head
"Totenkopf" is German for "death's head" or skull and typically refers to a skull-and-crossbones image. During the Nazi era, Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) adopted one particular Totenkopf image as a symbol. Among other uses, it became the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande (one of the original three branches of the SS, along with the Algemeine SS and the Waffen SS), whose purpose was to guard the concentration camps. Many original members of this organization were later transferred into and became the core of a Waffen SS division, the 3rd SS "Totenkopf" Panzer Division, which engaged in a number of war crimes during World War II.

Following the war, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists resurrected the Totenkopf as a hate symbol because of its importance to the SS and it has been a common hate symbol since. It is this particular image of a skull and crossbones that is considered a hate symbol, not any image of a skull and crossbones.

Hate on Display™ Hate Symbols Database

Now, what was it you were "jus' sayin'" ?