# Is the Swastika evil?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 9, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403 "2015-08-09T20:56:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/1 "2015-08-09T20:56:01Z")
**Will this symbol forever be associated with the evils of Nazi Germany or will it one day be restored to its pure religious meaning?**
It’s been over 70 years now since the fall of Nazi Germany and I’d like to propose that we begin the process of removing the taboo from the swastika symbol. It historically wasn’t an evil symbol. It is symbolic for the [procession of the sun](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/swastika-hinduism_n_6582828.html) and even Hitler intended in that sense but only he meant it in the sense of the [procession of the black sun](http://whatistheilluminati.tumblr.com/post/123127762699/why-did-hitler-use-a-swastika-as-the-nazi-symbol).
Now I know that a lot of neo-nazi’s still use it, but there are also a lot of buddhists and neo-pagans who wish to use it in a peaceful manner.
I think that if we restored it to the culture in its original meaning then it would actually diffuse the intensity of the association that Hitler created between that symbol and evil.
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/2 "2015-08-09T20:59:35Z")
I think realistically the only thing that’s going to change the reputation (or at least, have more people see it with a peaceful interpretation than now) is time. Give it enough centuries for the Nazis to become a fact of history rather than something that’s still felt, and it could change.
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### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/3 "2015-08-09T21:00:26Z")
So you don’t think a more active campaign would be effective?
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/4 "2015-08-09T21:10:10Z")
I think there are active campaigns out there already. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I’m sure I’ve heard of something like that at some point - not that useful, I know! If nothing else, there’s certainly plenty of religious groups who still use it in the sense and with the intent that they’ve held going back into history.
But no, I don’t think so. The problem with an active campaign is that the purpose is retained. If there was a foundation, for example, there to reclaim the symbol, the existence of the foundation itself would be a reminder that it has this other meaning, too.
So I’m not convinced it would help much. I think time, and the gradual distance between current people and the increasingly historical Nazis, will be the big decider.
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### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/5 "2015-08-09T21:15:12Z")
That’s a good point, there isn’t a major institution that uses it as its primary symbol.
This is one of the most organized campaign I can find and it doesn’t look like the type of thing that is going to make the Nightly News anytime soon [http://reclaimtheswastika.com](http://reclaimtheswastika.com)
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/6 "2015-08-09T21:54:17Z")
There are too many people still living who remember the evil all too well. Further, they also taught the next two generations.
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/7 "2015-08-09T22:17:41Z")
> [@BuddhaBeast](#):
>
> That’s a good point, there isn’t a major institution that uses it as its primary symbol.
No, but it is somewhat prominent in Latvia. When I was there I saw it on the backs of chairs and such, which really threw me. I asked my traveling partner and she said it’s a traditional symbol. I would say if a country like Latvia can continue to use it, even after the Nazis occupied and tried to destroy the place, then other people/places should be able to as well.
I get what Germany’s trying to do, but I don’t think they should be forcing their will on another country’s symbols.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/8 "2015-08-09T22:24:10Z")
I suspect as long as Neo-Nazis and related idjits remain a thing you’re not going to have much luck changing its image at least in the United States.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/9 "2015-08-09T22:35:35Z")
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not experiencing a sense of having too few symbols to use for my purposes that I need to dip into Nazi symbols to fill a void. The symbol was never a significant part of US culture, so we don’t need it. Other cultures can make up their own minds. One sees swastikas all over Japan, for instance, where they mark religious shrines.
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### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/10 "2015-08-09T22:37:13Z")
Not every swastika looks like the Nazi swastika.
[Example](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/HinduSwastika.svg/1003px-HinduSwastika.svg.png)
Now do you really think people would find something like that offensive?
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/11 "2015-08-09T22:40:20Z")
Try Japan. Japanese maps use the manji symbol 卍 to indicate Buddhist temples, and people don’t think it’s evil or associate it with the Nazis. You often see the manji featured in the exterior or interior decoration of the temple.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/12 "2015-08-09T22:42:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not experiencing a sense of having too few symbols to use for my purposes that I need to dip into Nazi symbols to fill a void. The symbol was never a significant part of US culture, so we don’t need it. Other cultures can make up their own minds. One sees swastikas all over Japan, for instance, where they mark religious shrines.
Since I was ninja’d (heh!) I will counter with a small nitpick - shrines (Shinto) are normally indicated with the symbol of a torii gate; it is temples (Buddhist) that are marked with a swastika.
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### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/13 "2015-08-09T22:43:11Z")
> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> Try Japan. Japanese maps use the manji symbol 卍 to indicate Buddhist temples, and people don’t think it’s evil or associate it with the Nazis. You often see the manji featured in the exterior or interior decoration of the temple.
Yes, but if an American had that on their clothing or put it in their art it would taboo to bring such a thing into public view.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/14 "2015-08-09T22:47:03Z")
> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> Since I was ninja’d (heh!) I will counter with a small nitpick - shrines (Shinto) are normally indicated with the symbol of a torii gate; it is temples (Buddhist) that are marked with a swastika.
There are Buddhists shrines, too. 😉 In fact, I usually saw then marking very small shrines-- not anything that would called a temple. I’m talking on a wall right at the shrine, not on a map.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/15 "2015-08-09T23:01:43Z")
The problem is that any campaign to rehabilitate the symbol is going to draw support from those who want to rehabilitate the reputation of Nazism. There’s no way to get around that.
The areas of the world where the swastika is used prominently in public are areas with traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism.
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### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/16 "2015-08-09T23:15:43Z")
The swastika will eventually again be used for a myriad of other things than Nazism. Already is, as a matter of fact. When I was in India it was everywhere.
Perhaps the Germans will be the last to normalize the swastika, but they’ll come around too. WW-II was just a war like any other and will eventually be forgotten and the Germans will start to revere their Nazi forefathers (& even Hitler) like the Mongols stand in awe of Djengis Khan, the Nordics celebrate the murdering Vikings (which incidentally used the swastika to mean Thor’s Hammer), Mexicans the Aztecs, Italians the Romans, etc.
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### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/17 "2015-08-09T23:21:18Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> The problem is that any campaign to rehabilitate the symbol is going to draw support from those who want to rehabilitate the reputation of Nazism. There’s no way to get around that.
I think Nazism has regained popularity already in the world by different names and faces, it’s only despised in appearance nowadays.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/18 "2015-08-09T23:27:58Z")
> [@BuddhaBeast](#):
>
> I think Nazism has regained popularity already in the world by different names and faces, it’s only despised in appearance nowadays.
Why is this particular symbol so important to you?
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### Author:  [@BuddhaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaBeast)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/19 "2015-08-09T23:29:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Why is this particular symbol so important to you?
Well look at my username
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-swastika-evil/727403/20 "2015-08-09T23:35:00Z")
> [@BuddhaBeast](#):
>
> Well look at my username
No one is stopping you from using the symbol. Good luck “restoring” it.
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