I don’t know what is more troubling, a racist with a swastika tattoo or someone who got a swastika tattoo for any other reason then said “meh, doesn’t bother me, might as well keep it” for a few decades.
He could un-swastika it for really cheap. Just have them make 4 lines and close it into a box or something.
But, who knows, maybe some locals gave it to him while he was in the Peace Corps or something.
Five bucks says you ask him about it and he collapses into tears. "It’s…not a tattoo…it’s…<sob>…a BIRTHMARK!"
The swastika is an ancient religious symbol that originated in India and is considered extremely auspicious. Hitler stole it for his own nefarious purposes, giving a peaceful symbol a violent association. But the original is alive and well and used all over the place in India, where its use does not have negative connotations at all.
If the man is otherwise friendly, I think you are reading too much into his tattoo. Many Westerners who come to yoga camps in India sport tatoos. I saw an elaborately done chakra tattoo on the arm of one girl last month.
It’s easy to tell if it’s religious or not, buddhist swastikas point in a counterclockwise direction, nazi ones go clockwise.
Um, sorry but no. A white walking around the gym with a swastika is much more likely to be a neo-Nazi than a yogi. Most people are not aware the swastika has another meaning besides “nazi.”
Ignorance deserves a beatdown.
I’d probably try to ignore it, and make an effort to treat him like any other fella.
But if curiosity got the better of me, I’d probably try to make the question sound as non-confrontational as possible. If I couldn’t bring myself to just ask him straight-up, maybe act like if I only just now noticed the tattoo and just blurted out the question: “So anyway I was looking for a gift to my wife when… Wait, whoa, is that a swastika you got there?”
To clarify on what type of swastika it was, definitely this type albeit a bit faded and blurred around the edges. I don’t discount entirely the possibility that it’s to represent something other than Nazism (which of course the swastika has and does), but I think it’s unlikely given that we’re in England and he’s English, along with the form of the tat itself.
I think the best he deserves is a “So I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s up with the swastika?”
Possibilities include:
Options 1-3 lead to a follow-up of “Dude, you need to get that removed, that’s terrible.” Options 4-5 lead to a follow-up of “Fuck, dude, that’s some shameful ignorant racist bullshit and I’m out.” Options 6-7 lead to sincere sympathy.
I met an Australian girl in India who had just assumed to herself that all the swastikas she was seeing was actual Nazi support. When the penny finally dropped (after a friendly Indian guy was explaining all the various local symbols) I asked her what had she thought all these hundreds of swastikas on taxis, walls, posters etc meant. “I just thought, you know, it takes all sorts” she replied.
Perhaps your gym buddy doesn’t really understand what it means. Difficult to fathom it but, you know, it takes all sorts.
This changes things a lot, in my opinion. For one it means it’s definitely not a prison tattoo. He was probably a punk or in the National Front when he was young. Does the National Front go in for swastika tattoos?
I know Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols liked their swastikas though Mr. Kobayashi’s friend seems a bit young for that scene.
Oh he realizes it.
How does that follow?
Are the Aryan Brotherhood big players at HMP Wormwood Scrubs?
Unless you become very close friends, I’d just remain polite and not get too chummy with him. Unless the guy really is clueless, everybody in a Western country knows how offensive swastika would seem And it’s not as if he didn’t have to sit for an extended period to have it done.
If the guy doesn’t see the need to have it removed there are probably darker issues going on within his psyche. You’d be better off just being civil to the guy and not getting close enough to find them out.
That was my first thought too.
Yep.
I’m also okay with the “Whoa, that’s a swastika!” fake startled approach above.
I personally am not okay seeing it and saying nothing, because silence really does convey that it’s okay.
When I was young (like 16-17) I hooked up with a group of “skinheads”. Looking back now it was dumb, but they took me in while I was going through my rebellious phase. I even shaved my hair into a mohawk (I’m female, so it means a bit more). I left the scene after I got trashed one night and admitted to everyone that I didn’t understand their irrational hatred of people based only on the circumstances they were born into. I never believed any of it anyway, I just liked the music and the look of the scene. I liked being offensive.
You really are capable of forgetting stupid things you’ve done in the past, especially when there are painful memories associated with those actions. I hate that I ever joined up with that group of people, I despise their ideology and their need to hate. I don’t usually remember that I was ever like that unless it comes up. I don’t want to remember it, so I simply don’t. That’s not who I am. It’s very likely that he’s done the same thing… forgotten because he doesn’t want to remember. If the tattoo is usually covered then he might not have the motivation to have it removed.
Does he have a lot of tattoos? Specifically newer looking ones? If he’s actively getting more tattoos then I’d think this scenario is less likely since he would’ve had the chance to get it covered up. My neighbor is a tattoo artist. When you’re around that lifestyle it’s easy to get work done without even looking for it. He touched up one of mine over the weekend while we were having a cookout.
And for the record, I never committed any crimes related to the stupid ideology while I was with those dumbfucks. I have a feeling that the “leaders” did, but I never witnessed anything. And thankfully I never got any tattoos to commemorate my stupidity.
I’d let it be. If he’s never going to be anything more than a gym acquaintance then there’s no need to really know. A lot of people that you interact with on a daily basis have beliefs that you wouldn’t agree with if you knew them. If it doesn’t affect your interaction then don’t worry about it.
Ask him about it. It’s a tattoo for Christ sake, it’s meant to mean something that he wants other people to know about or he wouldn’t have had it tattooed on his skin for people to see.
Sure, but once you are aware of something, silence speaks volumes to anyone else who is also aware of it.
Basically, you can create an atmosphere at this gym where everyone thinks everyone else is okay with swastikas. Is that the environment you would want to enable? I, personally, am not okay with it.
Someone’s hidden, silent feelings are not the question. The question is about someone publicly displaying a symbol of hatred, murder, and oppression. Countering speech with silence allows the speech to stand.
