A woman in California was shopping for wrapping paper in the Hanukkah section of Walgreens (they have those?) in Southern California. She saw swastikas and was shocked dead stop. "I didn't know what to do."
She called her rabbi. And by her description he was shocked too.
I had to shut off "do not track me" application for the video to run in order to see the lady and the pattern and to read the FaceBook comments, some thirty-six of them, and not a single one is sympathetic. All ridicule.
The woman demanded the store remove the rolls of paper, so they did. She demanded the paper be removed from all Walgreens stores, not just Los Angeles, but throughout the U.S., I do not know if they complied.
Ridicule away. Have at it in comments.
You may see a Celtic pattern. You may see a Sanskrit or Tibetan good luck sign. You may see a stylized Greek pattern, but she saw swastikas that jumped right out, and if you look you will see them too backwards and forwards.
One time while still in University I did not watch much television. No cable, so this was network. Some advertisement appeared promoting an upcoming show about Nazis right as I turned on the television and, boom, a classic black Nazi swastika inside a stark white circle with red background filled the screen and I felt a physical stab in my chest. The sight of it presented so abruptly as that, purposefully for shock value actually did shock me. And I have no association at all with this symbol. But I felt what this woman felt. With a real sign not "tucked in there" sign. I know what she felt. Bummer the Nazis appropriated such a great configuration of lines, but they did, and millions of people still see it where you might not, and feel it, pow, right in the heart.
The exact same people on FaceBook that would support trigger-warnings for incidental tenderhearted things are united in denying the reality of the woman in the video at the link.
On the other hand, it is dreadfully bossy to insist the store remove them just because she takes a shock at unintended symbols buried within patterns. That is taking the whole symbolism thing all too far.
On the other other hand, come on, this was in the Hanukkah paper section.
It's a very nice paper. That foil kind of wrapping really is the best for gift wrapping. It holds its shape nicely while you tear off some tape. This gives me another chance to flog my favorite book about wrapping, Gift Wrapping: Creative Ideas From Japan. It's great. You can buy it for ¢1 plus shipping on Amazon. Or Abebooks for a few pennies less. I recommend it. I give the book to ladies as gifts all the time. Two this year. Every last one of them loves it.
BUY IT! I said.
18 comments:
"Gift" means poison in German, as in the word "Giftgas." Like other symbols, words are filled with meaning.
I did not know that.
Greek diners usually have swastikas running in a frieze on the walls either just above the floor or just below the ceiling. At least they used to when I ate in Greek diners. I guess if you limited yourself to Greek salad in the Greek diners you could stay healthy. The other stuff they serve not so much. The swastika frieze is obviously a replicate of the swastika pattern that was traditional in Greece long before its modern usage and is totally inoffensive.
My understanding, from reading Althouse I believe, is that the use of the Nazi swastika predates the third reich.
OMG... Althouse should be shut down.
It may be "a Celtic pattern..., a Sanskrit or Tibetan good luck sign..., or a stylized Greek pattern (or, for that matter, an American Indian symbol)", so we have people who don't, in many cases, care about Hitler (in much of the world, he's just another politician, like it or not, and that symbol goes back farther than the 20th century).
Keep it out of the Hanukkah section, if you want, but what happened in WWII doesn't necessarily give you the right to dictate to everybody else.
YMMV
I DID! I said.
Two copies. One for each of the crafty daughters.
I trust you Chip.
The "reverse" swastika was used as a sign of good luck in both India and by American Indians. The 45th US Infrantry Div which was formed and based in the US SW used it as a symbol Division patch pre-WW II but then changed it to a golden Thunderbird on a red background and became known as The 45th "Thunderbird Division" (which it still is today--tho de-activated in '68) It was stationed mainly in Okla as part of the ANG but fought extensively in both WW II and Korea)
Why would anyone manufacture Hanukkah gift wrapping paper with swastikas?
Seems wrong for some reason.
virgil --
I was thinking they might be "backwards" swastikas (or maybe the Nazi version are the backwards ones...?) but the design includes both directions.
I think the design person did not know: Some Chinese graphic designer intern.
I can understand the emotional reaction. I just wish that people would try harder to understand that it is an emotional reaction and take that into account. Like the silly greeting card "black hole" scandal. Yeah, I can imagine the shock of opening up a card and having it say "black ho" to you... but then you call your rational self over to sternly inform your emotional self that what upset you really wasn't there. At no point do you have to purchase the item of your distress, and perhaps eventually you can laugh at it.
A swastika in any direction is a really basic geometric design. It's going to show up places.
I'd like, just for a moment in time, that we forget our history.
Start fresh from now.
Though would it be any different.
I should add that many US Govt buildings and other public buildings built before the Nazis adopted the swastika have that emblem as part of their architectural motif. For a good list of all the places in the US and world-wide where the swastika symbol is still in use (e.g., The Finnish Air Force still uses it as their emblem) google "Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th Century."
Rudyard Kipling was fond of the swastika.
This is a reliable cause of freakouts for young browsers in old book stores.
I'd call that nothing more than a maze, myself, if it were required of me to label it, and then also redirect intention to my favorite fable of all time [and, more important, to its moral].
""But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said.
Reference, for example.
When I was in Viet Nam 1967-68, I noticed iron swastikas in the windows of houses. I think it might date way back in time for the Buddhist religion.
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