US Marines photographed with SS flag

[Ephraim]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_o...ury_popularity



Wonder if the NAACP was offended and protested back in the days...

There is no guarantee in life that you won't be offended. I am offended every day.

[Ephraim]

I am sure the Department of the Navy is not responding to the SWC but to the political and media overtones of the act itself. I am sure that the SWC is not the only body to object to this, e.g. everyone still alive who actually fought the Wehrmacht is probably angry.

Let's be honest. No one would mention it if it weren't brought to everyone's attention by people who spend their time looking into things like this. There aren't too many WW2 vets who spend time on the internet looking for some random picture by a Afghan based Marine Sniper.

My focus is to protect the Marines in what might be an "insensitive" act, but most likely an innocent act. Wiesenthal should spend time with REAL nazi's (all 12 of them) not guys who are killing Muslims. Why get gungho Marines pissed at the wrong enemy?

[Aliyah1995]

Ephraim, I agree. I think these Marines should be given a little "sensitivity" talk about what the "SS" symbol represents. Even if they have never met a Jew in their life or have no Jewish friends, at the very least I can't imagine them wanting to continue using the "SS" symbol because they were one of America's mortal enemies during WWII. To make a whole media frenzy out of it, though, is unproductive at the very least and stupid at the very most.

[Mediocrates]

More on this

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012...leblower-talks

Shortly after I first wrote about the flag controversy last week, Beorn got in touch to explain how and why he chose to report the incident to the Marine Corps' inspector general. (Though Beorn contacted military authorities, he didn't play a part in the incident's recent unearthing by the media.) For one, he had learned through military contacts that the use of the SS flag was not an isolated incident. He hoped that exposing it could lead to an important "teachable moment" that might help alleviate what he considers to be a serious issue. In an email interview, he shared with Mother Jones details of how the Marine Corps responded to him and how the Corps has since addressed this moral education issue with the troops. He said he was disappointed with the emerging media narrative that the military had responded poorly. "I was surprised by the speed with which they acted and the seriousness with which they appeared to take it," he wrote.
But he also emphasized: "I think our public needs to realize that this is not a case of the 'liberal media' going after our brave men and women in uniform. Symbols are important. They send messages. These messages are important." He explained his special interest in the SS incident with regard to military training, and what he thought would be the appropriate punishment for the service members in question—especially during wartime. In a follow-up email he wrote: "My focus is on the importance of positive unit cultures, and that the use of this image highlights a problem. For example, I was just informed that a Marine posted on a blog that he had had the tattoo for 17 years, which seems to highlight this point for me."

[Ephraim]

More on this

...... He explained his special interest in the SS incident with regard to military training, and what he thought would be the appropriate punishment for the service members in question—especially during wartime.

"appropriate punishment"

It will go into their service record and their career is over. The PC police in the military will want to cover their arses and do all they can to make sure a future "watchdog" never questions their response to the horrible implications of Scout Snipers using SS as their moniker.


I just read the piece and the author knew that these were SSnipers.

Oh well, knowing young Marines, you will probably next get pictures of SS with a middle finger salute added.

[Firewire]

You are being naive. The swastika that represents "osher ve osher" usually turns left, not right. Also, people nowadays know exactly when to use what symbol for what message. Are you really gonna tell me the person in Hadar, Israel, sprayed Swastikas there to spread the love of Hinduism? All those Swastikas on German public bathrooms and Jewish graveyards?
Hardly anyone nowadays thinks "Aaaw, Hinduism/Buddhism!" when they see a Swastika. Certainly anyone outside of India, Japan, and some other countries of that region.

And you really think 8-year-old German kids spraying Swastikas on the door of their least favorite teacher, are spreading the love of Buddhism? I was one of them, and we shouted "Hitler-child" and "Jew swine!". We didn't grasp the horrors of the Holocaust, didn't even know who against who, but we knew it was something very, very bad. If we hadn't known, we wouldn't have done it, because nowadays people spray Swastikas to say "I hate you".

The meaning - or the commonly attributed meaning - of symbols can change through time, and the time where the Swastika was, in the eye of the Western and Middle-Eastern populace, the symbol of sunshine and wealth, ended in 1933. Just as a skull with crossbones nowaday can denote even harmless, humorous rebellion, rather than murdering, raping pirates, the most commonly associated meaning of the Swastika, is a sign of hatred of some form, usually against Jews or Zionism, but also homosexuals, gypsies, black people, immigrants, etc.

You cannot, by the way, even wear a left-facing Swastika in Germany nowadays without being arrested; in most countries people would frown because guess what - 90% of the world's population will think "Nazi", not "Hotoke-sama", no matter what way the thing faces. I know because I have an idol in Japan, his name is Yosuke Kubozuka, also known as Manji Line. Manji = left-facing Swastika. To show my enthusiasm, I bought left-facing Swastika necklaces in Japan, but upon my return to Belgium, I soon realized I should be a bit less obvious of a fan...

I'm not taking anything personally; I'm judging from the perspective of the populace and the populace think Nazi, not Buddha.

Is that so??
srry then
I didnt know that about europe
atleast in this part of the world it is considered auspicious and brings good luck
actually the swastika was originally used in the Indus valley civilization by us Hindus,
its just that stupid hitler took it,rotated it counter clockwise,and bam Its the worlds most evil sign