I was perusing the conspiracy sites yesterday for some entertainment, when i stumbled onto something so obviously disprovable that i had to see for myself. to my astonishment there it was. A swastika overlaying a cross, surrounded by what looked like strange patterns and shapes. After looking for a while myself and continuing to read the conspiricist’s blogs, I believe this is just an elaborate bombing practice range. A ship with gun placements to the north, a factory to the east, a pillbox in the west and a tank in the south-west, all roughly equidistant from what appears to be a most recognizable symbol of the enemy. I would love to find out however what exactly it is. The co-ordinates are 33.206278,-103.584820. switch Google Maps to satellite and there you go. I am not great with computers so i would appreciate if somebody who is who posts a reply might put a link or the pic on here. cheers
Swastikas are common design motifs, and this isn’t even a Nazi swastika (it’s reversed) so that leaves them out. Which is rather sad, really, because they add such a nice flavor to conspiracy theories. It’s also not a very good cross, or at least a bent tip isn’t very aesthetically pleasing in a cross.
It’s a Hindu peace symbol, it’s a Chinese symbol (also meaning ‘peace’), it’s called a manji in Japan and signifies good fortune, I think it’s also a Hebrew symbol, as well as many, many others.
It’s such a simple design that it crops up in a lot of civilisations. Sadly it’s now marred beyond all repair.
Shame. I do know that Hitler got it from the Hindus though, since he somehow got it into his thick skull that the Hindu belief system went along with his own (something about the caste system, I believe). I also believe that’s where he got the concept of the “Aryan Nation”
(I learned this roughly two or three years ago, so if I’m wrong I apologize. ^^;)
Shame. I do know that Hitler got it from the Hindus though, since he somehow got it into his thick skull that the Hindu belief system went along with his own (something about the caste system, I believe). I also believe that’s where he got the concept of the “Aryan Nation”
(I learned this roughly two or three years ago, so if I’m wrong I apologize. ^^;)
The Aryan people influenced the Indians. And Hitler pretty much invented his own version of the Aryans and so he went ahead and took the swastika, which was a symbol common among Aryans. So he can be sort of said to have taken the idea from the Hindus, since there isn’t really an Aryan culture around to take it from directly.
Yeah, I remember that (I remembered my 10th grade history! WHOO!).
I guess the symbol’s symmetric, so it appeals to the whole “balance of the universe” concepts.
I found this Christian website once that had a section on symbols in other religions. It was alright, but whoever made it clearly didn’t have a clue about some of those things (she put down the “peace” symbol, where your thumb, index finger, and pinkie are up, and said that it was some sign of the devil). Personally I think that if you’re going to make a page of symbols, you should be sure to get it done properly. Anyway, she also put down the swastika and had about three variations of it and they ALL indicated that it came from the Nazis. Nothing about the Hindu background. I wanted to e-mail her to tell her about it, but I couldn’t find contact information.
I found this Christian website once that had a section on symbols in other religions. It was alright, but whoever made it clearly didn’t have a clue about some of those things (she put down the “peace” symbol, where your thumb, index finger, and pinkie are up, and said that it was some sign of the devil). Personally I think that if you’re going to make a page of symbols, you should be sure to get it done properly. Anyway, she also put down the swastika and had about three variations of it and they ALL indicated that it came from the Nazis. Nothing about the Hindu background. I wanted to e-mail her to tell her about it, but I couldn’t find contact information.
That’s the problem with symbols: by definition, they have no intrinsic meaning themselves. They’re just forms that exist and to which people arbitrarily attach meanings. So most symbols have many, many meanings, and none of those meanings have to be at all related to each other. And the simpler the symbol, the more often it is likely to be used and the more diverse meanings it has. Just look at the circle, for example, or the colour white.
