tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post5203131993493504310..comments2024-03-28T11:33:16.271-05:00Comments on Adventus: Because some good times don't come as slow, and old times are sometimes quickly forgottenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-79072256542387767672015-06-24T17:31:03.135-05:002015-06-24T17:31:03.135-05:00I'd forgotten how popular the Iron Cross was. ...I'd forgotten how popular the Iron Cross was. Used to see it all the time, used not only as a racist symbol but just as a symbol of toughness, among elementary school kids. We were all, more or less, fascinated still with WWII, which had ended only 10 years before most of us were born. We grew up on the war movies of the '40's and 50's, and it was still a popular subject for movies into the '60's (I remember seeing "The Longest Day" at a movie theater. I think it came out in the '60's).<br /><br />But it was connected with racism, too. And then it just disappeared. The war became the Holocaust, and that was that. (Which is just how memory and history work, not a comment on how WWII should be remembered).<br /><br />Of course, much later Tom Brokaw came along to tell us our fathers and uncles were the "Greatest Generation." If he'd tried that when we were in elementary school, we'd have pulled his pants down at recess.<br /><br />Yeah, there was a lot of racist resentment in the 60's, and it wasn't all below the Mason-Dixon. Still isn't.Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9479398.post-87658096424310572202015-06-24T17:08:52.895-05:002015-06-24T17:08:52.895-05:00I think the extent to which that flag became a sym...I think the extent to which that flag became a symbol is due, in no small part, to its use outside of the Southern states. It is frequently seen on cars with the license plates from the most northern of states owned by people who have never been south of New York, if that far. That such people were, obviously, not using it as a "symbol of Southern heritage" couldn't be clearer, it was a symbol of racism. And it isn't the only one, quite often it was seen in association with such symbols as the Iron Cross, so it was also associated with German militarism and without any doubt, Nazism. I have found it pretty bizarre that some right-wing pundits who are Jewish and who are eager to see antisemitism everywhere, even among other Jews, seem to have missed that rather salient point. The use to which bigotry against one group, as a political tool, is quite likely to come bound up with bigotry against other groups. And the group you encourage hatred of for political purposes, just might turn out to be your own. Something that right-wing gay men and lesbians might consider if they were not, rather often, more interested in their identities as affluent class members than as members of widely despised minorities. Atheists, as well, promote hatred at their own risk. As do Christians and every other identity. The Thought Criminalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01381376556757084468noreply@blogger.com