This is the crux of why the hullaballoo about the Confederate Battle Flag bugs me.
Symbols, being mutable, can mean different things to different people.
Swastikas are the ur-example.
What I wonder though, is why A person, offended by A meaning of a symbol, may demand and receive censure of that symbol irregardless of other meanings for that symbol.
The CBF is pregnant with diverse meaning, yet it doesn't matter what the person displaying this symbol means with their display if ever it was used to symbolize today's popular offense?
Am I getting this right?
Because if the offended get to define the reason someone has displayed a "symbol of hate" MRC/Tamiya, Monogram, Revell, Testors, Dragon and Hasegawa have been actively recruiting for the National Socialist German Worker's Party for decades and millions of scale model builders have been promoting the final solution to the Jewish problem with the assembly of every model ship, plane or tank.
Hang on, lemme guess, "but that's different," right?
No. It's the same.
The difference is my building and owning a 1/35 scale Panther doesn't make anyone accuse me of being a disciple of Hitler.
It's assumptions.
It's sad because the people who actually made the CBF a symbol of racism are the very party most associated with the most active in attempting to ban it. I think it makes sense that they would, because the "Southern Pride" folks, who aren't racists, were successfully taking the symbol back!
Makes it seem more like a trademark dispute, doesn't it?
Symbols, being mutable, can mean different things to different people.
Swastikas are the ur-example.
What I wonder though, is why A person, offended by A meaning of a symbol, may demand and receive censure of that symbol irregardless of other meanings for that symbol.
The CBF is pregnant with diverse meaning, yet it doesn't matter what the person displaying this symbol means with their display if ever it was used to symbolize today's popular offense?
Am I getting this right?
Because if the offended get to define the reason someone has displayed a "symbol of hate" MRC/Tamiya, Monogram, Revell, Testors, Dragon and Hasegawa have been actively recruiting for the National Socialist German Worker's Party for decades and millions of scale model builders have been promoting the final solution to the Jewish problem with the assembly of every model ship, plane or tank.
Hang on, lemme guess, "but that's different," right?
No. It's the same.
The difference is my building and owning a 1/35 scale Panther doesn't make anyone accuse me of being a disciple of Hitler.
It's assumptions.
It's sad because the people who actually made the CBF a symbol of racism are the very party most associated with the most active in attempting to ban it. I think it makes sense that they would, because the "Southern Pride" folks, who aren't racists, were successfully taking the symbol back!
Makes it seem more like a trademark dispute, doesn't it?