Well, I've gotta say, by being a swastika fan you may have out contraried the contrarians. You get your curmudgeonly gold star of the week.
1) I agree that the swastika is an elegant-looking symbol. It is too bad the Nazis adopted it, because I can't get past my mental images of Hitler standing in front of swastika flags. I am quite certain I will never get over that prejudice of mine. 2) I almost got married in the Baha'i temple in Wilmette. It was down the street from my ex wife's house and loaded with beautiful gardens, an extraordinary setting. Unfortunately, they didn't like my planned ceremony because it was too Christian for them, so we went elsewhere. I don't remember any swastikas there, but I wasn't looking. The gardens were my primary interest. Also, my interest in Baha'i went out the window at this time. I thought their position about my ceremony was contrary to the tenants of the Baha'i faith which supports spiritual unity. Admittedly, my ceremony leaned most heavily on Jesus (a Baha'i-recognized spiritual messenger), but I thought this should have been acceptable to the Baha'i administrators in Wilmette. 3) I've seen your Native American swastikas. Why don't you start calling the darn things by the Native American name? I might be able to get over my unshakable prejudice against them (see 1). Chris _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2010 11:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RC] why the interest ? Terrific question, Chris There is a fairly straight-forward reason, or set of reasons. ( 1 ) I am an artist --and art historian in my spare time. The beauty of the symbol cannot be ignored, which I think is an objective statement. At a minimum it is an unforgettable visual symbol. But as an art historian there is no way in heck not to see the symbol repeatedly in numerous contexts, and with the exception of the 1925 - 1945 era, all such imagery is non-Nazi. No way at all that I can disown all of that. Quite the opposite At some point I asked myself, what can I do to try and explain this to others ? ( 2 ) Probably the start of things was way back when I was still 17 and first became interested in the Baha'i Faith. Sure, I left the religion in 1972, but for 13 years it was part of my life. And there is a swastika displayed prominently in the ornamentation of the Baha'i temple in Wilmette. That made me curious. For quite a while I didn't dig too deeply into the subject, but it sort of grew on me. Especially considering Chicago >From the time I was still in grade school I went to the main public library downtown. Even then I noticed the swastikas in the tilework. But Chicago has all sorts of swastikas from the past. ( 3 ) Still other things but what "sealed the deal" was the time I lived in Albuquerque, NM, which is loaded with swastikas, a result of widespread use on the part of SW Indians I mean, they are all over the place, and unless someone is completely out of it, it is impossible not to see them. There is one other reason to add. Hey, I like being a contrarian. Whatever the herd thinks, I prefer to think the opposite. Well, OK, not about all things, but you get the idea. And becoming a swastika expert, aha, now I can REALLY be a contrarian, and out-contrary all the other contrarians. You may wonder about me more than ever now, but you did ask. Billy ================================================== In a message dated 1/16/2010 10:10:31 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Interesting event Billy. By default you won the debate because the Nazi guy walked out of the debate. I have seen your broad defense of the swastika for quite a while. It is obvious that it is a symbol that has been in use in many venues that have nothing at all to with the Nazis, what I have never figured out is why you have adopted the swastika cause? Why are swastikas important to you? Chris
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