Swastikas and context

To be fair, Swastika is considered very auspicious by Hindus.<p>Here in India, you'll see Swastikas everywhere. Till I grew up and read about Nazis, I never even knew that there was anything negative about the symbol. It's just a symmetric symbol and I don't see any reason for blocking that symbol.<p>The author might not agree with the political views of the Nazis but that is frankly not a reason to ban a symbol. To use the author's words, no one in the educated world would consider the Swastika as a purely Nazi symbol. Then, why block it for people who have other sentiments attached?<p>PS: Personally, I don't have any affinity to the swastika or any other symbol. My point is that its just a symmetric shape. Some people have positive feelings, some have negative, others have none at all. As a service provider, your duty is to cater to consumers without letting your personal preference mix.

"no educated human on the planet looks at the swastika symbol on a video game service in the year we make contact and says oh, that symbol has nothing at all in any way to do with global genocide of an entire race and, even if it did, one should totally and reasonably ignore that because it’s a symbol that was stolen or coop-ted from religions."<p>Really? no educated human? Well I guess I am an exception or at least was until I came to the US - because you see, I am educated and likely more highly educated than the author.<p>The author, most likely never having stepped outside the US, has no idea of the diversity of world sensitivities and cultures.<p>Does the author, for example, know of the Khmer Rouge symbol? I am educated and I didn't until I googled it.. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/79176.stm" rel="nofollow">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/79176.stm</a><p>So stop using the word "planet" for the west .

I don't know, the article seemed so badly reasoned from my perspective - a very narrow Western view. In my country (and in my religion) the Swastika is seen everywhere and it is no way used in relation to the Nazis at all. Ironically, the fact that it is such a hated symbol, I learned from the Internet. Maybe he's being reasonable because the target audience is indeed Western. Hmm. But from my seat, I find this really lame.

So if the Nazis had instead used the Holy Cross as their symbol, everyone (in the west) would be OK with banning it from churches and all forms of public display?

I found it hypocritical coming from an industry that very often relies on the entertainment values of random acts of violence.<p>"Look, in this game you can shoot people on the face as long as you don't wear any swastikas or call people 'fags' becaus then <i>that</i> would be wrong."

Lets look at this guys arguments closely, shall we.<p>&#62;It’s not political correctness, it’s fundamental respect.<p>It is narrow mindedness. And when you say its respect for some, it is disrespect for others ( <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Hinduism" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Hinduism</a> ). So your context is too narrow. In your high seat of judging other people, your views are shallow.<p>&#62;If you think the swastika symbol should be re-evaluated by societies all over the Earth, I think that’s great.<p>Good, you agree. But it seems you don't give a shit if it is.<p>&#62;Your Xbox LIVE profile or in game logo, which doesn’t have the context to explain your goal, is probably not the right place to do that.<p>Care to explain why? No. And what is the purpose of the LIVE profile or in game logo? And what if the Swastika actually has entirely different meaning in other places? Oh, places like these: <a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-IN/live" rel="nofollow">http://www.xbox.com/en-IN/live</a><p>&#62;And by the way, that doesn't just go for the Swastika, it applies to many other symbols as well that my team does indeed take action on when we see it.<p>Bother to list some? No. And how do you judge what to act upon? Is there an objective criterion? Or is the subjective criterion explained or listed somewhere?<p>&#62;Context.<p>Is unexplained, subjective, narrow minded, dogmatic, force-fed<p>&#62;Yes we can have the discussion in other venues about the double meaning of various terms, something my team does everyday.<p>Ah you want to show that you are considerate and well reasoned person. But that belies your shallow views and blind beliefs.<p>&#62;But for many topics, its kind of a no-brainer.<p>And this shows me your sheeple traits. No-brain-uh<p>&#62;<i>Context</i><p><i>Whatever</i>

There are many theories on this, its pretty well know that the swastika pre-dates Hitler by thousands of years. But some people think that he chose it because of something called the "Aryan Invasion" of India, of which some believe that one of the original ancient religious books now adopted by Hindus was written by the Aryans. There is evidence of the symbol not just in ancient Indian civilizations, but in ancient European as well and is thought to be carried through to India. But no one knows for sure, and no one knows exactly why Nazi/Hitler chose it.

Its an avatar for a war game series originally themed on WWII<p>Now sure, sometimes you can have an angular black swastika in a white circle on a red background in an entirely innocent context, even in Europe in the mid 20th century <a href="http://www.askaboutireland.ie/aai-files/assets/libraries/dublin-city-public-libraries/reading-room/transport/dartry-laundry-van-in-swastika-livery.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.askaboutireland.ie/aai-files/assets/libraries/dub...</a><p>But in a Western wargame? Sure, I'm sure most people wanting swastika avatars are kids trying to be controversial rather than active neo-Nazis promoting an ideology of hate, but I'd be reasonably confident none of them are doing it because it's an auspicious symbol in Hinduism.<p>Irrespective of whether permitting people to use Nazi symbols actually offends anyone playing a game where the objective is to shoot people, I'm not convinced there's a legitimate freedom-of-speech argument to be made about the avatars a private company chooses to bar from their services. I think censoring a few show-offs is probably an acceptable price to pay for the freedom to operate their services in Germany and it's legal intolerance of Nazi references. Perhaps the counterculture kids can pick hammer-and-sickles or Che Guevara instead....

First Amendment doesn't carry any weight on private territory. Business owners can boot rowdy loiterers. pg can ban people from here. I can squash trolls on my servers, and XBL can enforce arbitrary rules at will. You can have your freedom of expression, but you cannot graffiti it onto the side of my car.

<i>It’s not political correctness, it’s fundamental respect.</i><p>I think that's the battle cry of all those who enforce PC behavior.<p><i>UH OH! OUT COMES THE INTERNET PUNDITS! &#60;g&#62; ... Most of them are just contrarians. They would never dare to wear a swastika openly, but they love to argue about how the world has "misunderstood" this symbol.</i><p>The way I read this is as a criticism of people who do not hold a particular belief, but are defending the rights of others who do hold it. This seems completely contrary to the ideal attitude of "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

I am amused by his attempt to correct his info on the history but continuous to be belligerent. Note the symbol in question was the most pervasive religious symbol ever before it was adopted by a political party. If you beleve the cross was adapted from it then all the more respect. Of you remove one religious symbol than ban them all. I dot want to waste my time with this kind of thing but don't make it into am popularity contest. This should be about the game not ego.<p>PS thismis ome of the first web sites in months I could not read on my web pad due to bugs. What do you guys think this reveled?

People who get offended by geometric shapes have way too much time on their hands.