On Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:46:13 -0000, CWO4 Dave Mann wrote:

Peter Hucker wrote:
On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:39:13 -0000, CWO4 Dave Mann wrote:

Mitchell Holman wrote:

Interesting note for the Germans: The Nazi Hakenkreuz (Swastika) has
been crudely photoshopped out of this picture so that it will be "legal"
to have, display and send/receive in Germany.

I am not belabouring the German people here, just making an observation.

Cheers,

Dave

You can't send/receive a swastika in Germany? That's a little childish.




I seem to recall that it is due to a law which first regulated Nazi-era
souvenirs. But, there was concern by the Germans about the burgeoning
neo-Nazi groups which flourished in the old East Germany after the
Reunification.

An example is eBay.de -- the German eBay system. Nazi-"anything" are
not allowed on that system. There was a lawsuit a few years back, but I
dis-remember the details.

I suppose we could look at it from several views:

1. It is the result of Political Correctness gone mad in a world
already insane.

2. It is a cloying Government technique to stifle free speech -- which
is not guaranteed by the German constitution anyway.

3. It is a reaction to the rebirth of the Nationalist Socialist Workers
Movement (Nazi Party) in modern day uniforms but in 1930's style jack boots.

4. It is a sop to the leftists of Germany whose goal may be to convert
Germany to a Socialist state and want to remove the Hitler times from
the history books.

5. It is due to pressure from the Jewish Rulers of the World -- a Ukase
issued from the secret Fortress of International Jewry located near
Mount Ararat in a cave.

6. It is a legitimate but ill-thought-out attempt by government censors
to limit exposure of modern day Germans to Nazi idealization.

7. Erasing the Swastika from historical images is required by law ..
eventually there will be no-one alive who remembers and it will be "old
history" anyway that nobody studies because they are too busy
demonstrating against something.

As a historian, I think it is unwise to elimiate images which may
offend. Look at the re-creation of history and historical pictures
which took place under the regimes of Stalin and Hitler and the
manipulation of historically important facts such as FDR's paralysis and
the fact that he was wheel-chair-bound ...

Would you believe that it is only in the 1990's that a statue of FDR
showing him in his wheel chair was "allowed" to be made and placed in a
national historical park? Something like that denies the existance of
Polio and more importantly the fortitude of Roosevelt in overcoming his
mobility impairment.

Removing the swastika and make the Seig arm salute illegal in Germany
simply removed one more link to an already distorted view of history.

Travel to any German city today and try to find the local Synagogue.
Naturally there are none, but you will find only a small brass plaque
which has some simplistic words such as "here was the location of the
Jewish Congregation of Beth-Israel which existed from 1525 to 1938 and
which was destroyed by the Nazi government in World War Two." That
statement leaves a whole bunch of history out, to be sure. Somewhere
along the line "Never Again" becomes lost to the casual on-looker, Jew
or non-Jew alike.

I've meandered along here, but the bottom line is that once freedom of
speech and expression becomes constricted or restricted, it is a very
slippery downhill slope.

That slippery slope conundrum is one reason that I, a veteran of 30
years military service, two wars and with a purple heart to show for it
was not in favor of the flag burning amendment. As obnoxious as I find
the maltreatment of Old Glory, once the law says a person cannon express
themselves by defacing Her, then what will the next step be? How about
"Speaking Out Against the Policies of the Government".

That should give you chills.

Meanwhile,

Cheers,

Dave

Agreed on all counts. Well put.


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Thought for the Day:
The Bible teaches us to love your neighbour, and the Kama Sutra explains how.