The wrong signals to send to young visitors.

I agree with you John, except the "most" part in your email. If you
meant most in the sense of who is talking, may be you are correct, but
in the sense of majority (given the Hindu and Buddhist population
around the world "most" people perceive the Swastika as good.

The absence of proselytism in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other
variants makes the followers keep their affairs to themselves. This
has the undesired side effect that when a part of the world starts to
see their symbol as evil, they do not step up to drive the ignorance
away.

Sad.
Deep

"John T" wrote in message ews.com...
"Deep Darr" wrote in message
om

Swastika is used by many cultures and religions in the world. It has
been used by Hindus and Buddhists way before the Nazis adopted it.

Even Native Americans...

It is a deeply revered symbol of progress & continuity of life.
Associating it with evil is only a sign of ignorance.

True. It's a shame that such symbols are perverted by those adopting them
for their own ends, but we have to live with the fact that "perception is
reality" and most people "perceive" the swastika as a symbol of evil. There
are other very visible examples of this...misperception.

"Deep Darr" wrote in message
om

I agree with you John, except the "most" part in your email. If you
meant most in the sense of who is talking, may be you are correct, but
in the sense of majority (given the Hindu and Buddhist population
around the world "most" people perceive the Swastika as good.

Good catch. I was using the term (admittedly narrowly) in reference to
Americans and Europeans - most of whom seem to link the swastika with
nothing but Nazi Germany.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
____________________

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 23:37:26 GMT, "John T" wrote:

Good catch. I was using the term (admittedly narrowly) in reference to
Americans and Europeans - most of whom seem to link the swastika with
nothing but Nazi Germany.

The Nazi context is the only context I'd seen the swastika in for the
first 25 years of my life. If there are other contexts, they're not
widely known in the U.S.

Rob

--
[You] don't make your kids P.C.-proof by keeping them
ignorant, you do it by helping them learn how to
educate themselves.

-- Orson Scott Card

Thanks for your post, Robert. This is exactly the point I was making
-The narrow-minded and shallow thinking of the European culture.

For just this example, the Nazis adopted the Swastika in the 20th
century while it has been a symbol of "good," not bad, for at least 3
millennia on this planet.

For the inquisitive minds, just do a search on "Swastika" on google
and you'll find more depth than the street knowledge of "bad stuff".
You'll still be just scratching the surface of the good heritage of
old civilization that gave the world a lot of invaluable things like
meditation, yoga and more.

Peace,
Deep.



Robert Perkins wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 23:37:26 GMT, "John T" wrote:

Good catch. I was using the term (admittedly narrowly) in reference to
Americans and Europeans - most of whom seem to link the swastika with
nothing but Nazi Germany.

The Nazi context is the only context I'd seen the swastika in for the
first 25 years of my life. If there are other contexts, they're not
widely known in the U.S.

Rob