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So, there is this German politician who apparently thinks that it would be a grand idea that the rest of Europe followed Germany´s example and banned the symbols used by the Nazis. Now, don´t get me wrong, I dislike nazism as much as I dislike any other -ism that seems focused on hate, but this is probably one of the stupidest ideas I have heard in a while. Let´s not talk about the whole banning for freedom thing, and just consider the actual symbols in question - for instance, the swastika. Yes, the Nazis used it - but it is also used as a very positive symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism, and was in it day even used Christians to some small degree (just like every other symbol that vaguely resembled a cross), just to mention a few examples. Now, banning the swastika will not stop nazism - rather I would assume that the people so inclined will just find themselves some new symbols, perhaps variations on the old ones just that much different that they are legal - but it will not exactly be a good thing for other people using it, now, will it? And then there are all of those abbreviations, like SS - which might mean steam ship or something else. Truth be told, I somehow doubt that there is a single symbol in the history of mankind that has only one meaning - rather, some of them might well have meanings that differ greatly - so why make it law that the negative interpretation is the one that people have to remember? Yes, the horrors of the Holocaust is something we must not forget, ever, and the people spreading that kind and similar kinds of hates should be stopped somehow, but banning symbols? That seems to me like its just - I don´t know - letting the bad guys win, somehow... making them bigger than they deserve to be. Why focus on all the bad stuff, all the time? Why....? Is mankind really so bad, that all we can see are the darkness...
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