After the Civil War the leaders should have been rounded up and hung, even Lee as he knew the war was lost after Gettysburg and fought on bringing more death. And I, technically qualify as a son of the confederacy (great grandpa Eli Greer). All confederate flags should have been banned. And the idiots flying the flag of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia have no concept of history and heritage.

@Beowulfsfriend Exactly. Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis. Firing squad.

@Beowulfsfriend did you know the Confederate flag was invented After the Civil War to symbolize suppression of blacks by the KKK? Google it! Heritage, my ass!

@AnneWimsey the "so called confederate" flag was actually the battle flag of Lee's Army. It was symbolized by the KKK for intimidation. I often ask thise folks wearing "Its heritage you wouldn't understand" real heritage questions. None have done very well. Few even know why there are 13 stars. I've even gotten the "slap your face" stupid, "original 13 colonies. " Most guess the states that rebelled and when I say there were 11 states, they have no idea.

Gays, Romany, the afflicted both physically & mentally, journalists, dissenters (later) Catholics, and on & on.....

Thank you for your dad's service!

I was watching an Indian movie on Netflix a week or two ago and saw a swastika on a little Indian girl. I thought "What the hell is that??" I guess it has a totally different meaning than the one we are accustomed to.

@Paddypereira

It's irrelevant that Hindus have a similar symbol. The German Nazis were evil incarnate.

Number of Holocaust Deaths

The following statistics are from the U.S. National Holocaust Museum. As more information and records are uncovered, it is likely that these numbers will change. All numbers are approximate.

6 million Jews
5.7 million Soviet civilians (an additional 1.3 Soviet Jewish civilians are included in the 6 million figure for Jews)
3 million Soviet prisoners of war (including about 50,000 Jewish soldiers)
1.9 million Polish civilians (non-Jewish)
312,000 Serb civilians
Up to 250,000 people with disabilities
Up to 250,000 Roma
1,900 Jehovah's Witnesses

At least 70,000 repeat criminal offenders and "asocials"
An undetermined number of German political opponents and activists.
Hundreds or thousands of homosexuals (might be included in the 70,000 repeat criminal offenders and "asocials" number above).

[thoughtco.com]

@LiterateHiker, I agree with you about the nazis. Unfortunately they adopted a swastika as their symbol and it's a shame they desecrated a symbol that has a different meaning than people associated it with. You didn't have to show me numbers, history speaks for itself. In Portugal, the nationalists/neo-nazis adopted a Celtic cross as their symbol and a friend of mine gave me a necklace with a Celtic cross, a workmate of mine called it a "Nazi cross". If someone doesn't know about these things and would come to Ireland, where that kind of cross can be seen in almost every grave and would call the Irish nazis. Unfortunately, in the western world, the swastika better known is considered a nazi symbol.

The Nazis had the Hakenkreuz the swastika is a Sanskrit word.

I also though all my life up to now that it was a Hindu sign which Hitler stole from India. I mentioned this in our local telegram group but another guy proved me wrong.

[bbc.com]

...or perhaps the truth has been twisted over the years?

I do not give them any validity, and I do not believe that it is a worthwhile "price we all have to pay for maintenance and protection of our freedom to express our opinion." Certain "opinions" are so malignant and viral they should be driven out. By giving them the status of "well, all opinions must be respected" we become complicit in its spread.

We are mis-educated and uneducated society precisely because we are led to believe in the mis-informed idea of "freedom of speech," that is, "everyone is entitled to their opinion and all opinions are valid." That's not what it meant. It was meant to protect against the governmental monopoly and misuse of its power to regulate information for authoritarian purposes.

We as citizens should not be required to tolerate fascism for the sake of "freedom of speech." We should counter them with all the objections and oppositions that we can muster. We should let them know that they are not welcome in any manner shape or form.

@AtheistReader
I agree and we have freedom of speech too, speech we can use to call out these animals out for what they are.
The only thing good about our time is that the stingy racist that have been running everything are being called out for their shit, we can't let up now. They need us more than we need them and all we need to do is act in our own best interest which is to demand better treatment and competence in office.

@AtheistReader There are already narrowly defined limits of free speech. But as soon as you claim the right to censure others' offensive speech, others will claim the right to censure yours. It is a slippery slope. No, we do not have to "respect" vile speech. We just have to respect people's right to it while also vigorously exercising our right to counter that speech. In the end, censorship nearly always backfires. We don't have to hand someone a metaphorical megaphone of a big platform to spout their bigotey, but it is importantant to know when people are holding destructive thoughts. Rest assured, others are sharing those ideas, and unless they are spoken, we have a very slim likelihood of countering them.
It is NOT tolerance of fascism. It is about confronting it in the open, instead of letting it spread in the shadows.

@AtheistReader ...that is EXACTLY what it meant. The understanding has been lost via misinformation, revisionism and undermining of education.

They've always been here

@barjoe Openly marching in the streets, carrying torches, identifying themselves with chants on the news? I must have missed that. Either way, why did we stop hunting them down to kill them?

@JeffMurray Nazis were always in this country. Major players. Henry Ford. Chances Lindbergh. Prescott Bush (George HW Bush dad) NYGov Harriman, Allen Dulles, Fred Trump, lots of Nazis were here. They've never left. [teenvogue.com]

The point to understand is that humans need scapegoats to blame for their troubles. For instance, why should the Bible consider gays "an abomination". They're a convenient scapegoat because they don't reproduce.

@barjoe And let’s not forget the many German-Americans who claimed Volksdeutsche status and went to the Fatherland to fight for National Socialism.

@The-Krzyz didn't know much about that

@barjoe Okay, why aren't we always killing them?

@JeffMurray Go ahead. You go out on the street and kill people.

@barjoe I don't mean we individual citizens.

I don't know who String is but his line should read, "SOME people learn nothing from history." A much better true statement is that of George Santayana of Harvard, "Those who neglect to learn from history are bound to repeat it."

@Aristippus lol, "Sting," not "string." Former lead singer of the eighties group "The Police." It is the title of a solo song very obviously with the message that we ignore the lessons of history at our own peril, but over and over again, people in power ignore those lessons.

@Aristippus

@MikeInBatonRouge I very rarely listen to pop music. Unless the group or soloist has at least four years of study in a conservatory, why should we be listening to them and not them listening to us.

@Aristippus whatever. There is musical genius in all kinds of genres. I love some classical music, especially piano masters Chopin and Rachmaninoff, but there are all degrees of quality in performers there, too. I like music, not all of it, but some from many genres.
Sting is a brilliant lyricist. He has a degree in education. If you listen to a fair sampling of his songs, there is an obvious love of English language demonstrated there.

@MikeInBatonRouge Rachmaninoff wrote one of the most erotic movements I ever heard in my 70 years of study. He lived through the Russian Revolution, WWI and WWII. He saw a lot of life.

What events did Sting live through? -- and please give an example of what you consider "musical genius." Here's what I referenced in this first sentence.

Here's a work a I consider a work of genius. In the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth he predicts the outbreak of the Russian Revolution twenty years later. At the time he wrote it, 1893, Russia was one of the poorest countries in the world. The peasants were called surfs. Read Dostoevsky to get a description.

Many of today's pop artists are, like TV sit-com millionaire stars, just taking advantage of the dumbing down of the American public by the corporate elite.

Beethoven told us "music takes over where words fail." Can you give an example of Sting doing the same.

@Aristippus Good grief!! We belabor a point here and take this thread on a tangent far from its message about anti-Semitism. I absolutely agree about Rachmanninov. Chopin similarly sought to rescue his beloved Poland from tyranny, and took some risks to that end, although his life experience was not as broad, not even nearly as broad as Sting's. He nevertheless became a vital symbol of national pride for Poland. You don't have to diminish one person to lift another up.

By your own admission, you rarely listen to popular music, so why would you imply you know enough about it to disrespect a particular musician. Don't be a putz. Just educate youself. BTW, MUSICAL genuis does not necessarily depend on life experience. Look at Mozart, for example, or other child prodigies.

But not to denigrate any musical writer, only to offer a primer on Sting, if you can "lower" your nose enough to care, Sting, in addition to a rennaisance interest in many musical influences, including various world music, classical, musical theatre, and jazz, and receiving an abundance of awards and honors around the world, importantly for relevance to issues of ethnic hate and prejudice, he also cares about human rights, justice, and protecting the planet and has been an activist throughout his career.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

@Aristippus I realized I didn't directly answer your request to define "musical genius." I won't. Music is inherently subjective. What moves one person may bore another. It is pointless for me to try to "prove" genius to you, because you will always have the option of rejecting evidence. I don't pretend to have any claim to much of an informed opinion of examples of hip hop genius, for example. But I trust there is true creativity and brilliance in some of its writers and performers. If Quincy Jones sees genius, who am I to negate anything. I can only declare what speaks to me. With that idea, please consider the enormous list of accolades Sting has received, and don't think your own disinterest counts for much where he is concerned.

@K9Kohle789 Both symbols make me sick. I live in Tennessee, too, and I am constantly sickened by Confederate flags.

I think most understand that, but I am pretty sure rednecks with guns, Confederate flags & swastikas have pretty different ideas......

@Allamanda OP, sorry what is OP?

People get far too worked up over symbolism, and are far too docile in the face of clear and present tyranny.

Diversionary tactics.

@K9Kohle789 Yes but if you go to Asia, most people have no clue about Hitler and the swastika there.

It's also people's right to be offended. Acting like Nazis? like....play acting? Theatrical acting? Walk in the park acting? I'm not understanding the act part.

@twill Hmmm... I don't understand the confusion. "Walk in the park acting"?? These people yelling at her to take off the arm band and actually attacking her physically are not "play acting". The Nazis in Germany in the 40s went around harassing Jewish people like these people in this video are harassing her.. In that sense, these people in the video are acting like the Nazis in 1940s Germany.. So yes, I agree with you in that these people have the right to be offended by her arm band, but that doesn't give them the right to attack her for it. Not here in America that is.. That arm band is a form of speech just like a flag hanging on your front porch, or a sign you carry at a rally.. Our first amendment assures her right to wear that arm band without being attacked like that, especially there on her front porch.

@Captain_Feelgood The harassment was more likely done in the 30's. By the 40's, there was systematic death.
I guess when we have systematic death here, I will walk back the play acting comment.

@twill Pfffft... okay.. the 30s then. That has nothing to do with the point and you know it.... Just curious, do you not think the amount of gang related killings in our large cities systematic deaths? You can start walking now..

culturally Jewish

Ignorance is disclosed in rejection of the concept that human rights are a birthright beyond the authority of government to abridge. One need not subscribe to a theology to agree with that watershed, revolutionary principle that freed and continues to shield so many millions from 'old world style' centralized power and, therefore, tyranny.

@Silver1wun Human rights are not a birthright. The concept of human rights changes as our society changes. Morality does this also.

Chill dude. I didnt block you. I just deleted my commentb because there are many cultures that have swastikas, not just my culture. I felt I was being insensitive to those cultures. If the OP wants to perpetuate and support Hitler's desire to associate the swastika with his Nazism, and helping antisemites embrace the swastika, thats on him.

About your question, there are many kinds of swastikas, dots, no dots, tails, no tails, reverse, etc. Just do a google image search. In the temple at my ancestors home there are no dots on the swastika.

@MakeItGood
First of all I'm not a dude! Secondly I was the one who sent you the link to inform you that it's not "owned" by India. There was no need to delete your comment. We all gain knowledge and benefit from this site. Stay well.

@TimeOutForMe What link? I never one.

@MakeItGood don't act stupid. You and I know that after reading my response with the link I provided, you deleted your response which was Indian-bias, which deleted my response. damnnn I cannot believe you're so shady. Goodbye.

@TimeOutForMe i think you mean ignorant, lol wow you have a lot of emotions invested in message posting...not very healthy. Need to chill, man.

honestly, i had no idea you even attached a link. I do remember responding to you, and it was in writing that response (which is close to the first part what I wrote above) that I realized that my original argument was flawed. So I deleted it. Sorry yours got deleted too, but beyond my control. Maybe talk with the App developers to keep response posts?

@MakeItGood
You're twisting your shadiness. Your shady-ness, Yes! Shady being an acceptable English language term. Ignorance is an understatement regarding your actions. Your Shady character is much worse than just being ignorant. You're such twit.
Goodbye

It's quite normal for someone to be Jewish (ethnicity, culture, tradition,) while also being atheist or agnostic (beliefs, or lack thereof). Back when I occasionally attended the synagogue, I'd have guessed that roughly half the people there fit that description.

The Nazis would've grabbed him and he'd say "but I'm an atheist" oh never mind, Right! I don't think so. Ethnic Jew who doesn't believe.

@barjoe since Jews do not believe in Heaven or Hell, it is pretty normal for them to live as if they are agnostics.....

@Allamanda

Okay, Karen.

@AmyTheBruce

Your take is the best one that I have heard. However, the ethnicity, culture and tradition are that of a religious cult.

I will entertain these cultural claims only from those who denounce modern day israel as stolen land from the indigenous people through continued war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I am the original poster and it is a shame the responses have all been hijacked to a referendum of something else. But you sir are part of the problem. What does being Jewish have to do with being in here.

@AnneWimsey
@SCal
but then I can say the same about Hindus who don't believe in heaven and hell, but rather an after life called reincarnation. Both Hindus and Jews have a religion regardless and doesn't make them agnostic. It's all still the same "holy book garbage".

@bklynite53 The name of this site is agnostic.com

What did you expect after posting that WOO?

I like that alot and your father is a hero

@bklynite53 He wouldve told you he wasnt.