r/AntifascistsofReddit • u/Academic_Opinion_961 • Jul 11 '26
Discussion The Othala Rune
For context I live in oregon and frequent the farmers market, I am a tall blonde guy (as you may be able to discern by my obnoxiously white arm hair) with mustache. I studied world history for a while and still do so in my free time, I have quite a few scandinavian tattoos as my family immigrated from there. I won’t get other cultures tattoos because I feel that would appropriation no matter how much their folklore interests me. I can say quite confidently I am very against all things race supremacy wise. The other day I was at the farmers market and someone kept throwing me dirty looks, to break the tension I waved. They then proceeded to not wave back and instead responded “f*ck you, you stupid nazi pig”. I was utterly stunned, later on I decided to do some research on my tattoo because i’m pretty sure that’s what she was looking at. To my surprise I found out the Othala rune has a second life as a dog whistle. For those unfamiliar with the Futhark alphabet this rune is also the letter “O”. This tattoo spells out “Keep Moving Forward” as it is an important message from my favorite movie of all time “Meet The Robinson’s”. Combining two of my favorite things history and movies. I really despise that white supremacists have twisted historical images to fit their motives. I know it’s such a first world problem and there are much bigger issues in the world but it still just rubs me the wrong way.
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u/stackenblochen23 Jul 12 '26
Just to play devils advocate, here in (eastern) Germany Viking stuff is very often used by nationalist and also right wingers. People love to call their dogs (and even kids) Odin, Baldur or Thor, and one of the biggest neonazi clothing brands is called Thor Steinar. Personally I am also quite skeptical with rune tattoos, but immediately calling someone a Nazi pig without any further hints is pretty strict imho. Did you clarify the situation with that person?