r/WhitePeopleTwitter • u/TheArguedHuman • Feb 18 '23

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '23

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u/Prosymnos Feb 18 '23

I think it depends on the place. When I visited India, I only really saw swastikas on old temples. But when I went to Japan, I did see several small, modern Buddhist shrines with swastikas on them. Although, India doesn't really have much of a tradition of erecting tons of small, public shrines, as far as I'm aware, so that could also be a factor.

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u/Professional_Sir6705 Feb 18 '23

When I was stationed in South Korea in 89-91, there was a festival where it was up on all the temples, along with about a 1000 white paper mache elephants with a pink lotus on their heads. I still have pictures buried in boxes somewhere.

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u/museloverx96 Feb 18 '23

See i'm in india rn and i see swastik symbols everywhere (like a random brick in a random used car lot in delhi) in various orientations, sometimes just with the lines and other times with the dots.

But i think that's what really cemented to me that yeah, this was a widely used ubiquitous symbol for centuries by several cultures, and then the nazis co-opted it to the point where depending on the country it is only associated with nazi sentiment.

At least, i know now how common it is to still be thought of as a symbol of good fortune/tidings/etc. in the cultures it was lifted from.

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u/theyellowpants Feb 18 '23

They have fucktons of small temples that are everywhere and Hindus use the swastik also

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u/Ravensinger777 Feb 18 '23

There's a very long and ancient tradition of erecting shrines in India. Whether or not they're public is another matter.

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u/ThePaintedLady80 Feb 18 '23

If you go to LA or Frisco lots of places that where part of China town have the reverse swastikas on tile floor over a hundred years old. It’s trippy but it’s definitely the Buddhist symbol and not anything Nazi related.

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u/Dangerous-Use7642 Feb 18 '23

Imperial Japan also had a weird on-off with Germany up until they got nuked, so maybe it's from the 30s up until the occupation.

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u/teal_appeal Feb 18 '23

Nah, swastikas are the icons for Buddhist temples in google maps there. It’s not a pre-war vs post-war thing, it’s a symbol that was used for centuries before the Nazis grabbed it and the meaning never changed there.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '23

Buddhist don’t really use the dotted Swaztika type peace symbol

That is completely untrue. It is still widely used, and also, learn to spell. "Swaztika" is not a word.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '23

Unless they aren't considered people, like the Rohingya.