Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Nazi?

I was riding my bike back from working out and swimming today.  As I drove past ISB, I saw a Thai man who had a cloth over his head.  It was the size of a large handkerchief.  What really caught my attention was that there was a large black swastika in a white circle surrounded by a red background.  I know that it has had different meanings in the past before the Nazi's appropriated it for their own use.  When I was in Hong Kong, there was a swastika on the chest of one of the Buddhist statues. 

This cloth, however, was not of ancient origin.  It looked pretty new and clean, which means it probably was manufactured fairly recently.  I wonder if the Thai person using this to keep the sun off his head had any idea of what it symbolized and what people might think if they saw it.  Actually, I'm certain he wasn't making a political statement, and if he knew what it meant, that he didn't think it would bother anyone. 

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