• Thorned_Rose@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    I’m confused. I have Scandinavian ancestry and understand that some of the cultural identity was appropriated by Nazis and now some extremist fuck wits. e.g. how the Hindu swastika (also often confused with sauvastika) was appropriated. But I don’t understand why that means appropriated symbols automatically = bad if they’re used in their original context?

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      The main issue is that ϟϟ was both totally irrelevant to the topic besides being vaguely Slavic, and also literally the logo for the SS. In the modern day, that is its only connotation. It’s not in its original context, it’s just random runes thrown together

      • Thorned_Rose@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        I’m asking both specifically about the GOG thing but also more generally. Yes, I know the SS appropriated runes for tgwit logo but I still don’t see how that automatically makes runes themselves bad. I can understand how it would be triggering for some folks and so a level of sensitivity is required (which GOG clearly failed on) but I still don’t get how appropriated symbols automatically = bad (because I’ve seen the same reactions to other ancient symbols over and over again and I’m still trying to understand it)

        • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          It’s bad because the SS appropriated it and stripped all other meaning from it. It’s like using the number 1488 in a username. It only means one thing, and while it’s possible to stumble into it by accident, it remains a white supremacist dogwhistle

          • BigTechMustBurn@lemmy.ml
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            7 hours ago

            So if someone made an account 20 years ago ending with 88, like say if you were born in 1988, should they now delete their account just because someone might misconstrue it as a completely unrelated “dogwhistle”?

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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              2 hours ago

              Okay, but lets compare this to using runes.

              As you’ve pointed out, there is an innocent explanation for someone using 88. It could be an honest mistake, there are people (usually whites who aren’t endangered by Nazi ideology) that aren’t tuned-in enough to know about common Nazi dogwhistles.

              There’s no honest mistake in using the double sowilo runes. No innocent explanation.

              • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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                1 hour ago

                There is one innocent explanation, with a big caveat: some child-left-behind in marketing googled “Slavic emojis” and found this page, and clicked on a few random ones, not knowing about the connotations some of them have.

                Caveat: they didn’t send the email in Germany, so someone knew it was nazi shit and sent it anyway

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                  58 minutes ago

                  Not even, because they used two, side-by-side.

                  The comedy of errors that would be required to explain it innocently would be an Adult Swim sketch.

                  • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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                    55 minutes ago

                    Yeah, the two together is one of the options on there. For the same reason that some search queries return those runes with a 1488 appended

            • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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              4 hours ago

              There’s no misconstruing, 1488 is a nazi dogwhistle whether someone intends it to be or not. If your username includes that number, you should delete that account and make a different one, because people are gonna treat you like a nazi.

              Just using 88 is slightly less unacceptable, but the same thing applies; if your username includes that number, people are going to treat you like you’re a nazi.

              ϟϟ has exactly one meaning in the modern day. You can use those runes without knowing that meaning, but that meaning is still there. It is nazi symbolism whether you intend your use of it to be or not.

              • BigTechMustBurn@lemmy.ml
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                2 hours ago

                Yeah, I’ll go tell all my friends and relatives who were born in 1988 and wanted a specific username which were already taken and used (or even if they have a name and surname that’s already taken) and added 88 as an affix since it’s the year they were born in (as people have been doing for decades on the internet) that they are now all Nazis.

                Seems pretty obtuse.

                • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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                  2 hours ago

                  they are now all Nazis

                  Well that’s not what I said, is it? My favorite thing about Lemmings is that none of you can read. Do you maybe want to try this one again? I’ll give you a free redo

                  • BigTechMustBurn@lemmy.ml
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                    1 hour ago

                    Just using 88 is slightly less unacceptable, but the same thing applies; if your username includes that number, people are going to treat you like you’re a nazi.

                    Your words.

                    I’ll tell them to expect to be treated like Nazis then. Which is absolutely wild, because in their 38 year existence this has never happened. Once.

              • BigTechMustBurn@lemmy.ml
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                2 hours ago

                Must depend on where you live and whether you’re terminally online.

                I only found out this year that 88 is now Nazi related.

                • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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                  2 hours ago

                  you’re lucky not to know what 88 signified before the internet because it mean that you were never affected by the people it attracted.