[This article is highly opinionated. If you don't care about my opinions, then just don't read this.]
Well, some kid in New Jersey found a Pokémon card (left) with a Buddhist swastika on it. he show it to his friend who then showed it to his mom. The deal here was that the friend & mom were Jewish. They raised a fuss to Nintendo (I wouldn't blame them), claiming that it was "offensive". Nintendo in turn said that it had no intentions to be offensive, but to be on the safe side, they will take the swastika off. Power to them to avoid another reason to hate Pokémon.
An article can be found
here:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,145008343,00.html?
(Opinions start here:)
But that's the deal here? It's just a Buddhist swastika ("manji"). What's to get offended by that? The manji is a symbol of good luck. Heck, the swastika was even used by Native Americans. There's nothing wrong with that.
The deal here is that the manji is offensive to stupid, doggone ignorant people. If people think that (any) swastika is offensive just because the Nazis used a version of it, then they're just not the brightest light in the house. I don't find the swastika offensive at all (except the Nazi one). Even if I was Jewish, I wouldn't be offended by the average swastika because I KNOW that it's not the symbol of the Nazis.
That family who spotted the manji, good for them to point that out, however do you need to raise a flutter over something that looks like the Nazi swastika? NO! Should I hate Charley Chaplain because he has a striking similarity to Adolf Hitler? NO! The two are totally different things, despite some minor look-a-likes. It's good to point out these things, but learn more about what you're dealing with or else you'll make yourself looks like some stuttering idiot.
If you read the article, it
said:
"But to Stephen, his friend Marc Specht and their Jewish families,
it was a Nazi swastika, the spidery symbol of hate and the Holocaust
&emdash; and it didn't belong in a children's game."
The parents in this SHOULD know that more than one culture uses swastikas (I'm not saying that they may know, I'm saying that they should know). I knew about the manji way before this article, and I'm only 17! If the parents had known about the manji, instead of letting their cultural background get in the way of studding other cultures, then none of this would have been a problem!
"Dear Nintendo. On your Pokémon card, the symbol looks like a Nazi swastika, although I know it's not. However this may cause some confusion from people thinking it's a Nazi symbol, thus more people will hate your stuff. I think it'd be in your best interests to remove the symbol. Thank you."
What, you think I'm full of crap? Look:
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They're two totally different things! Sure they both have 8 lines and all, but the Nazi is tilted 45 degrees and is backwards. It's like saying red is the same as purple or a square is the same as a rectangle.
Now how can this thing be "terrible for children"? If you parents don't make any references to Nazism with the swastika, the kids will think nothing of it!
A kid referring to the swastika: "Oh, it's just another shape. It looks like a square to me. Who cares...."
But it's because parents make a fuss about the swastika, kids will notice it and hate it, fear it, whatever, for a their entire generation. Then they'll refer to the swastika as evil to their kids, and they to theirs, and so on, and so on, thus totally ruining a cultural icon.
But why? Sure the Nazi's did some horrible, unspeakable things to about 12 million people. But to refer to a different swastika that has been around for centuries before the Nazis ever existed as some evil symbol, even when it's not, it's just totally sad. And I only have you (those who hate all swastikas) to blame for it.
It just goes to show how culturally ignorant the average American is, if not ignorant all together. People don't know the true history of the swastika (I hardly know much either, I'm just a product of the system). As much as I love America, I just can't believe how STUPID people in America can be! Heck, there are a lot of people I know who still think Germans are just a bunch of Nazis. Dumb, dumb people.
Heck, if people want to get offended by something, be offended by the fact that the Nazis tarnished a cultural icon forever! (Sarcastic) Thanks a lot you gimboids!
What I say is... leave the symbol ON. Get some kids to learn about other cultures. Maybe add a little card in each pack explaining the history of the manji so that the kids can learn with Pokémon and learn to not mistake it with the Nazi swastika. But instead the symbol stays in Asia, without people learning the real truth about it, which will cause a crazed hate for all swastikas by truly ignorant people.
