“Too soon” doesn’t even begin to cover this one. Retailer Sears has recently found itself in hot water for marketing a ring with a giant swastika on it. You know, just a punk rock swastika ring. Perhaps the best part of this whole mess:
According to the description, the ring was “[n]ot for Neo Nazi or any Nazi implication,” but they “are going to make you look beautiful at your next dinner date.”
After pulling the ring from its site, Sears did its round of mea culpas in response to the outrage on Twitter, explaining that the ring was from a third-party vendor. Good to know that there’s no one at Sears with eyeballs doing quality checks.
Team Blackness also discussed more right-wing rants on how Obama brought forth Ebola, a racist Toshiba ad, and a terror threat against feminist Anita Sarkeesian.
Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS
Paul in KY
You know, I could see (maybe) a swastika that opens to the left (reverse of the Nazi symbol) being sold as an old Indian Subcontinent symbol, but this one looks like the ring they gave you for completing SS training.
Christ on a cracker!
Villago Delenda Est
Exqueeze me? Someone thought it was a benign idea to put a fucking Hackenkreuz on a ring and offer it through Sears?
Well, given in this fucked up country of ours the chosen symbol of segregationists and slaveholders is seen displayed almost everywhere, why should I really be surprised at this?
Mnemosyne
The small city I live in has a set of street lights that have swastikas on them. They were installed in the 1920s, when the swastika was a common design element, so the city does not want to remove them because they do have historical significance.
But to try and claim that something featuring a swastika that was manufactured in 2014 doesn’t have any Nazi significance? Yeah, pull the other one, it’s got bells on it.
Mandalay
OT, but some great news from this morning:
The shit is still maintaining his innocence, and gave a big non-apology at his sentencing:
WTF???
Those who support the death sentence may want to ponder this case. This vile racist has to spend the rest of his life behind bars, constantly looking over his shoulder, with no hope of ever getting out. Surely worse than the death sentence.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne: In Germany, that “historical significance” is a symbol of deep shame that the German People know they can never fully live down.
In this country, we call the Confederate Battle Flag a “Heritage” item.
Fuck that noise.
Mnemosyne
@Villago Delenda Est:
Funny story — my middle (step)brother was stupid enough to get a swastika tattoo on his chest when he was in his 20s. Imagine his embarrassment when he needed heart surgery and Dr. Greenberg spotted that. He had a lot of apologizin’ to do.
(He didn’t get it because he’s a neo-Nazi — he got it because he’s an asshole and thought it would be funny to piss people off. This explains a lot about him.)
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: That certainly does explain him quite succinctly.
Bob In Portland
Perhaps Sears should have marketed more to Ukraine. By the way, things aren’t going well for the Nazis in Kiev.
Mnemosyne
@Bob In Portland:
Hey, Bob, have you been able to figure out what the difference is between Ukraine’s horrible Nazi-oriented Defender of the Fatherland Day and Russia’s national holiday of the same name that they’ve been celebrating since 1922? We’ve all been waiting for you to explain the difference between the two holidays and what makes Ukraine’s version so different than Russia’s version.
Scamp Dog
The swastika is also used in Asia to denote vegatarian restaurants. It was a little surprising the first time I saw them when wandering around Taipei in the early 90s.
Somehow, I don’t think Sears was aiming at the Asian restauranteur market.
Larv
Also, since when have swastikas been a punk symbol? Skinhead maybe, but most punks hate fucking skinheads. Mainstream punk has always been pretty anti-fascist. I’d like to know who this third party retailer is and what the fuck they were thinking.
Larv
@Bob In Portland:
Jesus, you’re fucking tedious. I’m surprised you haven’t switched to ranting about Ebola and how it’s a creation of the NIH/CDC/CIA/Big Pharma as part of some plot to kill Africans something something profit. Or… maybe it was the Ukrainians who created it?
Visceral
Apparently East Asia has a phenomenon of “Nazi chic”. Never mind the argument “The Buddhists used the swastika first”, actual Nazi symbols, memorabilia, reproduction uniforms, and even Hitler himself are showing up in a variety of often bizarre contexts: Nazi costume weddings in China, Nazi-themed cafes in Korea, super-kawaii Cartoon Hitler on T-shirts, etc. Nobody seems to have a problem with it (except Western tourists and the Israeli and German embassies in Seoul), but the fascination seems to be motivated more by aesthetics than politics.
Mnemosyne
@Visceral:
I may be pulling this out of my ass, but I wonder if it has anything to do with Japan’s ongoing refusal to own up to what they did to the rest of East Asia in WWII. I could see it as being a bit of a finger in Japan’s eye to remind them who their bestest buddy was in those days.
agorabum
@Bob In Portland: christ, what an asshole
Fred
Some day nazi icons will become historic curios appreciated for their aesthetic value. But that time is not here.
I was watching “The Longest Day” a couple months back and noticed that the German uniforms didn’t seem to display the swastika under the eagle patches. I kept straining my eyes to see but it looked like an “X”. Except on one of the leading generals (don’t recall the actor) no doubt an actor who was insisting on authenticity.
Anyway, back in the sixties, less than twenty years after the fact and even making a movie about the historical event, the movie makers opted to leave out the twisted cross of Hitler.