Flags Replaced With Swastikas in Wash.

[sanctus]

ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. (AP) - Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.

Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been.

Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington's northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.

The vandals struck again on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, the San Juan County sheriff's office said. This time, the vandals left 33 of the hand-drawn swastikas.

"This is not an act of free speech. This is a crime," Sheriff Bill Cumming said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

Investigators believe there's more than one culprit, based on the number of flags that were vandalized, Cumming said in a telephone interview. But authorities have no suspects, he said.

The sheriff said deputies were trying to lift fingerprints off what little physical evidence they were able to recover.

 

[gopher]

An unfortunate act.

 

[shadowshiv]

It is a shame that people(more than likely young adults) have to do acts like this in the name of "fun". I guess these vandals should count their lucky stars that they do not live in Germany, as they would probably jailed for a while due to Germany's zero tolerance towards anything about Nazism.:-(

 

[talloola]

I find this act worrisome, and I hope they find out did it.

 

[shadowshiv]

Someone with loose lips will probably spill the beans(hopefully). In the day of youtube, this will probably end up online, which may give authorities a better chance of catching them.

 

[Unforgiven]

That's true and more people with a phone camera or digital camera to capture either the crime or the culprits. And people worry about cameras on the streets. Here is a good argument for it. Too high a count of bozos wandering around unsupervised.

 

[Dreadful Nonsense]

Oddly the Swatika is a holy symbol used to induce luck. It's thousands of years old and many forms of it are found all over the planet spread out amongst different cultures and thousands of years of difference btw cultures with no contact with one another. It's an archtype.
I was taught buy a Hindu lady to always draw it with up strokes.As a kid I would draw it down. She knew this and asked me to show her how I draw it. She pointed out for luck to be achieved one has to draw it upwards.

 

[shadowshiv]

Yes, but the Nazi's also slightly inverted the Swastika, which changed the look of it slightly. Also, the massive stigma of what the Swastika now signifies makes it so that no one wants to use it anymore.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

It may take a hundred years for pagans to be able to reclaim the symbol of the squared abbreviated sun wheel. When going for tattoos I had to research which ones had been co-opted by the skinheads first. Rudyard Kipling had the "Swastika" on the front cover of many of his books. He spent a good amount of time in India.

 

[shadowshiv]

It may take a hundred years for pagans to be able to reclaim the symbol of the squared abbreviated sun wheel. When going for tattoos I had to research which ones had been co-opted by the skinheads first. Rudyard Kipling had the "Swastika" on the front cover of many of his books. He spent a good amount of time in India.

What does the symbol that you are talking about look like?:smile:

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsswastika.htm

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The swastika is a type of solar cross, with arms bent at right angles, suggesting a whirling or turning motion. Long before the symbol was co-opted as an emblem of Hitler's Nazi party, it was a sacred symbol to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist religions, as well as in Norse, Basque, Baltic, and Celtic Paganism. [/FONT]

Make the first a square and abbreviate the arms and you get a Swastika.

 

[Dreadful Nonsense]

Yes, but the Nazi's also slightly inverted the Swastika, which changed the look of it slightly. Also, the massive stigma of what the Swastika now signifies makes it so that no one wants to use it anymore.

It is sad really. It's like the nazis gain by our loss.
There would be not a chance in hell that a Buddhist temple would be allowed to display the same swastika like the ones at bloor & lansdowne , lets say at bathurst and finch. A few years back this group at a store front church at steeles and bathurst. Jews for Christ. It was picketed by rabbis and the lanlord forced them out....don't know how it relates to topic, but you are right on when you say MASSIVE STIGMA .....

 

[shadowshiv]

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsswastika.htm

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The swastika is a type of solar cross, with arms bent at right angles, suggesting a whirling or turning motion. Long before the symbol was co-opted as an emblem of Hitler's Nazi party, it was a sacred symbol to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist religions, as well as in Norse, Basque, Baltic, and Celtic Paganism. [/FONT]

Make the first a square and abbreviate the arms and you get a Swastika.

Thank you for the information, Rom.:smile:

 

[shadowshiv]

It is sad really. It's like the nazis gain by our loss.
There would be not a chance in hell that a Buddhist temple would be allowed to display the same swastika like the ones at bloor & lansdowne , lets say at bathurst and finch. A few years back this group at a store front church at steeles and bathurst. Jews for Christ. It was picketed by rabbis and the lanlord forced them out....don't know how it relates to topic, but you are right on when you say MASSIVE STIGMA .....

There will always be words or pictures that will never be deemed "acceptable", at least in the near-future anyhow.

I am not sure where I read this, but it is like the name 'Adolf', and how they had said that no one will ever name their baby that because of the stigma attached to it.

I apologize to the original poster if I have gone off-topic.

 

[Dreadful Nonsense]

There will always be words or pictures that will never be deemed "acceptable", at least in the near-future anyhow.

I am not sure where I read this, but it is like the name 'Adolf', and how they had said that no one will ever name their baby that because of the stigma attached to it.

I apologize to the original poster if I have gone off-topic.

Not so far off my topic...ahhh Shadowshiv always polite.....can't believe she is even recognising i exist...

LOL!!check your pm's LOL!!! ...lol!!!!

 

[Pangloss]

This wasn't done for "fun" - this was done to make a statement, maybe (I'm guessing) an anti-war statement.

Sadly, the vandals were illiterate when it comes to political symbolism and chose to desecrate graves - the surest way to shoot themselves in the foot, and to hurt a lot of feelings.

Sad, stupid vandals. Probably so sure of the "rightness" of their actions they would never be able to see the hurt they caused and how badly their action failed its objectives.

Pangloss

 

[shadowshiv]

Not so far off my topic...ahhh Shadowshiv always polite.....can't believe she is even recognising i exist...

LOL!!check your pm's LOL!!! ...lol!!!!

I am not a woman, LOL! That is Amy Lee in my Avatar.;-)

I know who you are, but if you post an intelligent post, I will respond to it, just like I would anyone else's.

 

[Dreadful Nonsense]

I am not a woman, LOL! That is Amy Lee in my Avatar.;-)

I know who you are, but if you post an intelligent post, I will respond to it, just like I would anyone else's.

ya know i don't recall us actually havin a troll fest back in the day...i was glad to see you again..i always enjoyed your posting....Man i thought you were that avatar for you had an even sexier version back there...my god i hate getting hard ons for the wrong reasons....wrong reasons...well you know what i mean...man this amy chick is hot...who is she? which proves a point i don't as stated know whats going on in the vine as much as peeps think i do....lol!!!!when i read your name as thomas i went and had a shower and could hear the crying game tune in the background.

 

[shadowshiv]

ya know i don't recall us actually havin a troll fest back in the day...i was glad to see you again..i always enjoyed your posting....Man i thought you were that avatar for you had an even sexier version back there...my god i hate getting hard ons for the wrong reasons....wrong reasons...well you know what i mean...man this amy chick is hot...who is she? which proves a point i don't as stated know whats going on in the vine as much as peeps think i do....lol!!!!when i read your name as thomas i went and had a shower and could hear the crying game tune in the background.

She is Amy Lee, the singer from Evanescence. I think she is both beautiful and talented. Her voice is very haunting.:smile:

I have not been on the Vine for over a year, and was gone before you arrived. That is probably why we have never gotten into any troll festing.;-)