It was a glorious, sunny afternoon in Taipei that accompanied me on an aimless wandering when a particularly odd object caught my eye. At a "punk rock" shop among the stickers and patches was a small Nazi flag. The sky ominously darkened as I began pondering the white supremacist movement's supreme accomplishment of successfully indoctrinating Asians to believe in the superiority of the white race.
Obviously, Taiwanese are not race - confused proponents of white supremacy who fly Nazi flags from every awning. Swastikas can be spotted in Buddhist temples and used to identify food that is vegetarian. In Asia, no other symbol can be as perplexing to Westerners. Those who went to college should have learned that Hitler and his national socialists were not the inventors of the symbol but perhaps the hijackers. Once the swastika became the major identifying symbol for the Nazi's it was destined to become the quintessential badge of white supremacy and racial cleansing. Although the swastika has a completely different meaning in Asia and should not be considered offensive on its own in Taiwan ( or China) , a Nazi flag is more than just a swastika. Its a flag that will forever be a symbol for fascism and white supremacy. I find its presence in Taipei bizarre. History has sealed the fate of this symbol for westerners and will most likely never take on a positive meaning for a long time to come.
On the second thought...McDonalds, KFC, Nazi flags, Linkin Park, belly button rings...
Obviously, Taiwanese are not race - confused proponents of white supremacy who fly Nazi flags from every awning. Swastikas can be spotted in Buddhist temples and used to identify food that is vegetarian. In Asia, no other symbol can be as perplexing to Westerners. Those who went to college should have learned that Hitler and his national socialists were not the inventors of the symbol but perhaps the hijackers. Once the swastika became the major identifying symbol for the Nazi's it was destined to become the quintessential badge of white supremacy and racial cleansing. Although the swastika has a completely different meaning in Asia and should not be considered offensive on its own in Taiwan ( or China) , a Nazi flag is more than just a swastika. Its a flag that will forever be a symbol for fascism and white supremacy. I find its presence in Taipei bizarre. History has sealed the fate of this symbol for westerners and will most likely never take on a positive meaning for a long time to come.
On the second thought...McDonalds, KFC, Nazi flags, Linkin Park, belly button rings...
No comments:
Post a Comment