I was walking along in Point Pleasant Park, enjoying the nice spring air of March, when something took my breath away. No it wasn’t the wind this time, but some benches dedicated to Hurricane Juan. They’re swastika shaped. SWASTIKA!? who in this day and age doesn’t notice their handiwork looks like the crooked-cross of hatred? They should be removed immediately, and Councillor Sue Utek should be reprimanded for allowing this to sit there for the last seven years. —Anti-Anti-Semite
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2010.
I think you’re looking way too much in to it.
Maybe if you had a job you wouldn’t have so much time on your hands to bitch about things that aren’t an actual problem.
And the Basin and the Harbour look like a big old droopy penis!
ML….while I like thinking of you and penises….I don’t like the old part….lol
old is code for “knowing what you’re doing”
Wasn’t the swastika the symbol of the Nazis? The KKK’s symbol is more like a cross.
I think you’re right, NM. KKK is the nordic or celtic cross, 3rd Reich was the Swastika. The swastika has some older meaning too, but damned if I know what. Googling!
“And the Basin and the Harbour look like a big old droopy penis!”
HAHAHAHA
I’m more offended by that, than benches shaped like some Hindu peace sign…
How come other harbours get a nice priapism-shape, and we get limp penis?
Look at Shelburne….grrr!
svastika might be translated literally as “that which is associated with well-being,” corresponding to “lucky charm”
It was a sign of good things until the enemy decided they wanted to use it as THEIR sign of good things.
a trip to google in order for the OP. the swastika was regularly used before the nazis used it
The Swastika is an Asian symbol used in Buddhist and Hindu religions. It means prosperity.
Although I might add NGF, the configuring of the actual asian symbol is a bit different.
That said, the people who usually employ it usually don’t understand it’s origins. Nor do the care.
You’re right, Fever. The Nazi version is actually facing the opposite direction of the Buddhist version. The Nazi’s symbolized their version to be imagined as if it were the sun rolling across the sky from the northern hemisphere. The Hindu swastika has four dots located in the centre areas.
“Councillor Sue Utek should be reprimanded for allowing this to sit there for the last seven years.”
How do you know it’s been there for the last seven years? Are you accusing Sue Uteck of being a Nazi?
Also, did you ever think that maybe someone was trying to draw windows, but ran out of ink and couldn’t finish?
I saw Swastikas and other fascist symbols graffitied everywhere when I was in Italy. Then again, there’s all kinds of graffiti everywhere in Italy.
You’re just noticing this now? Where the fuck were you, under a rock? When you go back under it, take a book on history and symbolism with you.
my dear anti, it takes all fucken kinds to make this city, you happened to find a dick in the forest.
No ones gives a shit about what symbol a bunch of trees may of may not look like.
qpmzwonxeibcruv,
Don’t forget that for a while during WW2 the Italians and the Nazis were on the same team…until Hitler turned and Il Duce had his ass handed to him by the Allies. I’m sure there are still a few die hard (wannabes) around.
The Swastika was unfortunately bastardized by the Huns during WW2. This symbol was not only a Buddhist icon, it can be found in many ancient societies including Native North Americans, Celts, Greece and even Israel (Hebrew) and was generally not associated with hate or war.
Trees? Thought they were benches? Look hard enough, you’ll see symbols everywhere: swastikas in parks, Elvis at the mall, turds shaped like celebrities…my friend swears he saw Jesus, in drag, surfing up the harbour with a really sad clown on his back. Are we still talking about acid trips?
I wonder what Hermann Rorschach would say about the OP?
jamesk, actually the Allies had nothing to do with Il Duce’s demise. Partisans did him in. The allies never got to him.
This design was discussed, debated, approved and eventually built a number of years ago.
The idea was a practial, rugged bench shaped so thate a number of people could sit and face different directions.
The “swastika” criticism was considered at that time, and most people agreed that it wasn’t the intent of the designer, and that the critics were looking too hard for symbolsm that wasn’t there.
You’re way too late in showing up to that party, OP. Better to spend your time looking for devil faces in cars, or animal shapes in random paint splotches.
Bro Tim,
I stand corrected…I shouldn’t mince my facts.
Cheers!
Rubyjane,
And if you look at a coke ad you can see people havin’ sex in the ice cubes!
Then again, I see people having sex everywhere!
Rorschach would be proud
i walk in the park most lunchtimes and always wondered why those guys with the white hoods hadn’t packed a picnic or had a dog off leash, now i know. The i-pods playing marching music in german was a bit of a give-away though.
Oh they were benches! Shame on my skimming. Still, no one cares and it’s not a big deal.
I could see your point if the benches were arranged in letters spelling “Heil Hitler” or “Death to Jews” but they’re not so get over it.
Thanks RubyJane, for explaining the benches.
The design, if I remember correctly, was a contest for design students, and that was the winning design.
They’re practical, comfortable and durable, exactly what a good bench should be.
What I find funny is that this bitcher hasn’t noticed them before, and now that s/he has, it’s RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION!!!!
Pay attention to your city! They’ve been there for years!
We still have a park? I thought it all blew away.
Wow, want some cheese with your whine. Overthinking things abit, OP..