At the mortuary, UFW supporters unfurled their union flag—and then the trouble began. The bold red flag with its black Aztec eagle in a white circle had long been controversial in the Central Valley. During the 1960s grape strike, the growers used to call it “Chavez’s Trotsky flag.” Even UFW members were initially unnerved by the powerful image. When the flag was first displayed to the fledging union membership in 1962, some workers complained that it looked like a Communist flag, others that it resembled a Nazi banner. “It’s what you want to see in it,” Chavez told them, “what you’re conditioned to. To me it looks like a strong, beautiful sign of hope.”
quote is from the 1993 book Toxic Nation: The Fight to Save Our Communities from Chemical Contamination
“It’s what you want to see in it,” Chavez told them
It may not have been Chavez’s intention, but it’s objectively the same codes as the Nazi flags. Even the eagle (not the Aztec one, of course) is a Nazi symbol. It’s bad taste, to say the least.
eh, I dunno - the Nazis stole their symbols to begin with, and considering we’re talking about a worker union I actually like the strength in reclaiming symbols. I understand the reason for the taboo, but sometimes it feels like it gives too much power to the wrong people.
To some extent, yes. Though the Nazis were so evil and morally warped, sometimes I think it’s best to retire certain symbols permanently. We can always create new ones. Humans have a very bad habit of worshiping the past, sometimes too much, given the current climate. :P
I’m not sure I think the Nazis are a special kind of evil, nor that their symbols should receive special status due to that supposed special evil. When you read about Columbus flaying humans alive, or the systematic genocide and concentration camps in the U.S. of indigenous populations (which inspired Hitler’s concentration camps), I do not think the Nazis were somehow special or unique. I think as losers in a world war their evil was especially punished and made known by the other countries. An example was made of them largely because they were losers, not because the other countries have moral superiority. There should be no sympathy for the Nazis, nor for other genocidal states, but admittedly there is less sympathy for Nazis than for other genocidal states, and I think this is for geopolitical reasons.
Humans do worship the past, which is exactly why it’s good to destroy the past association a symbol has - it would even be nice if someday the swastika went back to its much more legitimate and long-standing associations with Hinduism.
I think you might be underestimating the power in symbols and how by setting aside a symbol it guarantees a meaning for it will last longer, and in this case it is a symbol of evil, used by evil.
The only controversy, truly, is whether the workers union intended to associate themselves with Nazis, but since that is so clearly not the case, I think this is a great example of how those Nazi symbols might die out and how their meanings can be destroyed by much better causes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Farm_Workers
quote is from the 1993 book Toxic Nation: The Fight to Save Our Communities from Chemical Contamination
It may not have been Chavez’s intention, but it’s objectively the same codes as the Nazi flags. Even the eagle (not the Aztec one, of course) is a Nazi symbol. It’s bad taste, to say the least.
eh, I dunno - the Nazis stole their symbols to begin with, and considering we’re talking about a worker union I actually like the strength in reclaiming symbols. I understand the reason for the taboo, but sometimes it feels like it gives too much power to the wrong people.
To some extent, yes. Though the Nazis were so evil and morally warped, sometimes I think it’s best to retire certain symbols permanently. We can always create new ones. Humans have a very bad habit of worshiping the past, sometimes too much, given the current climate. :P
I’m not sure I think the Nazis are a special kind of evil, nor that their symbols should receive special status due to that supposed special evil. When you read about Columbus flaying humans alive, or the systematic genocide and concentration camps in the U.S. of indigenous populations (which inspired Hitler’s concentration camps), I do not think the Nazis were somehow special or unique. I think as losers in a world war their evil was especially punished and made known by the other countries. An example was made of them largely because they were losers, not because the other countries have moral superiority. There should be no sympathy for the Nazis, nor for other genocidal states, but admittedly there is less sympathy for Nazis than for other genocidal states, and I think this is for geopolitical reasons.
Humans do worship the past, which is exactly why it’s good to destroy the past association a symbol has - it would even be nice if someday the swastika went back to its much more legitimate and long-standing associations with Hinduism.
I think you might be underestimating the power in symbols and how by setting aside a symbol it guarantees a meaning for it will last longer, and in this case it is a symbol of evil, used by evil.
The only controversy, truly, is whether the workers union intended to associate themselves with Nazis, but since that is so clearly not the case, I think this is a great example of how those Nazi symbols might die out and how their meanings can be destroyed by much better causes.