Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Am I being too sensitive about this?

Lately I've been seeing alot of brand logos and bumper stickers that seem rather ominous to me. I am talking about the skull with the helmet sometimes accompanied by the iron cross or a point on top of the helmet. I see it on shirts and now on the back windows of cars. What is this logo trying to say? "I long for the days of Nazi Germany? Or I'm not anti-semetic or anything but I sure do like creepy references to WWII German militarism." Anyone can tell you that I'm not a religious person, and my actions are not motivated by any deep seated cultural beliefs about Judaism. I am not trying to cry wolf over here, but seriously, when did it become a good idea to sport images of skulls with pointy German helmets? It seems like these graphics are just a hop skip and a jump away from a nazi swastika. The iron cross is affiliated with WWII German military. The helmet is also a reminder of this. And the skull is an image depicting death and or killing. And the nazi's killed Jews during WWII so I have to imagine that the skull is in some way a reference to this. Either way I am not comfortable around people who wear clothes or drive cars with these kinds of pictures. After looking at a Metal Mulisha website I found images of skulls with helmets without points or German iron crosses, but I know what I saw in the alley behind my apartment on the rear window of that car. And if that person gets his car keyed or one of his tires punctured by a hobby knife that I keep in my desk drawer, I didn't do it.