Swastika Shopping

I may sound a little controversial here but what is all the fuss about a swastika found on a handbag at Zara?

Yes, I realise that the swastika was the symbol of the Nazi's but for thousands of years before Adolf decided to adopt it, it was used, and is still being used, by many different faiths around the world.

Hindu's and Buddhists I definitely know about, but apparently it is also used by Northern European pagans (the hammer of Thor); Roman pagans (on Roman coins and tombs); Early Christians (everlasting life); Jains (their seventh saint); Falun Gong (Wheel of the Dharma - a Chinese cult before you ask and nothing to do with Lost as far as I am aware!); Masons (Mystic Cross); Esoteric philosophers and Occultists!

I can appreciate that now the swastika is synonymous with Nazism & fascism but at what point do we allow the symbol to revert back to it's original purer uses. I have personally seen it used at a home in a bunting style on the front door. I can appreciate that this is the correct use of the symbol and am not going to refuse to enter the house until it is torn down and burnt!

Yes, to many the symbol is still too raw a wound. But there are many others who have encountered similar atrocities and have moved on. Were the moors terrified of the Christian cross during the crusades? If I found a burning cross in my front garden I'd know it's the KKK that have visited and not the local group of Jehovah's witnesses calling card! Should we ban the cross for this reason? At what point do we look at the context of it's use rather than the bare symbol itself.

So ... lets figure this out ... Do we think that those who still use the symbol, added it to a flowery bag they were making for a pittance, to give good luck and blessings to the person who bought it!? Or is it more likely that in some tiny sweat shop somewhere on the Indian continent, a skin-headed Nazi fascist, sat in a conveyor belt style of production sewing on swastikas, peering over his shoulder and hoping that no-one would notice?