But, I thought Jackson Pollock was of Scottish heritage…
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I knew that didn’t look right, spell check.
Yes, the Poles hate the Russians. My ex MiL is Polish.
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Welcome to Boing Boing!
Care to try that again, but this time using a credible source?
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Do you mean the Nazi swastika, or just a swastika? I can give you probably a half dozen examples in the Western world of swastikas being used commercially, either intentionally or unintentionally, although none of these examples involve the Nazi swastika.
8 is also a good luck symbol in China, and 4 is a bad luck symbol. We associate 88 with Heil Hitler, but the Chinese associate 44 with “death death”. [quote=“Mister44, post:14, topic:86362”]
Fun fact - Polish people actually get deeply offended at Pollock jokes. If you want to tell them a Pollock joke, make it a Russian joke instead.
[/quote]
“This is not art—it’s a joke in bad taste” - Reynolds News, describing Jackson Pollock’s artwork.
On the subject of Eastern European humor, I like this one:
A Russian soldier, a dissident, an old woman, and a young woman are all sitting together in the same train car. The train goes through a tunnel and everything goes dark. The passengers hear a kissing sound, then a slap, and when the train emerges from the tunnel, the soldier is holding his face and the dissident is sitting there grinning.
“Serves him right for kissing that girl”, thinks the old lady.
“How about that?” thinks the soldier. “That guy kisses the girl, and I get slapped for it!”
“Why did he kiss that old lady instead of me?” thinks the girl. “Whatever floats his boat, I guess. I’m glad she slapped him.”
“I got away with slapping a Russian soldier, and all I had to do was kiss my own hand!”, thinks the dissident
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I think he’s actually talking about 4chan. Reddit has their own versions of these kinds of boards to be sure, but it’s not quite as bad.
As @derioderio said, if you avoid the front page and the default boards, there are some nice communities.
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It’s true that the meme has a much longer history than just being an Alt-Right symbol, but the Daily Caller is the biggest Trump/Alt-Right cheerleadering rag, so you don’t need to read any article there to know what it’s going to say.
Edit: Oh, wait, you’re a brand-new account. I’m guessing you know exactly what the Daily Caller is.
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4chan, not reddit.
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Ah, understood. I avoid 4chan like a form of cancer.
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So mainstream…
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Often, it is not about lack of empathy or hostility, at least in Japan. Even though they were an axis power, the Nazi/Holocaust just does not make any personal emotional connection to them. So Nazi imagery is just abstractly interesting, but with no more emotional impact than imagery from the War of The Roses or the Spanish American War. Of course the swastika is a whole different issue in countries that have used the symbol for thousands of years.
I guess you could draw a parallel here to people who wear Che or Mao imagery as a fashion statement. You would not do that at my parent’s house.
I am totally out of touch with the Pepe thing. My daughter used to collect and propagate those, although it could not have been in any sort of racist or sexist manner. When I asked her about the Trump connection, she told me that it was probably about people trolling the media.
But on the idea of traveling to Japan. I recommend it. We go whenever we can.
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I especially love this one:
Quelle horreur!
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They should hate the telephone company - they are the ones always driving Poles into the ground.
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I just assumed that Pepe the Frog was making fun of the French; now I’m mildly confused …
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Now Melania has to buy all new stationary! or not…
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“Comrade Banker, I have 10,000 zloty I want to deposit in your bank, but how do I know it will be safe?”
“Comrade, we are the largest cooperative bank in Poland. I assure you, your money is safe!”
“But what if your bank should fail?”
“Comrade, then the minister of finance will support our bank. There is nothing to worry about. Your savings are safe.”
“But what if the Ministry of Finance should fail?”
“Comrade, there is nothing to worry about. The whole of the Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa will stand behind the Ministry of Finance, and our bank, and your savings. They are safe!”
“But what if the government should fail? And my money made worthless.”
“Comrade, our socialist brothers to the east, the Soviet Union, stands prepared to support Poland, and the Ministry of Finance, and this Bank, and your savings! Please, comrade. You can trust this bank.”
“But what if the Soviet Union should fail? Where would that leave me.”
“No, comrade, your money would not be safe then. But certainly, that would be worth 10,000 zloty!”
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Hrm…
the alt-right scene, a nascent, illiberal political movement focused on preserving white identity and Western civilization.
nascent: ADJECTIVE (especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential:
That poor ol’ white identity… well, at least there’s potential to save it and (western) civilization!
Which still sounds like a good idea.
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I hate to just plunk an article link in like this, but it’s actually kind of refreshing that Pepe’s creator, Matt Furie, has such a nonchalant response to his character taking on all these varied guises over the years:
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What the fuck?
Short of total ecological collapse, there will still be cities west of Sirmium, so I don’t understand why “western civilization” depends on white nationalism, or on the Spanish Inquisition, or the rest.
(And yes, there are people who insist that the Spanish Inquisition was necessary to defend true Spaniards from Muslim terrorism and that Jewish Spaniards and Muslim Spaniards were only ever foreign occupiers or collaborators…)
