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Der Tattoo Thread.
Papersatan:
When I picture a swastika tattoo on a neo-nazi it is solid black and angular with sharp corners and flat ends. When I picture one as a tattoo in general I picture things like Stephen has posted above. They usually have dots in the inside corners and frequently are slightly stylized in an attempt to distinguish them. They also, as Steve pointed out, are usually in the midst of other symbols.
The movement to tattoo swastikas was fairly important within the community as a way of reclaiming a symbol which had conflicting meanings for many people. I think there is a fairly large group of people who practice Hinduism or Buddhism, or some form of Hindu-inspired or Buddhist- inspired spirituality within the community, which as Stephen said could be its own debate on cultural appropriation. Within this spiritual community there is an approach to tattooing as a spiritual activity. The act of tattooing someone, the act of enduring a tattoo, the resulting images, are seen as spiritual expression. The intersection then of this particular symbol and tattooing is one with two sides. One is the one Jace and Carl identify, the image of a menacing Neo-nazi covered in tattoos, and the other, is this group of people who have a spiritual belief that uses the swastika symbol, and involves tattooing. The choice to include swastikas as a part of this tattooing was an attempt to reclaim the symbol, at least within the tattooing/body modification community.
I also want to note that I see this movement being particularly strong in Europe. I don't know if that is because it is, or it is just a matter of my exposure, but I can thing of several European artists who do this sort of work, and when talking tattooing and swastikas the first thing that comes to my mind is the (now closed?) Swastika Freakshop tattoo parlor in Germany and in particular Marc.
This is his explanation of the swastika.
Jace:
Yeah I think if I saw any of those tattoos I wouldn't jump to neo nazi, unless I was at like a white power rally or something.
BeoPuppy:
I would jump there in a heartbeat. And I'll judge however wears it.
Barmymoo:
I'd suggest respectfully that if you know (as you now do, even if you didn't before) that the swastika is an important Hindi symbol, and from the context it's fairly clear in those photos that that is how they're being used, then you are being bigoted and reactionary.
BeoPuppy:
I think that if you live in western society and have some sense of history you would know that a swastika like symbol is not going to come across very well with a certain part of the population. And since you know, you ought to be ready for a negative reaction.
Furthermore ... where is the sense in calling someone bigoted and reactionary 'respectfully'? Seems to me that this is difficult to accomplish, at best.
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