Design also found on Amish, Penn Dutch, etc. barns (+ my 2 cents: what scholarly folks we Forum-fans are!)

Posted by Inbanana Jones from spider-wg083.proxy.aol.com on February 09, 2000 at 03:40:32:

In Reply to: Swastika posted by K. Allard on February 08, 2000 at 18:31:55:

This design is found in many contexts across the globe. I've seen it depicted in African textiles, Native American religious and secular art, as well as the 'forementioned Tibetan and East Asian religious art. I would advise caution in assigning simple notions of good/evil, "positive/negative energy" to the design based on either the direction of the arms or the context in which it is used as a symbol (e.g., Hitler's Germany).

Similarly, asserting that Hitler unknowingly practiced Satanism is, in my opinion, ascribing too little responsibility to the Nazis (who knew quite well what they were doing); it is also rather reductionist and unreasonable to suggest that human behavior can be understood by applying broad and one-dimensional notions such as "Satanism", "purity", or "evil" to social history, whatever one's particular religious or philosophic point of view.

Designs such as the swastika are only given meaning, only become symbols, when they can be tied via archaeological data, cultural tradition, or observed behavior to a particular human context.
Symbols only make sense within their cultural context: thus the swastika, with arms left or right, simply will not translate as "sun", "anti-christ", "purity/profanity" from culture to culture, or from region to region. Recognizing this diversity in meaning, and exploring the depths and ramifications of this meaning in cultures is a true joy of anthropology and archaeology, as Indy might argue.
Finding ubiquitous symbols may cloyingly suggest that their is some unconscious archetypal "human character", but even Jung did not argue that this could be more that some organically-derived type of, essentially, a genetically-imprinted survival mechanism. Writers like Joseph Campbell go too far, I think, in suggesting that such archetypes can have serious potential to provide meaningful insights into human behavior.

Now, about those "mountain" symbols appearing at the beginning of every Indy flick...

Follow Ups:

I didn't say Hitler didn't know... the Fiddler 18:46:33 2/09/2000 (0)
Re:(what scholarly folks we Forum-fans are!) bud-arc 15:45:54 2/09/2000 (0)

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: This design is found in many contexts across the globe.  I've seen it depicted in African textiles, Native American religious and secular art, as well as the 'forementioned Tibetan and East Asian religious art.  I would advise caution in assigning simple notions of good/evil, "positive/negative energy" to the design based on either the direction of the arms or the context in which it is used as a symbol (e.g., Hitler's Germany).

: Similarly, asserting that Hitler unknowingly practiced Satanism is, in my opinion, ascribing too little responsibility to the Nazis (who knew quite well what they were doing); it is also rather reductionist and unreasonable to suggest that human behavior can be understood by applying broad and one-dimensional notions such as "Satanism", "purity", or "evil" to social history, whatever one's particular religious or philosophic point of view.

: Designs such as the swastika are only given meaning, only become symbols, when they can be tied via archaeological data, cultural tradition, or observed behavior to a particular human context.  
: Symbols only make sense within their cultural context:  thus the swastika, with arms left or right, simply will not translate as "sun", "anti-christ", "purity/profanity" from culture to culture, or from region to region.  Recognizing this diversity in meaning, and exploring the depths and ramifications of this meaning in cultures is a true joy of anthropology and archaeology, as Indy might argue.
: Finding ubiquitous symbols may cloyingly suggest that their is some unconscious archetypal "human character", but even Jung did not argue that this could be more that some organically-derived type of, essentially, a genetically-imprinted survival mechanism.  Writers like Joseph Campbell go too far, I think, in suggesting that such archetypes can have serious potential to provide meaningful insights into human behavior.

: Now, about those "mountain" symbols appearing at the beginning of every Indy flick...

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