I request the Th!nk About It community to make an immediate protest regarding the graphic on Ari Rusila’s post that combines the NATO logo with the Nazi swastika. The comparison is obscene. It is ignorant of history and it suggests a willingness to trivialize the mass murder of millions by a nihilistic, fascist death cult for the sake of making a polemical point about recent Balkan history. I expect a serious and concerted protest about this outrageous post, otherwise I cannot see how decent people can continue to be part of this blogging initiative.
(6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
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For your information I have removed my provocative graphic from my post so that readers hopefully can concentrate to content of post more than the lay-out.
Hi Eamonn,
We had a good discussion in the comments on Ari’s post over the past day or so and he agreed the Swastika was wrong and removed it accordingly. He does raise important issues of Serbians feeling seriously victimised by NATO and the western media portrayal of the conflict and it is important we focus on real political problems and not on any provocative over-the -top characterisations of it.
While symbols are incredibly important, I find it disturbing how much power they can have over people’s minds.
Well, Frank, he should not have used it. Regardless of Serb feelings, it cannot be allowed to pass that one can compare a trans-Atlantic alliance that has fostered co-operation with a nationalistic, racist entity that pursued ethnic cleansing. And I’m not talking about Serbia here, although if the shoe fits… As regards the power of symbols over people’s minds that Bogdan refers to, we need to pay attention to the images around us. And that’s why I took such exception to the juxtaposition of these two very different ones. The comparison crossed a line for me because Ari willfully misread the symbols.
Without presenting my arguments here (sorry no time) I agree with Ari: I personally could easily compare the trans-Atlantic alliance, called NATO, with the Nazism. It is not an overstatement any more. Future will tell…but perhaps we won’t be alive to see the results of NATO “humanitarian” interventions. Ari, this metaphor was more than right to the target!!!