To be fair, Swastika is considered very auspicious by Hindus.
Here in India, you'll see Swastikas everywhere.
Till I grew up and read about Nazis, I never even knew that there was anything negative about the symbol.
It's just a symmetric symbol and I don't see any reason for blocking that symbol.
The author might not agree with the political views of the Nazis but that is frankly not a reason to ban a symbol.
To use the author's words, no one in the educated world would consider the Swastika as a purely Nazi symbol. Then, why block it for people who have other sentiments attached?
PS: Personally, I don't have any affinity to the swastika or any other symbol. My point is that its just a symmetric shape. Some people have positive feelings, some have negative, others have none at all. As a service provider, your duty is to cater to consumers without letting your personal preference mix.
When I was a kid, I came up with a swastika design all by myself. At maybe 6 or 7 years of age. I knew nothing about WW2, and had had no exposure to it in any form.
I carved it on a block of wood because I liked the shape of it. My father saw it and sat me down and told me that it was a symbol that had come to represent an awful lot of Bad Shit(TM).
It is a symbol that you simply can't disassociate from the context it is known for. In India, that context may be different. In the western world, it is not.
I guess he is more concerned with the way Swastika is interpreted in the western world. It is sort of synonymous with white supremacist groups. And the contrarian mentality that he explains is very apparent in reddit. In reddit, I see people just jump on anything that has to do with US/White/Christianity/Israel but go to extreme hilarious lengths to defend obviously radical practices/ideas associated with other cultures.
Ps:I am from India and I very well know the religious significance of Swastika.
...and if you have evidence that more people will quit your service because you allow swastikas than will quit your service because you don't allow swastikas, what would your duty be?
I feel a lot of complainers about political correctness miss this. Companies strive for political correctness not because of the personal sentiments of executives or investors, but because it makes them money to be PC. Allowing swastikas on xbox live would be making the service less appealing to customers in order to advance a personal ideal (that this is the internet and you should be able to say whatever the hell you want).
The phrase "political views" doesn't even come close to explaining why people have negative attitudes towards the swastika.
The Nazis tortured and murdered millions of innocent, defenseless people.
The symbol was widely associated with this action, and that association has been reinforced through 60+ years of cultural recounting of the events in fiction and non-fiction venues (books, TV, movies, comics, documentaries, the History Channel, Castle Wolfenstein, etc).
I still haven't come close to explaining it, but the problem wasn't with their political views.
Here in India, you'll see Swastikas everywhere. Till I grew up and read about Nazis, I never even knew that there was anything negative about the symbol. It's just a symmetric symbol and I don't see any reason for blocking that symbol.
The author might not agree with the political views of the Nazis but that is frankly not a reason to ban a symbol. To use the author's words, no one in the educated world would consider the Swastika as a purely Nazi symbol. Then, why block it for people who have other sentiments attached?
PS: Personally, I don't have any affinity to the swastika or any other symbol. My point is that its just a symmetric shape. Some people have positive feelings, some have negative, others have none at all. As a service provider, your duty is to cater to consumers without letting your personal preference mix.