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In the Knitting Section, this design has just been posted: Baltic Crosses Cap by Reena Meijer Drees-Free
The design looks like a swastika. Its inappropriate for this forum. The claimed inspiration (Alice Starmores Baltic pattern) does not look like a swastika. The chosen name for this pattern, "Baltic Cross", has nothing to do with Alice Starmores pattern, but it also does not look like a swastika (its a cross). However, the "Baltic Cross" is WELL KNOWN as having a Nazi history, and is commonly displayed in Germany by white supremacists as a replacement for the swastika, which is banned. When asked about all this, the designer merely said the swastika had an interesting history, and to look up Alice Starmores pattern.
Contrast this with what happened when Stephen West had an inadvertent swastika in his design. He withdrew it, saying said he was horrified by any encouragement of white supremacists this may have accidentally caused. There is no neutral "swastika" design in this day and age (in a Western context), and those who stand by any resemblance is very likely dogwhistling for plausible deniability.
Please remove this pattern. Its not okay to even accidentally have something that looks so much like a hate symbol, and even the name "Baltic Cross" IS the name of an established hate symbol used as a dogwhistle for Nazism. I find it very hard to believe that the designer, with a Germanic name, would be totally unaware of both the history and the contemporaneous use, and very unlikely to be unaware of how much MORE like a swastika she made the design compared to claimed sources. Even if unaware, the response of most speaking in good faith would be very different to this designers response.
Please make your users feel welcome and safe. This does not belong here. |
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chekccard
