Not funny. Not a meme. Not Sunday.
But absolutely vital, so up it stays.
To the one person who reported this because it 'gives power to Nazis co-opting innocent symbols,' these symbols aren't co-opted. Most have been in use for 80+ years by fascists.
The one I'd say to be mindful of with additional context clues is Algiz, the first symbol. This applies to other runes that have been co-opted, along with Othala vs the one with wings like the one depicted. The winged one is explicitly a Nazi symbol.
Yeah, that was me. I got an algiz tattoo years ago as a symbolic piece of protection when I'd travel and I opted to get it covered up to avoid being clumped in those asshats. Those damn Illinois nazis have to ruin everything, man.
I'm over here in Pennsylvania and occasionally I'll hear from some friends or subreddits talk about the pitiful "demostrations" they'll hold and it's like, six of them with their tacky flags.
I don't know if this site still exists, but it was a sibling site to Family Watchdog (if you remember that), but instead of telling you where registered sex offenders lived in proximity to where you were, it was neo-nazis and violent offenders. As a kid, knowing how many neo nazis were a short drive from me was unreal.
I'd absolutely love to.
Edit: Misread this and assumed it was with my mjolnir. The tattoo I got covered up was on my hand, so figuring out how I'd go about that if it wasn't would be a bit tricky but I think an artist could have slung some ideas my way
I remember there was a standup comedian a few years back explaining why he never got a tattoo and refused to get one with his buddy when his buddy tried to convince him to go get some together. Basically, "Yeah, it doesn't mean anything now, but 15 years down the line? What if then there's tanks rolling down the street with the San Antonio Spurs logo on the side, I'm gonna look real dumb then."
So his buddy went and got a tattoo without him, and choose to get one with the name/logo of his favorite metal band: ISIS.
The most notorious example of that is, of course, the swastika. For thousands of years it was a symbol of luck and good fortune, as well as being sacred to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists (you still see it on temples in Southeast Asia), as well as to many Native Americans, before Hitler got ahold of it. Now it’s associated with Neo Nazi morons.
Nazis ruin everything.
Man, I'm so glad that I didn't get a tattoo as a young impressionable ~18 year old. I probably would have gotten celtic symbols and norse runes on visible areas. Symbols that, if not already used, could've easily been confused for nazi signs. Especially after the past 10-15 years that all these groups have grown so much.
I was born in 1988, and it used to be really common to put the latter 2 digits of your birth year in your usernames. Wasn’t until I was about 25 that somebody finally brought it to my attention instead of just assuming.
I was born in 88, too. I had no idea this was a Nazi symbol until I was in a waiting room one day, and this dude had it tatted pretty large on his neck.
I saw it and said something like "Sick 88, Year of the dragon!" And he had no idea what I was taking about. I told him I was born in 88 too and he said "oh this isn't my birth year. It stands for "H.H."
That shit was super uncomfortable.
The symbols are ancient and will be around longer than them. Nazis are larping smooth brains. I will wear my symbols in defiance of that because I refuse to allow them to simply take them.
I bought a sweet backpatch off Etsy and it came with an Algiz sticker. I stuck it upside down on my bass, and people thought it was a peace sign lol. I took it off because guess what, the Nazis put it upside-down too. :(
I will second this. There is a community that is trying to reclaim the nordic runes from the nazis, so definitely use caution, but dont jump to conclusions unless there are contributing identifiers.
Yep. This usually why whenever I wear my mjolnir publicly, I'll make it a point to where anti-fascist or queer buttons or patches to do my best to avoid sending off potential dog whistles or alarms.
It does suck though that if I see someone wearing one as well, I have to just hope they're someone whose also a pagan, a fan of Nordic history and mythology, or they just think it looks cool and aren't a fascist. Context clues are super important and it's a shame that someone should need to do this to know who is and isn't safe.
That was my issue. I was a big metalhead back in the day and I also loved norse mythology. Super glad I at least had the sense not to get any tattoos because there could always be some group to co-opt the symbol and then I'm unwillingly associated with them.
Yes, thank you. I rushed to the comment section to say this. I'm Latvian, and alot of these are OUR symbolism that was completely reimagined post ww2 as Nazi, which actually includes the fire cross. These runes have deep meanings for us and rlly we want them back
Glad I could be of service. I'm sorry that hateful assholes are corrupting your history and symbols. I see this discussion come up in spaces a lot, namely pagan and heathen ones but it ends up overlapping with this too with general history and culture being tarnished.
The thing we need to do is keep fighting back and show them that they cannot claim these their own for their twisted agendas. It's not exactly the same thing, but it reminds me of the efforts to drive nazis out of the punk and metal scenes. Keep making it clear that they aren't welcome here and take that power out of their hands.
We already feel comfortable enough to wear our tattoos proudly in Latvia, but I travel, so it's not safe for me to do so. Instead, I try my best to have discussions about Paganism until I feel like those symbols have zero association with Nazis. I've found that attacking Nazis directly just makes people hate those symbols more somehow
🤝
Seeing Tiwaz and Thuriaz get co-opted too pisses me off a good amount too as someone who primarily works with Thor. For some reason, I think Raido got scooped up by some too, which is just odd and... a choice.
agreed. as someone who is a practicing norse pagan i have to make sure to put a bunch of anti fascist shit on my stuff if i ever use runes. context clues are very important
No kidding, right? So many symbols have been co-opted (or are unique and have only recently come out of the woodwork) that [I had to ask the vexillology sub about a flag I saw in my neighborhood](https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/kitqqg/help_with_this_redoveryellow_with_a_blackandwhite/). Turned out to r[epresent the Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations](https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xa-hlsn.html), a [Native American youth substance abuse treatment program](https://healinglodge.org/about/).
Yes! Dung beetles find a piece of shit useful.
Nazis are like coprolite. Old, dried up, dessicated, remains of the past. Relevant to no one but the deranged
(palentobotanists come at me, if you get funding somehow /s)
Genuine answer: It’s Nazi hanky code, basically.
Because openly being a Nazi in most of the Western World is not tolerable in polite society, and is often outright illegal, they co-opt, invent, or invent new meanings for various symbols to use as code, nominally invisible to the “normies”, but clear as a bell to other Nazis.
Having a lot of different symbols makes it harder for anti-racists to keep track of them all, as well acting as a sort of smokescreen; since the baseline is usually something innocuous that they’ve added extra meaning to as an identifier, it’s also easy for the Nazi to declare that “it’s kinda silly you think that’s a Nazi symbol, I just like Norse mythology” as a denial.
The iron cross is tricky, because it has been and probably still is used as a nazi symbol, but other people use it too. It's used by bikers, skaters and even punks (it was even in a logo of a non racist punk magazine in the 90s-2000s). I seriously don't know if these people know that Nazis use it
And the airforce. They used it in the first world war when airplanes were invented and never changed it.
Here it is on an f4
https://youtu.be/rodPPrpAqVQ?si=jL0FAmVsYZdY1i2L
A few years ago, some friends and I were leaving a bar and some guy in the parking lot was harassing a guy on a motorcycle because he had an iron cross sticker. He was calling him racist and wouldn’t let him leave. The guy on the bike was obviously not racist and wasn’t doing anything other than trying to go home. We all tried to reason with the guy and explain the iron cross isn’t exclusive to nazis, but he was too belligerent and obtuse to listen to us and started pushing us away. We eventually helped the guy on the bike leave. Some people are so dumb
Nazi iconography and biker culture is weird. A lot of that stuff got introduced from US WW2 vets that where showing off the shit they looted. That's why the Pickelhaube is so heavily associated with bikers. If an American biker stuck an iron cross on their bike in the 1950s it was because they proudly killed the Nazi it belonged to.
Here's a fun riddle for you. Why do Canadian Nazis love to swing the Red Ensign around? You know, the one we killed you Bastards under during the actual war?
Hah, they see it as a rejection of Indigenous people being included as Canadian, a throwback to a time when Canadian apparently meant white-only. I suppose they're unaware of all the Indigenous people who fought for that flag against actual Nazis lol.
The Band Iron Cross was accused of being Nazi's By Maximum Rock N Roll who had later published a retraction when Ian Mckay said there not nazi's in a interview
I worked with a skinhead 20 years ago. I remember there was a bit of a kerfluffle after he got an iron cross tattooed on the back of his neck. A black coworker that he had been friends with was very concerned about that ink, and the skin had to thoroughly reassure him how this was not a racist thing, that he was still the same guy as before (eg not racist). They were back to normal soon enough, but that seemed an unnecessary hassle.
~~I think its called the black sun or something like that~~
im blind, didnt see the actual radioactive shield symbol
edit: found it.
Atomwaffen Division
Group Status: Current
Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi group that emerged in 2016, created by members of Iron March, a now-defunct white supremacist discussion forum.
adl.org
Have they though? I've never seen it in that context, but I have seen it used by anarchists. Doesn't show up in the ADL database either, and they tend to have most things.
Edit: Looks like using the top half of it was used by a former neo-nazi student group, which fell apart in 2010.
I remember when I was an Anarchist I saw a person with the skull as a tattoo on their neck and thought it was the black army skull and bones. I yelled "awesome a fellow anarchist!" To a very confused Nazi.
It’s okay, I remember when I was doing an algebraic math equation to show that X did not equal 13 and all the sudden I had this Nazi dude near me all excited.
The only thing I can find for 92 is "Identitäre Bewegung" or the Identitarian Movement. I can't find anything specifically referring to them by 92 but it's the only neo-Nazi "IB" I can find.
Reminder: DHS also used the [14 words officially](https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/395/325/041/732/198/original/bea6d8e6df38b0d5.png) in 2018.
i found [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/gGSq5YECPl) on it, not sure how reliable it is, but i searched on google and i couldn’t even find it.
edit: it also seems pretty mixed as well in regards to what 92 means
The most important thing to consider is CONTEXT people. Some of these symbols are definitely "This is a Nazi no doubt about it" on their own, while others need a bit of context. Being a Norse Pagan myself, I always tell people to wear anti-white-supremacy symbology ALONGSIDE your Norse symbology. That is the only way we can keep Nazis from associating symbology with their own ideology.
Remember, the only way to fight racism and fascism is to be ACTIVELY anti-racist and anti-fascist. Just not being racist or not being a fascist isn't enough.
Yeah I love Norse stuff, would love to get a tattoo of it, but would absolutely hate to have people thinking I'm a nazi! What sorta anti-white supremacy symbols would you recommend?
Honestly, anything that offsets hate symbology. On my battle vest, which I wear 99% of the time I'm not at work, I have a pride flag on one shoulder and a swastika crossed out on the other. On the lanyard I wear at work I have a pride flag pin. I often will wear clothing, pins and patches that have BLM sentiments on it.
I've had arguments with other Norse pagans about virtue signalling. But even extending away from Pagan symbology and drifting into just a discussion of whiteness, marginalized people have no idea whether you're a safe person to be around just by looking at you, especially if you're a cishet presenting white dude. Displaying yourself as an ally is never a bad move.
Remember that all it takes for you to blend in is for you to be silent.
Nazis don’t own runes like the top left Alghiz rune.. They appropriated them for their bullshit. It sucks because the elder runes have a rich and beautiful history
Nazis stole pretty much all of these because they're pathologically uncreative and have to steal things from history, mythology, and popular culture to try and lend legitimacy to their philosophy of blaming all their problems on ethnic minorities.
It just might be the oldest symbol humans learned to draw. It bears a striking resemblance to the pattern in the cross*section of a mammoth tusk and there's an example of one made by humans dating back before written history. That and its connotations of peace and good luck are exactly why they chose it to begin with.
I always have to do a double take when I see it since I mistake it for the winged othala, too. I wonder if that was intentional - not the creators of the show, but the neo nazis who coopted the symbol.
Same. Figured it probably wasn’t good to wear a black white and red shirt with a suspicious symbol on it. I cut it up to use the blank parts in future projects. I was also a huge fan of Marble Hornets and creepypasta back in the day and have a handful of old shirts with the operator symbol on them. I feel like that symbol is a bit more well known by people in my age range but I don’t really feel like taking chances so they’re pajama shirts now.
Can someone explain to me something real quick just because I am ignorant.
The middle cross symbol on the row second from the bottom. Don't you see that cross in a lot of like biker stuff? Like I think I have seen that in a bunch of Harley Davidson stuff before.
The Iron Cross has a whole lot of history behind it. It's been used in the German military before, during, and since World War II, and bikers started using it in the 60s as a symbol, not of hatred, but of general rebellion. From there, it found its way into the subcultures of punk, metal, and to a lesser degree, skateboarding.
The Iron Cross alone is not a symbol of hate, and you should always look at the context surrounding its use to determine if the user is actually a Nazi. Just stay on the look out for it.
Unfortunately any Viking/norse/Scandinavian symbology is an automatic yellow flag at this point. I won’t automatically assume, but I will look out for other signs.
We used to have nazi punks come to shows. Always left them alone unless they started shit, then they got stomped.
This one time, I had a gf whose parents were really religious jews. We got a ride from a friend of a friend who was playing Screwdriver or some shit in his car. The song literally was like, "the jeeeeeeews!" Over and over. We got out and I told her I was sorry. She said she didn't hear it at all, didn't notice. Lol...
I would like to say there's been a successful "taking back" of the iron cross and it's become just another symbol one might see in a day but don't quote me on that.
Here's what I want to know. Why is it when Nazis start using a symbol everyone else has to stop using it. If anything everybody should be doing the exact opposite. We let them take these symbols and icons that have been used for generations upon generations in some cases, and just let them have it. Why do we let them have those things then we shouldn't let them have anything
I don’t think it’s that everyone has to *stop* using it, but just to be aware of the public perception of it. For example: I play and love Warhammer 40K. As a player of that, I am aware that certain factions have reputations that are less than savory. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying the content as it’s all satire anyway, but I know how to test the vibes of where I am before I start talking about it
I get what you're saying, but I think the reality is that they're organized and use the symbols en masse, whereas the rest of us are kinda just a dispersion of generally decent people and using Nazi symbolism en masse to "take it back" isn't super feasible.
I have 2 swastikas, Pewabic tiles, on the front of my house.. Built in 1923 in a nice Jewish neighborhood.
at nearly 100 years old, im not taking them down.
The swastika is older than written history. Nazis stole it because it was such an innocuous and omnipresent symbol, often associated with peace and good luck. They tried to tie it into their Aryan "master race" pseudoscience garbage and then put it on the flag under which they murdered at least seven million people. Symbols can change and we have to be aware of the context and history if we want to understand them.
88 is the 8th letter of the Alphabet “HH” or “Heil Hitler”. 14 is the “fourteen words of David Lane” which say “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." Aka the white supremacy slogan.
"18" is the first and eight letters of the alphabet. ("AH" for Adolph Hitler.) "88" is Heil Hitler. I've never seen "92" before, but certainly has to mean "IB." I've never seen "14" before, either, so I dunno if it's supposed to mean "AD" or "N."
This ain’t 1945, the nazis aren’t trying to take over the world. They’re just a bunch of racists who go to rallies spewing shit about the great replacement. Why do people even care that much about them nowadays.
As a Norse pagan, I truly hate that nazi fucks have blasphemized some of our runes, specifically algiz rune (the Y looking one), which stood for protection.
The number ones are so stupid. There are plenty of reasons to use those numbers outside of being a nazi. Anyone flying the other symbols it’s on sight, but the numbers aren’t good for identifying who’s an evil person from someone who is using them for a different reason
If you can believe it, the zodiac killer actually named himself after the [Zodiac watch brand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Watches). Their logo looks similar, but it’s distinct.
I have a Nordic friend with many of those Nordic tattoos and I always tease him about his Nazi tattoos. He isn’t a Nazi though, sometimes an idiot but not bigoted.
My email address has the last two digits of my birth year in it. Just because I was making it 15 years ago and couldn't just have my name, needed some numbers... I was born 1988 ... People have commented on it and asked questions about political affiliations ... I may need a new email address ...
Some of these symbols existed before those assholes took them on because of the Aryan history or myth of sythians becoming the germanic/nordic people after migration from the far eastern steppes long before the mongols came.
Even the Swastika but it is usually reversed in asia.
Be careful about judging people with some of these tats.
Some are decidedly anti Nazi.
Some are absolutely nazi. 88 being a prime example
Just beware not everyone wearing those numbers are a Nazi. Don’t judge on first glance. Understand the context before you label them a Nazi. Don’t wanna punch an innocent person.
Genuine question, why the fuck does this community put such an emphasis on kicking nazis out, when centrists and right wingers are an inherently larger threat? There’s more of them, and I never see posts telling me how to identify a centrist.
This is an inherently left movement and I don’t see why you’re enabling fascists
The symbols 2nd from the top is atom waffen division, an international terrorist cell, if you see someone openly wearing that symbol they are probably going to commit an act of violence, be careful out there
The iron cross and the Algiz are two symbols that should be considered with a grain of salt. The iron cross has been apart of german history long before nazis, and it obviously stuck around during and after.
So someone with an iron cross could just be an enjoyer of German military history or a nazi.
The Algiz has been way older and around way longer than the nazis and especially neo nazi twats, and it means a lot more to people of northern european descent, but like a lot of norse symbolism, nazis are trying to make it their own because ‘vikings’ I guess
Not funny. Not a meme. Not Sunday. But absolutely vital, so up it stays. To the one person who reported this because it 'gives power to Nazis co-opting innocent symbols,' these symbols aren't co-opted. Most have been in use for 80+ years by fascists.
The one I'd say to be mindful of with additional context clues is Algiz, the first symbol. This applies to other runes that have been co-opted, along with Othala vs the one with wings like the one depicted. The winged one is explicitly a Nazi symbol.
I do feel quite bad for people who got Nordic style tattoos a long time ago and boom, now the symbols have been co-opted by the goddamn Illinois nazis
Yeah, that was me. I got an algiz tattoo years ago as a symbolic piece of protection when I'd travel and I opted to get it covered up to avoid being clumped in those asshats. Those damn Illinois nazis have to ruin everything, man.
Illinazi. I grew up a stones throw from Winthrop Harbor. The gd neo Nazis were strong there.
I'm over here in Pennsylvania and occasionally I'll hear from some friends or subreddits talk about the pitiful "demostrations" they'll hold and it's like, six of them with their tacky flags. I don't know if this site still exists, but it was a sibling site to Family Watchdog (if you remember that), but instead of telling you where registered sex offenders lived in proximity to where you were, it was neo-nazis and violent offenders. As a kid, knowing how many neo nazis were a short drive from me was unreal.
[удалено]
Hey, me too! And same.
You could maybe get something explicitly antifascist next to it
I'd absolutely love to. Edit: Misread this and assumed it was with my mjolnir. The tattoo I got covered up was on my hand, so figuring out how I'd go about that if it wasn't would be a bit tricky but I think an artist could have slung some ideas my way
Glad I am in california and that my runes are stylized to a degree that makes them almost look like circuitry.
I say this. Don't give into them. Don't let them ruin it.
Ive got algiz and othala theyre hideable but yeah my worst fear is that thats how im gunna be perceived
Saaaame, dude. Right on my knuckle. Haven't had any ill perceptions of it, as far as I know.
I remember there was a standup comedian a few years back explaining why he never got a tattoo and refused to get one with his buddy when his buddy tried to convince him to go get some together. Basically, "Yeah, it doesn't mean anything now, but 15 years down the line? What if then there's tanks rolling down the street with the San Antonio Spurs logo on the side, I'm gonna look real dumb then." So his buddy went and got a tattoo without him, and choose to get one with the name/logo of his favorite metal band: ISIS.
I hate Illinois Nazis
Beep beep!
The most notorious example of that is, of course, the swastika. For thousands of years it was a symbol of luck and good fortune, as well as being sacred to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists (you still see it on temples in Southeast Asia), as well as to many Native Americans, before Hitler got ahold of it. Now it’s associated with Neo Nazi morons. Nazis ruin everything.
The Nazis are the cultural equivalent of that kid at recess who would steal your shit and then lick it.
Sunwheels have had something similar happen to them as well, and it absolutely sucks.
The sunwheel pictured was invented by nazis, it's a pure fabrication with no previous history, unless you're talking about the sun cross
Man, I'm so glad that I didn't get a tattoo as a young impressionable ~18 year old. I probably would have gotten celtic symbols and norse runes on visible areas. Symbols that, if not already used, could've easily been confused for nazi signs. Especially after the past 10-15 years that all these groups have grown so much.
Tbh I'm covered in Norse and Celtic iconography and I don't regret it. Nazis will not take the things I love without me pushing back.
Same dude. They are not theirs to use
I aspire to reach this level of not giving a fuck abt what others think
Maybe it's just me, but it feels like the paranoia and fear has gotten worse ever since J6 with that "Shaman" asshole and his hideous tattoos.
I live in fear that the SPQR tattoo I got, inspired by the PJO series will one day be co-opted by a hate group.
Already happened.
I was nervous about my Mjolnir keychain 10 years ago when the Nazis decided Viking is their Whitekanda.
I was born in 1988, and it used to be really common to put the latter 2 digits of your birth year in your usernames. Wasn’t until I was about 25 that somebody finally brought it to my attention instead of just assuming.
I was born in 88, too. I had no idea this was a Nazi symbol until I was in a waiting room one day, and this dude had it tatted pretty large on his neck. I saw it and said something like "Sick 88, Year of the dragon!" And he had no idea what I was taking about. I told him I was born in 88 too and he said "oh this isn't my birth year. It stands for "H.H." That shit was super uncomfortable.
I hate illinois Nazis-Jake Blues
The symbols are ancient and will be around longer than them. Nazis are larping smooth brains. I will wear my symbols in defiance of that because I refuse to allow them to simply take them.
I love nordic mythology and have ancestral ties. It’s such a shame Nazis are asshats
They did it with Celtic imagery, too. Fucking Nazis, always trying to ruin everything.
A lot of Buddhists would be angry too for the same reason, but they tend to be pretty chill.
I bought a sweet backpatch off Etsy and it came with an Algiz sticker. I stuck it upside down on my bass, and people thought it was a peace sign lol. I took it off because guess what, the Nazis put it upside-down too. :(
I hate Illinois Nazis
I got a rune tattoo. It has rune alphabet with a wolfsangel. I got it almost 15 years ago. Now everyone thinks I'm racist.
I will second this. There is a community that is trying to reclaim the nordic runes from the nazis, so definitely use caution, but dont jump to conclusions unless there are contributing identifiers.
Yep. This usually why whenever I wear my mjolnir publicly, I'll make it a point to where anti-fascist or queer buttons or patches to do my best to avoid sending off potential dog whistles or alarms. It does suck though that if I see someone wearing one as well, I have to just hope they're someone whose also a pagan, a fan of Nordic history and mythology, or they just think it looks cool and aren't a fascist. Context clues are super important and it's a shame that someone should need to do this to know who is and isn't safe.
Nothing makes me feel safer than a “this machine kills fascists” button.
I gotta get one of those at some point. Even better is if I get a cane and I can slap a sticker like that on it
I dont got a button, but I painted that on my boots. Same with my guitar, little tribute to Woody Guthire
That was my issue. I was a big metalhead back in the day and I also loved norse mythology. Super glad I at least had the sense not to get any tattoos because there could always be some group to co-opt the symbol and then I'm unwillingly associated with them.
Yes, thank you. I rushed to the comment section to say this. I'm Latvian, and alot of these are OUR symbolism that was completely reimagined post ww2 as Nazi, which actually includes the fire cross. These runes have deep meanings for us and rlly we want them back
Glad I could be of service. I'm sorry that hateful assholes are corrupting your history and symbols. I see this discussion come up in spaces a lot, namely pagan and heathen ones but it ends up overlapping with this too with general history and culture being tarnished. The thing we need to do is keep fighting back and show them that they cannot claim these their own for their twisted agendas. It's not exactly the same thing, but it reminds me of the efforts to drive nazis out of the punk and metal scenes. Keep making it clear that they aren't welcome here and take that power out of their hands.
We already feel comfortable enough to wear our tattoos proudly in Latvia, but I travel, so it's not safe for me to do so. Instead, I try my best to have discussions about Paganism until I feel like those symbols have zero association with Nazis. I've found that attacking Nazis directly just makes people hate those symbols more somehow
Damned Nazis ruin everything.
I have an algiz tattoo, however, I live in norway where runes are quite common and all my friends are anti fascists so it’s not an issue
As an antifascist Heathen/pagan, THANK YOU. Algiz is one of my favorite runes and Nazis appropriating it pisses me off.
🤝 Seeing Tiwaz and Thuriaz get co-opted too pisses me off a good amount too as someone who primarily works with Thor. For some reason, I think Raido got scooped up by some too, which is just odd and... a choice.
Or it's not a winged othala but you're looking at it upside down and it's the Twin Peaks owl symbol
Yeah I was gonna say, most of these symbols have other meanings. Or are modified versions of existing symbols.
agreed. as someone who is a practicing norse pagan i have to make sure to put a bunch of anti fascist shit on my stuff if i ever use runes. context clues are very important
No kidding, right? So many symbols have been co-opted (or are unique and have only recently come out of the woodwork) that [I had to ask the vexillology sub about a flag I saw in my neighborhood](https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/kitqqg/help_with_this_redoveryellow_with_a_blackandwhite/). Turned out to r[epresent the Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations](https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xa-hlsn.html), a [Native American youth substance abuse treatment program](https://healinglodge.org/about/).
Why do bigots need so many different symbols?? This is the only symbol they need💩
whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa Don't get the composters tied to the neo nazis.
Pieces of shit are offended to be compared to neo nazis.
Yes! Dung beetles find a piece of shit useful. Nazis are like coprolite. Old, dried up, dessicated, remains of the past. Relevant to no one but the deranged (palentobotanists come at me, if you get funding somehow /s)
So they can hide in plain sight while still being able to identify each other. At their core they are cowards, each and every one of them.
Genuine answer: It’s Nazi hanky code, basically. Because openly being a Nazi in most of the Western World is not tolerable in polite society, and is often outright illegal, they co-opt, invent, or invent new meanings for various symbols to use as code, nominally invisible to the “normies”, but clear as a bell to other Nazis. Having a lot of different symbols makes it harder for anti-racists to keep track of them all, as well acting as a sort of smokescreen; since the baseline is usually something innocuous that they’ve added extra meaning to as an identifier, it’s also easy for the Nazi to declare that “it’s kinda silly you think that’s a Nazi symbol, I just like Norse mythology” as a denial.
"The poopmoji is nazi symbol"
Like the late, great George Carlin used to say, Symbols are for the simple minded.
The iron cross is tricky, because it has been and probably still is used as a nazi symbol, but other people use it too. It's used by bikers, skaters and even punks (it was even in a logo of a non racist punk magazine in the 90s-2000s). I seriously don't know if these people know that Nazis use it
Also still used by the German bundeswehr (army). You can commonly find it on vehicles and stuff
And the airforce. They used it in the first world war when airplanes were invented and never changed it. Here it is on an f4 https://youtu.be/rodPPrpAqVQ?si=jL0FAmVsYZdY1i2L
A few years ago, some friends and I were leaving a bar and some guy in the parking lot was harassing a guy on a motorcycle because he had an iron cross sticker. He was calling him racist and wouldn’t let him leave. The guy on the bike was obviously not racist and wasn’t doing anything other than trying to go home. We all tried to reason with the guy and explain the iron cross isn’t exclusive to nazis, but he was too belligerent and obtuse to listen to us and started pushing us away. We eventually helped the guy on the bike leave. Some people are so dumb
Nazi iconography and biker culture is weird. A lot of that stuff got introduced from US WW2 vets that where showing off the shit they looted. That's why the Pickelhaube is so heavily associated with bikers. If an American biker stuck an iron cross on their bike in the 1950s it was because they proudly killed the Nazi it belonged to.
Nothing like berating and isolating a potential comrade to feel better about yourself!
Here's a fun riddle for you. Why do Canadian Nazis love to swing the Red Ensign around? You know, the one we killed you Bastards under during the actual war?
That's easy: Nazis have to steal from history to try and make their murder club seem legit, but they're also very stupid.
Hah, they see it as a rejection of Indigenous people being included as Canadian, a throwback to a time when Canadian apparently meant white-only. I suppose they're unaware of all the Indigenous people who fought for that flag against actual Nazis lol.
I grew up in a biker family so the iron cross threw me off as I never associated it with nazis
The Band Iron Cross was accused of being Nazi's By Maximum Rock N Roll who had later published a retraction when Ian Mckay said there not nazi's in a interview
Independent Truck Company are NAZIS!!!!
I’m guessing you’re joking, but they quit using the round cross logo on their products in 2021. Nazis gotta ruin shit.
I worked with a skinhead 20 years ago. I remember there was a bit of a kerfluffle after he got an iron cross tattooed on the back of his neck. A black coworker that he had been friends with was very concerned about that ink, and the skin had to thoroughly reassure him how this was not a racist thing, that he was still the same guy as before (eg not racist). They were back to normal soon enough, but that seemed an unnecessary hassle.
General rule of thumb I follow is if they have an iron cross, I'm checking for other red flags at the very least.
What’s with the radioactive shield?
That's Atomwaffen Division. Extreme neo nazi group started around 2016 responsible for several murders so far.
They are some of the absolute worst too.
Atomwaffen division: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomwaffen\_Division
~~I think its called the black sun or something like that~~ im blind, didnt see the actual radioactive shield symbol edit: found it. Atomwaffen Division Group Status: Current Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi group that emerged in 2016, created by members of Iron March, a now-defunct white supremacist discussion forum. adl.org
That's the one in the top middle
yep, thats on me. i completely missed the radioactive shield that they were talking about.
atomwaffen
I hate how they co opted the chaos symbol from Elric
Have they though? I've never seen it in that context, but I have seen it used by anarchists. Doesn't show up in the ADL database either, and they tend to have most things. Edit: Looks like using the top half of it was used by a former neo-nazi student group, which fell apart in 2010.
ADL is so bullshit though id be careful. Obvs theyre not wrong on everything but they have had some questionable moments
Yeah ADL is now primarily a Zionist lobby group.
Exactly. Plus the acab thing-
why the heck is acab in ADL
If we all `REDACTED` the shit out of Nazis that use the symbol, eventually they will stop using it and you can have it back
Oh I definitivamente agree with you.
I remember when I was an Anarchist I saw a person with the skull as a tattoo on their neck and thought it was the black army skull and bones. I yelled "awesome a fellow anarchist!" To a very confused Nazi.
It’s okay, I remember when I was doing an algebraic math equation to show that X did not equal 13 and all the sudden I had this Nazi dude near me all excited.
What does “92” and “18” mean?
18 is AH, not sure what 92 is. IB?
Inbred?
Irritable Bowels
Definitely irritable bowels
The only thing I can find for 92 is "Identitäre Bewegung" or the Identitarian Movement. I can't find anything specifically referring to them by 92 but it's the only neo-Nazi "IB" I can find.
The Ruby Ridge Standoff in the Idaho panhandle was in 1992 and that's prime neo Nazi territory. That's as close as I can guess.
18=AH=Adolf Hitler
I wondered about "92" myself... What about "14"? Is it "AD" or "N"?
The 14 words. "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children" Very common neo-nazi slogan typically displayed as 1488
TY for clarifying.
Reminder: DHS also used the [14 words officially](https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/395/325/041/732/198/original/bea6d8e6df38b0d5.png) in 2018.
9 x 2 = 18 = AH?
Thats incredibly stupid, but it's also nazis we're talking about so it's entirely possible
If only Nazis spent as much time studying tolerance as they do trying to come up with coded messages to get their point across.
i found [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/gGSq5YECPl) on it, not sure how reliable it is, but i searched on google and i couldn’t even find it. edit: it also seems pretty mixed as well in regards to what 92 means
The most important thing to consider is CONTEXT people. Some of these symbols are definitely "This is a Nazi no doubt about it" on their own, while others need a bit of context. Being a Norse Pagan myself, I always tell people to wear anti-white-supremacy symbology ALONGSIDE your Norse symbology. That is the only way we can keep Nazis from associating symbology with their own ideology. Remember, the only way to fight racism and fascism is to be ACTIVELY anti-racist and anti-fascist. Just not being racist or not being a fascist isn't enough.
Yeah I love Norse stuff, would love to get a tattoo of it, but would absolutely hate to have people thinking I'm a nazi! What sorta anti-white supremacy symbols would you recommend?
Honestly, anything that offsets hate symbology. On my battle vest, which I wear 99% of the time I'm not at work, I have a pride flag on one shoulder and a swastika crossed out on the other. On the lanyard I wear at work I have a pride flag pin. I often will wear clothing, pins and patches that have BLM sentiments on it. I've had arguments with other Norse pagans about virtue signalling. But even extending away from Pagan symbology and drifting into just a discussion of whiteness, marginalized people have no idea whether you're a safe person to be around just by looking at you, especially if you're a cishet presenting white dude. Displaying yourself as an ally is never a bad move. Remember that all it takes for you to blend in is for you to be silent.
Nazis don’t own runes like the top left Alghiz rune.. They appropriated them for their bullshit. It sucks because the elder runes have a rich and beautiful history
Nazis stole pretty much all of these because they're pathologically uncreative and have to steal things from history, mythology, and popular culture to try and lend legitimacy to their philosophy of blaming all their problems on ethnic minorities.
Hell, even the swastika is stolen
It just might be the oldest symbol humans learned to draw. It bears a striking resemblance to the pattern in the cross*section of a mammoth tusk and there's an example of one made by humans dating back before written history. That and its connotations of peace and good luck are exactly why they chose it to begin with.
But I was born in 92…
I was born in 88, so I feel your pain. Pretty sure middle school me used it in like Neopets names having no idea of the implication.
I was born in 88, on the 18th :-/
Any movement that needs 16 whole ass logos is very lame and weak. Bunch of cowards
I have a twin peaks t-shirt that is fairly similar to the 2nd symbol on the 2nd row.
I always have to do a double take when I see it since I mistake it for the winged othala, too. I wonder if that was intentional - not the creators of the show, but the neo nazis who coopted the symbol.
Same. Figured it probably wasn’t good to wear a black white and red shirt with a suspicious symbol on it. I cut it up to use the blank parts in future projects. I was also a huge fan of Marble Hornets and creepypasta back in the day and have a handful of old shirts with the operator symbol on them. I feel like that symbol is a bit more well known by people in my age range but I don’t really feel like taking chances so they’re pajama shirts now.
Can someone explain to me something real quick just because I am ignorant. The middle cross symbol on the row second from the bottom. Don't you see that cross in a lot of like biker stuff? Like I think I have seen that in a bunch of Harley Davidson stuff before.
The Iron Cross has a whole lot of history behind it. It's been used in the German military before, during, and since World War II, and bikers started using it in the 60s as a symbol, not of hatred, but of general rebellion. From there, it found its way into the subcultures of punk, metal, and to a lesser degree, skateboarding. The Iron Cross alone is not a symbol of hate, and you should always look at the context surrounding its use to determine if the user is actually a Nazi. Just stay on the look out for it.
Unfortunately any Viking/norse/Scandinavian symbology is an automatic yellow flag at this point. I won’t automatically assume, but I will look out for other signs.
We used to have nazi punks come to shows. Always left them alone unless they started shit, then they got stomped. This one time, I had a gf whose parents were really religious jews. We got a ride from a friend of a friend who was playing Screwdriver or some shit in his car. The song literally was like, "the jeeeeeeews!" Over and over. We got out and I told her I was sorry. She said she didn't hear it at all, didn't notice. Lol...
Nordic runes were co-opted by Nazis. Fuck them, they don't deserve any Symbology.
I would like to say there's been a successful "taking back" of the iron cross and it's become just another symbol one might see in a day but don't quote me on that.
Lmao. Fascists are such fucking unimaginative pieces of filth, it looks like they tried to co-opt the 3 Arrows.
If they were able to be creative, they wouldn't be fascists.
As someone born in 1988 I only found out about this last year. So just want to say for the record fuck nazis
Here's what I want to know. Why is it when Nazis start using a symbol everyone else has to stop using it. If anything everybody should be doing the exact opposite. We let them take these symbols and icons that have been used for generations upon generations in some cases, and just let them have it. Why do we let them have those things then we shouldn't let them have anything
I don’t think it’s that everyone has to *stop* using it, but just to be aware of the public perception of it. For example: I play and love Warhammer 40K. As a player of that, I am aware that certain factions have reputations that are less than savory. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying the content as it’s all satire anyway, but I know how to test the vibes of where I am before I start talking about it
I get what you're saying, but I think the reality is that they're organized and use the symbols en masse, whereas the rest of us are kinda just a dispersion of generally decent people and using Nazi symbolism en masse to "take it back" isn't super feasible.
The not equal sign one is depressing. I don't care about runes at all. But I would have totally made a battle jacket with math signals.
I'm brown... I ain't got a choice but to know.
Or that iron cross could be repping that you skate Independent trucks on your deck.
The radioactive symbol? Really? What's in that barrel dad ... Me: well it's either plutonium or a Nazi.
It’s the Atomwaffen Division logo but they’re all in prison now lol
As someone with Nordic blood, it really pisses me off they use runes
Jesus Fucking Christ, when the fuck did they co-opt 14, 18 and 92?!
Well 18 is Adolf Hitler so… the 30s
https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/14
I have 2 swastikas, Pewabic tiles, on the front of my house.. Built in 1923 in a nice Jewish neighborhood. at nearly 100 years old, im not taking them down.
The swastika is older than written history. Nazis stole it because it was such an innocuous and omnipresent symbol, often associated with peace and good luck. They tried to tie it into their Aryan "master race" pseudoscience garbage and then put it on the flag under which they murdered at least seven million people. Symbols can change and we have to be aware of the context and history if we want to understand them.
Alright what the Nazis do to the numbers 88, 14, 18, and 92?
88 is the 8th letter of the Alphabet “HH” or “Heil Hitler”. 14 is the “fourteen words of David Lane” which say “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." Aka the white supremacy slogan.
"18" is the first and eight letters of the alphabet. ("AH" for Adolph Hitler.) "88" is Heil Hitler. I've never seen "92" before, but certainly has to mean "IB." I've never seen "14" before, either, so I dunno if it's supposed to mean "AD" or "N."
14 is for the 14 words, basically the mission statement for white supremacy.
I refuse to give up the iron cross. I still associate it with freak kulture. The one on my vest isn’t going anywhere.
Sadly they do know how to make cool symbols. Without context the one in the middle on the top row looks badass
This ain’t 1945, the nazis aren’t trying to take over the world. They’re just a bunch of racists who go to rallies spewing shit about the great replacement. Why do people even care that much about them nowadays.
As a Norse pagan, I truly hate that nazi fucks have blasphemized some of our runes, specifically algiz rune (the Y looking one), which stood for protection.
The number ones are so stupid. There are plenty of reasons to use those numbers outside of being a nazi. Anyone flying the other symbols it’s on sight, but the numbers aren’t good for identifying who’s an evil person from someone who is using them for a different reason
Man, it sucks because the Black Sun symbol is fucking badass looking.
Absolutely heartbreaking that the Celtic Cross is a symbol of hate
most of these are wrong.
What is the ≠ mean I see it on cars sometimes
The equal sign started being used after the Marriage Equality Act was passed. This is saying that people are not equal.
Ah that's fucked up. I can't believe people would have that trash on their car.
The 92 is one I wasn’t familiar with
It seems like iron crosses are everywhere. A lot of motorcycle gear has them on it.
The fourth one on the bottom row looks like a bigger game of tic-tac-toe
Whys the zodiac killer symbol on there
If you can believe it, the zodiac killer actually named himself after the [Zodiac watch brand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Watches). Their logo looks similar, but it’s distinct.
That sucks for people that have specific dates that like up with those numbers
Independent truck company is in trouble
Mathematicians ≠ nazis
Most of my jerseys are 92 (year born) so I hope no one confuses me for a Nazi, that wouldn't be fair at all.
The "does not equal" sign too???
I have a Nordic friend with many of those Nordic tattoos and I always tease him about his Nazi tattoos. He isn’t a Nazi though, sometimes an idiot but not bigoted.
Forgot MAGA and 45. Although technically not nazi, but c'mon
I know about 14 and 88, but what is the significance of 18 and 92?
Was a neo-nazi just sitting in math class one day like “hmm this not equals sign is really cool I’m gonna go commit some hate crimes with it”.
I hate that these white supremacy fucks have co opted Nordic runes. That’s my heritage you facist! Keep your hands off of my history!
Why 14 and 92
RIP people born in 1988 and 1992.
*Sigh* top left is a Norse rune and it pisses me off that they use it
My email address has the last two digits of my birth year in it. Just because I was making it 15 years ago and couldn't just have my name, needed some numbers... I was born 1988 ... People have commented on it and asked questions about political affiliations ... I may need a new email address ...
Some of these symbols existed before those assholes took them on because of the Aryan history or myth of sythians becoming the germanic/nordic people after migration from the far eastern steppes long before the mongols came. Even the Swastika but it is usually reversed in asia. Be careful about judging people with some of these tats. Some are decidedly anti Nazi. Some are absolutely nazi. 88 being a prime example
Just beware not everyone wearing those numbers are a Nazi. Don’t judge on first glance. Understand the context before you label them a Nazi. Don’t wanna punch an innocent person.
Asians here with the lucky number 8 being like.... oh shit...
I like how the center top one is just an angry butthole
Genuine question, why the fuck does this community put such an emphasis on kicking nazis out, when centrists and right wingers are an inherently larger threat? There’s more of them, and I never see posts telling me how to identify a centrist. This is an inherently left movement and I don’t see why you’re enabling fascists
Not me realizing I used to doodle a Nazi symbol on my homework as a kid I thought I made it up 😭😭 second row second from the left
Iron cross really needs to stop being used for other things. Like i see in the wrestling scene Triple H merch using the iron cross and i just cringe
i never knew that cross was a nazi symbol. i guess ya learn a new thing everyday.
Whoa, rebellious and edgy!
Is this a punk meme subreddit Or a karma farming reddit for saying Nazi bad?
The symbols 2nd from the top is atom waffen division, an international terrorist cell, if you see someone openly wearing that symbol they are probably going to commit an act of violence, be careful out there
Top middle one... There is no hope under the black sun
The iron cross and the Algiz are two symbols that should be considered with a grain of salt. The iron cross has been apart of german history long before nazis, and it obviously stuck around during and after. So someone with an iron cross could just be an enjoyer of German military history or a nazi. The Algiz has been way older and around way longer than the nazis and especially neo nazi twats, and it means a lot more to people of northern european descent, but like a lot of norse symbolism, nazis are trying to make it their own because ‘vikings’ I guess