Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The meander isn't much of a symbol


I was thinking of doing a post on the meander's symbolism in ancient Greece, since the loathsome Golden Dawn has adopted it as an emblem, supposedly because of its Greekness and not because it looks like a Nazi symbol.

I discovered that for the ancient Greeks it symbolized ... not much. It's an archeological decoration named for a river with a bend in it, the Meander in Asia Minor. It may at times indicate the labyrinth of Greek mythology, in connection with the worship of the god Dionysus. But the subtlety of the labyrinth hardly seems relevant to a party whose platform is a straight rejection of all immigrants, even legal ones.

I thought "aha! the lack of meaningful symbolism indicates that they did choose it for its suggestions of Nazism."

Turns out this is a moot point, because they are being increasingly obvious about their fascist leanings. They just happen to like eagles, they just happen to adopt Nazi slogans.

Hopefully the Greeks' difficulties forming a government will save them from these wackos, and they will get a smaller proportion of the vote in the next election.

image credit Pin It

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