Swastikas in Irish Gardens and Clothing Stores Named “Hitler”

As one does, I found myself Googling a question that randomly came to mind, which may or may not inform my future decision-making, and I found an Irish Independent article from 2012 which brought a mischievous smile to my face – “Outrage at Nazi flag that flew in garden.” It told the story of a community of little Hobbits who were terrified that Saoron and his Orcs might one day come marching through their little village if they caught wind of the supporters who live amoung them. A family home out in the Shire flew a low-quality NSDAP flag out the back of their private home, near one of those plastic kids’ playhouses, alongside a United States flag. “Passerbys”, or more accurately, a politically active Irish Jew by the name of Denis Foley, approached the Gardai and one of his buddies in Fine Geal. Although no prohibitions exist in Irish law against the display of the Swastika exists, it was removed under the powers of both the Prohibition to Inciting Hatred Act of 1989 and generally under Public Order – as we all know, whether in the Shire or the domesticated inner-cities, the Hobbits are really quite afraid of this demonic sigil. They’re convinced that it’s very appearance in their environment would trigger something inside of the now-civilized Orcs and send them on a crazed killing spree. In their mystical world, things like jokes and critical thinking when it comes to the potential return of Saoron are not worth the candle.

And neither are cultural differences, despite how often and passionately you hear them defend cultural relativism. God forbid Africans, Arabs, and Indians would have a different experience and conclusion on history than that of the supremely intelligent Hobbits. When they say his name shall not be uttered, you damn well listen and not name your clothing stores and restaurants after him.

Accurate yet cringe-worthy metaphor aside, I honestly don’t see what the fuss is. If I didn’t live in such an irrational world I’d erect a 30 ft pole in my front garden and alternate the NSDAP flag, the Starry Plough, and the Confederate Battle Flag. The courageous men of 1930s Germany, post-Colonial Ireland, and 1800s America deserve to be remembered, yet we live in a time of complete and utter reversal of truth. Where’s the outcry when the United States flag is flown by Irish hotels or other institutions? A symbol of a Fascist regime under which 100s of millions have died, from the countless broken Native American treaties to the oil fields of Arabia and the diamond mines of Africa? Where’s the outcry when Communists fly the Hammer and Sickle, Red Star, or distribute media with those insignias on them? A disgusting anti-Human philosophy that has taken a collective of 700 million lives? Where’s the outcry when the Israeli flag or Star of David is flaunted in literature or on television? A symbol of a group of savage nomads who now own a state, responsible for the genocide of an entire nation as well as the subversion of the entire West, which we fight the wars for, and which is responsible for the majority of the lives taken under the aforementioned flags? This might seem like a non-issue or an unfair comparison to you, but that is just the extent of your brainwashing. If Human lives are truly your concern, then you’d be less frightened of the Swastika than you would the blood soaked flags governing the people who conquered Germany. Instead, most of us are very comfortable in our conditioning since the violence has not yet gotten to our doorstep, and even when it does we’ll place the blame on the messenger and not the true cause. We’re people of fairytales and ideologies that we defend with emotion, because we know they’ll never stand up to the scrutiny of critical thought. We are murderers by virtue of our existence. We are sleeepwalkers, pushing the gears of the infernal machine engulfing the world… yet we want to pretend as though we give a shit and that we’re Humanitarians by getting upset over a goddamn Swastika in somebody’s backyard.