Cleaning up a stack of old papers here, and I stumbled across this little Reuters story in the Sep 12th edition of the China Post:
Hundreds of Latvians knitting 4,500 pairs of woolen mittens as gifts for the November NATO summit have been told to avoid a folk symbol said to ward off evil since it looks like a Nazi swastika.
[…]
The Thunder Cross [or Fire Cross]…quite commonly features on such mittens and other folk items in Latvian shops.
Good call. While the Thunder Cross may have positive connotations for people living in Latvia, the swastika’s got some pretty negative ones for the rest of Europe.
Anyone who lives in Taiwan probably sees where I’m going with this. How is it that the Latvians managed to prevent a major diplomatic snafu with their decision not to hand out swastika mitts, but the anti-Chen crowd in Taiwan weren’t smart enough to figure out that people might just have a FEW doubts about their intentions if they adopted red as their "party" color?
I mean, this isn’t nuclear physics here. If you’re part of a European military organization, it’s a BAD idea to wear swastikas on your clothing. ‘Cause if you do, no one’s going to buy your story that it’s really just your "lucky Latvian Thunder Cross".
By the same token, if you live in a country like Taiwan, which owes its very EXISTENCE to the struggle against communism, getting your followers to wear red while demonstrating against a democratically-elected president is bound to raise a few eyebrows. If you innocently claim the color simply represents "people’s anger against the president", some folks are going to be a bit sceptical.
I don’t want to be the guy who sees a red under every bed, but…c’mon. You live 100 miles from COMMUNIST CHINA, and you chose RED as your rallying color?
At best, their sartorial choice shows exceptionally poor judgement. And that’s the kindest thing I can possibly say about it.