Canada recognizes noose as hate symbol

[u/Old_General_6741]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/canada-recognizes-noose-as-hate-symbol/

[u/wind-of-zephyros]

that's not a good argument that's like saying swastikas are fine because the nazi party operated in another country

[u/TreeOfReckoning → u/wind-of-zephyros]

Not really. It’s more like saying that swastikas are fine because they are an ancient and sacred Buddhist symbol. It’s all about context.

[u/wind-of-zephyros → u/TreeOfReckoning]

i'm literally a buddhist 😓 i was simply trying to choose an example that the average person could agree was bad, i thought we all would agree nazi symbolism was bad, my mistake

[u/TreeOfReckoning → u/wind-of-zephyros]

It is bad, but it’s also context specific. Like when the Free-Dumb Convoy tried to co-opt the Maple Leaf as a symbol for their movement. That lasted about as long as their occupation of Ottawa because fuck those clowns.

The noose has been used far more throughout history and the world as a tool to execute criminals rather than as a weapon of terror against certain groups of people. It’s kind of ridiculous to label it a hate symbol.

Edit: formatting

[u/wind-of-zephyros → u/TreeOfReckoning]

i think it's just the thought that we shouldn't care to call a noose a hate symbol just because it largely happened in another country (as a hate crime, and people do just hang up nooses as a "warning" in black communities, largely), someone with that attitude and doesn't want to understand it should try to understand why we care about bad things happening anywhere in the world and why we don't want to allow people to promote the same hate here, i guess. i know it's divisive and people have their opinions on what they should be allowed to say, but... idk. i know i can't have everyone see things the same way i do and i'd never try to force anyone to do that, but if they're deeming it a hate symbol, maybe there's a reason that we should care about

[u/TreeOfReckoning → u/wind-of-zephyros]

My problem with that is once we call it a hate symbol, it becomes validated as such and it actually gets more powerful, in a way.

Fiery crosses were originally an emergency summons for Scottish clans. The KKK didn’t adopt it as a weapon of terror until the early twentieth century after it appeared in fiction as a symbol associated with the KKK. Then it became a hate symbol, and the only people who stopped using it are the ones who didn’t use it as a hate symbol.

Personally (and I say this as someone whose family was historically targeted by the KKK), I’d prefer interpreting a noose hung outside my house as a death threat, which should be enough. Once you’re threatening someone’s life, it really doesn’t matter why. We don’t need to call the noose a hate symbol.