Veterans cross to be taken down ?

[kage69]

Melt it down?? It was a hollow metal sculpture, probably already cut into the highest money bringing pieces and sold to a scrap yard with the proceeds buying the beer.

Negative. The tube structure was filled with concrete. Whomever took it obviously had help, or was 'one right thick cvnt' as a Welsh friend of mine would say.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

That may have been the intent, but by using a religious symbol it has the opposite effect for those who don't share that religion. The nationalistic, non religious explanation simply wouldn't fly if the marker were something non-christian. Trying to insinuate that a cross isn't religious is ridiculous. If someone were to erect a memorial based around a swastika, but with a disclaimer that it doesn't promote Nazism, you'd call shens in an instant (as well you should!)

I've been through military cemeteries more times than I can say, in all those years I never thought once about all those Christians. Neither does any other vet.

It's a matter of culture in context. You do know the swastika appears in other cultures, right? Should they be banned there because Hitler useD it?

 

[kage69]

I've been through military cemeteries more times than I can say, in all those years I never thought once about all those Christians.

Well then a missing cross shouldn't dismay you much. Just do keep in mind we're talking about a memorial and not grave markers. No one is saying a christian veteran can't have a cross or other christian symbol presented on their final resting place. If we're going to make a gesture of respect to the fallen, then I think hailing some of them with a symbol that they didn't believe in is a piss poor way to do it. How about we leave the religious symbols on the grave markers and call it a day?

Neither does any other vet.

You don't know that.

It's a matter of culture in context. You do know the swastika appears in other cultures, right?

Yep, Native American tribes, Japan, India - and in those cases the context would be entirely irrelevant as we're not discussing a memorial in Japan, India, or on some reservation. The historical context overrides it entirely, as we as a nation lost tens of thousands of lives to Nazism in a relatively recent conflict. That some Indian scribe drew swastikas or some Iroquois painted it backwards on his canoe doesn't mean much in the American cultural context.

Should they be banned there because Hitler useD it?

My example of the swastika was grounded in the context of meaning and association, not the legality of it's use. For what's worth I am a proud proponent of free speech. What someone in another country tries to ban doesn't concern me. I expect foreigners to butt out when it comes to our domestic policies. I like to reciprocate in a similar fashion.

 

[Thump553]

This is not a readily visible target.

In the middle of the desert; 70 miles from the nearest city - 20 miles from the nearest highway.

Look up the location on Google Maps

The cross was in the national news recently. I'm still placing my bet on bored drunk kids on a vandalism spree. Stealing it for scrap is pretty preposterous, can't see that as the motivation. Good luck persuading a court this is a hate crime when the proponents of this cross expressly argued, and the Supreme Court found, that it was not a religious symbol. You can't have it both ways.

Outside of the vandalism aspect, this upsets me almost as much as the war on Christmas.