Taylor Swift Embraces the Swastika

1. Big Deal

Posted at 12:56PM on Oct 29th 2009 by Chris

2. What the FFFF? Why is this acceptable?

Posted at 12:57PM on Oct 29th 2009 by amberberglund

3. HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEN.

Idiots.

Posted at 12:57PM on Oct 29th 2009 by Lisa

4. Isnt that symbol common in India and doesnt have a negative meaning? I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one. I've seen that symbol on children games like Pokemon.

Posted at 2:39AM on Oct 30th 2009 by mike

5. She is not thinking, just like all the rest of the uneducated teens that dominate hollywood today.

Posted at 12:59PM on Oct 29th 2009 by Jack

6. Maybe she is too young or too dumb to know what it means. It is a symbol of hate. I am sure that soon we will hear some inane comments from her press rep (if she has one) trying to make nice about the whole thing.

Posted at 12:59PM on Oct 29th 2009 by Harriet

7. She should not have taken this pic as much as everyone was on her side after the whole Kanye incident this is just WRONG! I am sorry to say but she is stupid for posing in the pic and hope she just doesnt use the excuse "i didnt see his shirt before i took a picture with him" NOT RIGHT!

Posted at 1:02PM on Oct 29th 2009 by RJ

8. Instead of bashing Taylor, maybe you should bash Katy Perry for allowing the guy into her party dressed like that. I seriously doubt that she condones "a symbol of hate, murder and evil" as you so eloquently put it.

TMZ is always reaching so far to get their next story. Give me a break, she is not Mel Gibson for goodness sake!

Posted at 1:00PM on Oct 29th 2009 by noneofyourbusiness

9. It's not like she had it on her own shirt...yes, the guy is an idiot, though.

Posted at 1:00PM on Oct 29th 2009 by ejay

10. wtf is wrong with them

Posted at 1:00PM on Oct 29th 2009 by G

11. That isnt even the right way its backwards!

Posted at 1:00PM on Oct 29th 2009 by Christine

12. The industry is run my the illimunitI and devil worshipers

Posted at 1:01PM on Oct 29th 2009 by cam

13. I don't care if it is Halloween. The Swastika (in this form) shouldn't be celebrated. It promotes intolerance.

Taylor Swift should have known better.

Posted at 1:02PM on Oct 29th 2009 by amberberglund

14. The swastika (from Sanskrit svástika) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form. Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period and was first found in the Indus Valley Civilization of the Indian Subcontinent. It occurs today in the modern day culture of India, sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious symbol; it remains widely used in Eastern and Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Despite this usage, the symbol has become stigmatized and to some extent taboo in the Western world because of its iconic usage by Nazi Germany, and it has notably been outlawed in Germany if used as a symbol of Nazism (usage of the sign by religious groups is tolerated). Many modern political extremists and neo-nazi groups such as Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging , the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and Russian National Unity use stylised swastikas or similar symbols.
The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word svastika (in Devanagari स्वस्तिक), meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. The modern equivalent to the term would be a talisman. It is composed of su- (cognate with Greek ευ-, eu-), meaning "good, well" and asti, a verbal abstract to the root as "to be" (cognate with the Romance copula, coming ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *h1es-); svasti thus means "well-being." The suffix -ka either forms a diminutive or intensifies the verbal meaning, and svastika might thus be translated literally as "that which is associated with well-being," corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious." The word in this sense is first used in the Harivamsa. Monier-Williams notes that the shape of the symbol represents a monogram or interlacing of the letters of the word svasti written in Ashokan characters.
The Hindu Sanskrit term has been in use in English since 1871, replacing gammadion (from Greek γαμμάδιον). Alternative historical English spellings of the Sanskrit word include suastika, swastica and svastica.
Geometrically, the Nazi swastika can be regarded as (the area inside of) an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The proportions of it were fixed based on a 5x5 diagonal grid.
Characteristic is the 90° rotational symmetry and chirality, hence the absence of reflectional symmetry, and the existence of two versions of swastikas that are each other's mirror image.
The mirror-image forms are often described as:
clockwise and counterclockwise;
left-facing and right-facing;
left-hand and right-hand.
"Left-facing" and "right-facing" are used mostly consistently referring to the upper arm of an upright swastika facing either to the viewer's left (卍) or right (卐). The other two descriptions are ambiguous as it is unclear whether they refer to the arms as leading or being dragged or whether their bending is viewed outward or inward. However, "clockwise" usually refers to the "right-facing" swastika. The terms are used inconsistently (sometimes even by the same writer), which is confusing and may obfuscate an important point, that the rotation of the swastika may have symbolic relevance, although little is known about this symbolic relevance. Less confusing terms might be "clockwise-pointing" and "counterclockwise-pointing."
Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so both versions were present, one on each side, but the Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides and at a 45° rotation.
The name "sauwastika" is sometimes given to the left-facing form of the swastika

Posted at 1:02PM on Oct 29th 2009 by LIFE IS A DRAG

15. It is possible that it was photoshoped onto the t-shirt after the fact in an attempt to tarnish her image, sell it to a magazine or both.

Posted at 1:03PM on Oct 29th 2009 by Bec