People will always hate other people. No matter what you want to think, it’s always going to be a truth in life. It’s been this way since the beginning of time. In some countries people are outright with their hatred and carry it out through genocide or other hate crime atrocities.

Here, in America, we choose to be a bit more secretive and manipulative with our hatred… for the most part at least. We all know of the groups throughout the country that continue with past ideas of hatred that are passed down from generation to generation.

For example, many Southerners continue to fly their Confederate flags high and proud. Now, I can’t say that all people who put their rebel flags up are necessarily racist, but if they aren’t, then I can certainly say that they haven’t thought it through. There are certain symbols that stand for hatred of certain people that cannot be reclaimed for good.


So naturally when we see symbols like the Confederate flag or a swastika, we can’t help but assume that people sporting them are what their symbols suggest.

This is not to say that I believe that all people associated with these symbols are crazy bigots… necessarily. I was born in Georgia, and, as discussed before, Southerners love their “rebel flag,” but not all of them are racists. (Although there are quite a few that are.) I guess I would like to say that maybe it’s not terrible. Maybe it’s just a part of their heritage and all that. But then I just can’t justify it.

Then there’s the beloved swastika, which just has no justification remotely. Are there any reasons to sport the swastika without being a Nazi? Sure, if you’re playing a Nazi in a play or movie. Other than that, the obvious, creepy reputation remains. There was (duh) Hitler, Charles Manson and most recently Keith Luke.

Luke, 22, lives in Massachusetts and has been accused of murdering two people and raping a third. All of his victims were from Cape Verde, an island country off the west coast of Africa. At his arraignment on Wednesday, he showed up with a big ole swastika carved into his forehead. Hmm, what an original idea! Mini Hitler has decided to take it upon himself to rid America of blacks, Hispanics and Jews, which is what he supposedly told to authorities. Again, what an original idea!

There are many interesting aspects of this story.

The first is that the swastika was, indeed, not carved into his big head when he was arrested in January. He did it while in custody. This takes some serious motivation. I do not applaud him, but I am strangely interested in knowing how he managed to do it. The reports are saying it looked fresh.

The next issue at hand is that he must be truly proud of himself. Anyone with even a slight investment in proving their innocence would probably stay away from anything remotely swastika-like. But Luke’s showing it loud and proud.

On that note, now is a good time to mention that he plead “not guilty.” This is quite amusing to me because now, if we weren’t already before, we should all be convinced that this guy is completely out of his mind. Luke’s attorney seemed to think so, but the judge turned the idea of a mental hospital down… fast.

So, the moral of this story is to not be crazy. If you exhibit any of the symptoms listed below, you may want to get some help:

– longing to kill people
– longing to rape people
– longing to kill and/or rape people because you feel they are of an inferior race than you
– longing to put a swastika on your body, anyone else’s body, your belongings or anyone else’s belongings
– doing any of the above and believing that carving a swastika into your head will help you look innocent.

If you think you can get away with it, go ahead and follow Mr. Luke’s case and see how well it works out for you.

As for the swastika symbol and Confederate flag, they probably won’t ever go away, but neither will their implications. These symbols can never be reclaimed.