Symbol in e-mail message

users
#1

Could Brad Rogers explain what the symbol embedded in his e-mail
message is?

#2

Are you talking about the ASCII art capital B?

jonathon

#3

Are you talking about the ASCII art capital B?

No, the thing that looks like a Nazi symbol.

#4

I only was able to find 2 messages from Brad, both lacking any
Nazi-symbol-like shape. I even tried to look at those messages in different
fonts, both monospaced and proportional to no avail.

There is only one symbolic thing in his mails:

  _
/ )
/ _)rad

which looks very much like a "B" and very unlike a swastika.

Are you talking about the ASCII art capital B?

No, the thing that looks like a Nazi symbol.

Freundliche Grüße

#5

I only was able to find 2 messages from Brad, both lacking any
Nazi-symbol-like shape.

I think you are mistaken. His messages contain a graphic embedded in
the header, using a new technique called X-face, which places a
graphical image in all e-mail messages. Perhaps your e-mail program is
not displaying them.

In fact you can see the symbol he uses at other sites, such as
http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.user/282865. It’s also
cached at
http://cache.gmane.org//gmane/linux/debian/user/282972-xface.png.

#6

Hello Klaus, Séamas et al,

I only was able to find 2 messages from Brad, both lacking any
Nazi-symbol-like shape.

I was going to reply off-list, but things seem to have taken a bad turn.

Séamas is referring to the X-Face: header. Not all MUAs show them, plus
those that also understand Face: headers display those in preference.

The symbol is the logo of a band called Crass - An English anarcho-punk
group of the late 70s and into the 80s. Nothing at all to do with
Fascism. That Séamas sees a similarity is unfortunate.

#7

Wikipedia disagrees: "[T]he Crass logo was an amalgam of several 'icons of authority' including the Christian cross, the swastika, the Union Jack and a two-headed Ouroboros ...".

Brian Barker

#8

Wikipedia is not an authority...

And there was no need for me to point this out, since you already knew!

... it's a collection of opinion pieces.

Just like your opinion, then?

In fact, Wikipedia, as usual, gives its sources for these claims - including interviews with the band itself. So you shouldn't dismiss it too easily.

Brian Barker

#9

Hi :slight_smile:
I think the "..." bit hides crucial context = "(symbolising the idea that
power will eventually destroy itself)."

Without that context the meaning seems to be reversed. Crass were not
combining those "icons of authority" to show respect to all or any of
them!! Quite the reverse! They were so anti-authority that they made it
clear their was no leader of their own band, even using household lighting
and avoiding spot-lights or highlighting any member of their band in any
way.

Apparently they were anti-war, anti-consumerist and pro-feminist but evenly
split between being pacifist or direct-action. They took part in
precursors to the anti-globalisation rallies, supporting GreenPeace.

Their militaristic logo does seem a bit chilling to me and a lot of their
actions seem quite questionable but back in their day there wasn't such a
large number of strong world-wide community organisations producing such
positive and well known alternatives to corporate greed. Maybe if they
were around now they would be highly active in communities such as TDF
without needing (or being forced into) the negative aspects of their rage.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: