Friday, March 5, 2021

Oops?

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year was held Feb. 25-28 in Orlando, Florida.  Social Media users quickly noted that the unusual stage design for the event is essentially the "Odal Rune":  

Quoth Wikipedia:

"This symbol was adopted in Nazi Germany as the badge of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office, responsible for maintaining the racial purity of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), as well as by the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen, the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland, and many neo-Nazi groups worldwide...The symbol was later used by American white supremacists.

....DC-area design firm Design Foundry took responsibility for the staging design, saying that they "had no idea that the design resembled any symbol, nor was there any intention to create something that did." Design Foundry had proposed several stage designs to repeat client ACU, based on the "best use of space", and ACU decided which one to use. Ian Walters of ACU said they would no longer use Design Foundry for their events." 

Pure coincidence?  Intentionally used a wink and a dog-whistle to Trump's more radical supporters?  Intentionally used by the designer in order to make a statement about Trump's racist rhetoric?   

At the very least, it would seem synchronicity is making a comment about the direction the alt-right has been heading under Trump's "leadership".

It's not the first time.  We discussed back in 2015 how a Trump campaign ad included an image of WW2 re-enactors dressed as German soldiers.  Then in 2020 a re-election campaign ad used an inverted red triangle to illustrate an attack on Antifa and other "far-left" groups.  The ad was removed after it was noted the exact same symbol was used by the Nazis in the 1930s to identify Communists, Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and members of other opposition parties.  

At the time, one historian noted "It’s hard to imagine it’s done on purpose [not that hard, apparently], because I’m not sure if the vast majority of Americans know or understand the sign, but it’s very, very careless, to say the least."

Or do Trump and co. know exactly what they're doing?  One would suppose those who carried Confederate, Kekistan, and other far-right flags among the mob which attacked Congress on January 6 wouldn't disapprove....