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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   28239 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 13, 2025

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A flag with a swatiska embedded in it was spotted in the office of Representative Dave Taylor.  Rep. Taylor has called it out and condemned it, and it's quite possible he never noticed it before himself but it does seem to be another sign of the embedded antisemitic and pro nazi rhetoric in lower level staffers if one of them put it up.

You really are doing bad-faith arguments. I looked this up, and it seems to be something between a hoax and an (ahem) false flag operation:

Multiple GOP congressional offices earlier this year received American flags with "optical illusion" swastikas embedded in them, two Republican sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The news comes one day after Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, called the flag with the swastika “vile” and “deeply inappropriate” after the symbol was seen in one of his staffers’ offices in the background of a meeting.

One of the sources, whose office received a flag back in January, said it was initially difficult to see the flag's swastika with the naked eye, calling it an “optical illusion.” But once the swastika in the center of the flag was discovered, the flag was thrown out, the source said.

The matter is also being investigated by the GOP-led House Administration Committee, in addition to the U.S. Capitol Police.

So unless you want to argue that NBC is right-wing propaganda (and since some of the committed made that very argument about the NYT nothing is beyond the bounds of possibility), then the story is that some person or persons unknown did this in secret, possibly for the very purpose of causing a scandal about GOP swastika flags, and if so, that someone is probably from the very same wellspring as you, magicalkittycat, with your eagerness about "oh noes DAE realise the GOP was a swarm of fascist Nazis parading around swastikas?"

I was inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt, but this second post makes it very plain that you are grinding a partisan axe, and now I have no trouble ignoring anything you may hyperventilate about.

Have you seen the photo of the flag? This is a sincere question, because the article you linked doesn’t include the photo.

If you do, you’ll see that the “optical illusion” defense does not hold water. At all. The swastika is very obvious in the middle of the flag. It looks like something from an old comic book where Germany won WWII and took over America. The idea that a staffer would get that flag in the mail, open it up, hang it on the wall, and never see the swastika is ludicrous.

I am willing to extend some charity to the congressional staff involved here. I don’t think they were literally declaring an intent to Nazi-fy America, or pledging allegiance to a secret clone of Hitler, or whatever. I can easily imagine a scenario where they received the flag, thought it was a funny piece of hate-mail, and hung it on the wall in a comedic spirit, then forgot it was in frame for a zoom call. I can also easily believe that the congressman himself didn’t know about it. But I don’t for a second believe that nobody saw it, and the “optical illusion” statement is blatant ass-covering and honestly just silly.

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