Above is a tee RD designed earlier this year with his friend Robin, for distribution and sale to their fellow Truthers. They worked on various designs for about a month, and at one point RD balked at including a peace symbol in the design because Wikipedia mentions that "The Cross of Nero" is a broken, upside-down Christian cross and whatnot. Satanic-panic bunkum. Yeah, the peace symbol is derived from older symbols with Paganish connotations... so what isn't? The swastika, ancient Asian symbol of longevity, was used and abused by the Nazis, but that doesn't mean the symbol can never be used again! It's the modern-day context that counts. When people see the peace symbol these days they don't think "Broken upturned cross. Satan. Devil. Hellfire." They think "Deadheads. Bad acid. Birkenstocks. Organic. Hemp." RD knew this, but he also knows the ultra-paranoid mindset of a vocal portion of the Truther crowd, and he worried about offending or frightening those people. As a self-proclaimed anti-Satanic Panic crusader, I told RD I would be sooooo pissed if he left off the peace sign. It would be pandering to paranoia and ignorance! Giving in to ill-informed superstition! He finally agreed with me, and so did Robin. Robin's take on the whole question was "Screw it, we'll use the peace sign." He's been a peace activist for decades - why the hell wouldn't he use the peace sign?
Anyway, things went along nicely for a long time. Truthers liked the shirts and wore them proudly. Then, out of the BLUE, RD received an email from his buddy Wayne, one of the guys who co-blogs with him about their activism, and this letter was basically a rehash of every silly rumour, half-truth, and paranoid delusion about the peace sign ever invented. A few tidbits:
- It's the Aldermaston Peace Symbol, old in origin but resurrected for a youth peace rally in 1958 by Bertrand Russell. Russell didn't like Christianity (duh) and "knew a lot about occultism". I've been hearing this Russell-as-occultist thing a lot lately. You'd think dissidents and anti-war activists of any stripe would really dig Russell, but apparently his critical intelligence and involvement with Fabian socialism freaks the hell out 'em. Ah, well. Their loss.
- Hitler ordered that the gravestones of killed SS military personnel during the war had to have the Aldermaston Symbol on them.
- The symbol's origin is German paganism; it is a rune-sign that pictured "death." (so?)
- John Knox thought that the symbol was the mark of the beast. (again, so?)
- Being "equal to the Nero Cross", it's the symbol of hatred against the Bible and Christianity through the ages.
- In 1917 the Bolsheviks painted the Nero Cross on the doors of the churches they had closed.
- In 1099 the Muslims fought under this symbol against the Crusaders who invaded The Holy Land. (well, what's paranoia without a little racism thrown in, eh?)
And perhaps weirdest of all...
- "In Switzerland there is a big building that is divided into 3 parts. If you look at it from above it looks like a peace symbol or Rune. This is the headquarters of the United Nations and the World Bank, the third part is the World headquarters of Freemasonry. It's so convenient they can go back and forth between coffee breaks."
Wayne also objected to the color blue, because it is used by the UN. And a later shirt design that includes a dove flying away from the towers is objectionable, in part, because "Columbe = Dove. According to noted occultist Madame Blavatsky, the dove is one of several birds, including the phoenix, associated with scorpio, mystical counterpart of the winged serpent or phoenix."
In conclusion, Wayne wrote, "Sorry, but the UN, it's [sic] light blue color, fake peace symbol and deceptive dove are in my No Fly Zone."
This from the dude who wants their blog logo to be a CIA symbol with a chicken in place of an eagle, because "Roosters wake people up."
Oh, OK, so when designing T-shirts we'll just rely on the bottomless wisdom of David Icke and the good word of Madame Blavatsky, a Victorian toad who pretended to be in contact with Ascended Masters, or maybe dip into old Warner Brothers cartoons for inspiration because all other imagery is of Pagan-Satanic-Nazi-financial origin! Righty-o! Makes sense to me!
Jesus.
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