A common contemporary form of irrational emotionalism is the effort to ban symbols merely because an offended person or group makes an unfavorable association with some negative attribute. The intolerance of our popular culture is reaching fever pitch and many historic archives are being destroyed forever, because of the hyper emotionalism of our present day populism.
Fascesis a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization, and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The image has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial or collective power. The fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry, it is present on an older design of the Mercury dime and behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives, it is used as the symbol of a number of Italian syndicalist groups, including the Unione Sindacale Italiana, and it was the origin of the name of the National Fascist Party in Italy |  The Fasces is the most basic symbol of fascism. |   |
Bellamy Salute is the salute described by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), Christian socialist minister and author, to accompany the American Pledge of Allegiance, which he had authored in 1892. During the period when it was used with the Pledge of Allegiance, it was sometimes known as the "flag salute". Later, during the 1920s and '30s, Italian fascists and Nazis adopted a salute which had a similar form. This resulted in controversy over the use of the Bellamy salute in the United States. It was officially replaced by the hand-over-heart salute when Congress amended the (nonbinding) Flag Code on December 22, 1942. |  |  Children performing the Bellamy salute to the flag of the United States. |
Swastikais an ancient religious symbol that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross, with its four legs bent at 90 degrees. It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and dates back to before the 2nd century BC. It continues to be commonly used as a religious symbol in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The word swastika has been in use in English since the 1870s, replacing gammadion (from Greek γαμμάδιον). It was loaned from the Sanskrit term (Devanāgarī: स्वस्तिक), which is transliterated svastika, but is pronounced "swastika" when letters are used as in English. It means any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being. The German swastika is 'hook cross' (German: Hakenkreuz). |  |   |
Rainbowoccurs frequently in mythology, and have been used in the arts. One of the earliest literary occurrences of a rainbow is in Genesis 9, as part of the flood story of Noah, where it is a sign of God's covenant to never destroy all life on earth with a global flood again. Also referenced in Norse mythology. Cuchavira was the god of the rainbow for the Muisca people in present-day Colombia. The Irish leprechaun's secret hiding place for his pot of gold is usually said to be at the end of the rainbow. Rainbow flags have been used for centuries. It was a symbol of the Cooperative movement in the German Peasants' War in the 16th century, of peace in Italy, and of gay pride and LGBT social movements since the 1970s. In 1994, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Nelson Mandela described newly democratic post-apartheid South Africa as the rainbow nation. The University of Hawaii had historically been fielding athletic teams known as the 'Rainbows', but have recently changed the name to Rainbow Warriors. |
Since the early 1970s, a legend of Rainbow Warriors has inspired some environmentalists in the United States with a belief that their movement is the fulfillment of a Native American prophecy. Usually the story is claimed to be Hopi or Cree. However, the origin of the "prophecy" is not Native American at all, but rather from a 1962 book titled Warriors of the Rainbow |
Hexagram is a six-pointed geometric star figure with the Schläfli symbol. It is the compound of two equilateral triangles. The intersection is a regular hexagon. It is used in historical, religious and cultural contexts, for example in Hanafism, Jewish identity, Hinduism and occultism. The Star of David (✡), known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David (Hebrew מָגֵן דָּוִד; Modern Hebrew [maˈɡen daˈvid], is a generally recognized symbol of modern Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles. Unlike the menorah, the Lion of Judah, the shofar and the lulav, the Star of David was never a uniquely Jewish symbol. |  Buddhist sects in India, Nepal, China, Tibet, Sri Lanka and other countries in Asia use and have used the symbol of Satkona throughout the ages. |  The flag of the state of Israel  The occult symbolism of the hexagram |
