Bob CollinsAt least part of the mystery surrounding swastikas appearing around the St. Cloud State College campus may have been cleared up.
According to the St. Cloud Times, a “cartoon was found Thursday on a bulletin board at St. Cloud State University. It contained people talking about ‘rednecks’ wearing swastikas on their arms, holding alcohol containers and applying bias-motivated graffiti.”
The man turned himself into the police, who determined he was not a suspect in the investigation of swastikas on campus.
A man claiming to be the person who drew the cartoon, called “Hillbilly Hitler,” wrote to MPR Thursday. Disclaimer: I can confirm that he’s a guy who says he drew the comic, but I can’t confirm he actually drew the comic, since he didn’t sign his work. Nonetheless, he brings up some observations on the history of the swastika.
I am the creator of the comic book style political cartoon found Thursday at SCSU. My message was clearly missed. Although there are some swastikas on the “Hillbilly Hitler’s” arm it also shows them vandalizing SCSU with backwards Swastikas.
But the main word that should be underlined in this statement is “Comic Style Drawing.” The “Hillbilly Hitler” also looks to be about 400 pounds, has few teeth, little hair, huge ears, a misshaped head, and had a pile of cheeseburgers next to him. But most people have not even seen the political cartoon and they can only speculate and go from what they hear in the media (who also have not seen the political cartoon).
For a Swastika to represent Hitler, the symbol needs to be facing right and tilted at 45 degrees. But in the drawing, the Swastikas were backwards and were not tilted at a 45 degree angle. The true meaning of a Swastika not tilted 45 degrees is a symbol of good luck that has been used for thousands of years by many faiths such as, Hindu, Buddhist, and even Christian faiths.
So before you jump to conclusions and go on a witch hunt, maybe you — the media — should do a little research about what you are reporting on and get the facts straight before you publish a story… but that wouldn’t make for good news. So I am sorry that people misunderstood my drawings and I didn’t want to give any ounce of support or connection to these Neo-Nazis.
I just thought students and faculty at SCSU could see the cartoon and have a cheap laugh at the expense of the overall stupidity of these vandals and that they have little or no support for their ignorant cause on campus or in the community.
In other words…
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“Hillbilly Hitler” was a phrase coined by Julian Bond to describe David Duke, the former Klan leader who ran for president a few years ago.
As the link above shows (BBC), the swastika did have an anti-Semitic life before Hitler.
