Not swastika tattoos done in that Hindu/Tribal style, which I'm not sure I can support either
That's a common misconception. It was even mistaken in Earth by Jon Stewart and Co. When the lines of the symbol point to the right, it's a swastika. The literal meaning is "to be good." It's just been changed over the years and used for what people want to use it for, so it invokes evil now. There's nothing we can do about that. But the left facing form of that symbol is a Manji, mainly used in the far East to mark a Buddhist temple.
(I will admit I needed some help from Wikipedia to remind me.) :oops:
Yeah I know the original meaning, and when I worked in India I saw them all over the place in all directions. I don't have an issue with that as such, just that having a massive swastika tattoo (for example) may not be the most well thought out move in Europe (and I'm sure other places) for exactly the reasons you mention. I know at least one person with loads of tribal swastikas, and while I'm sure they are doing it on the basis of the original meaning, I often wonder if it's REALLY appropriate given the meaning a symbol like that now has in the west.
I guess it's a huge debate, and not really the point of the thread. It's also something I open to hearing reasoning about (as far as say, hindu related swastika tattoos goes). If you tried the same argument with me while inked up like Ed Norton in American History X, I doubt you'd sway me however.
I kind of typed this out before I read Philly's post and yours, but yeah, that is what I was getting at.