So there's blatant racism, like the above, then there's just complete and total obliviousness that ignorant or naive individuals just kind of leak into the world. As I was driving the other day, I had to slam on the breaks and take a closer look at a van that was parked on the side of the road, the logo causing me a complete double take. The company, Sawyer Services, is apparently an electrical services outfit who thought it cute to use its alliterative S's as lightning bolts to symbolize electricity. Makes sense, if not for the fact that that logo was already thought up and used oh, I don't know, 80 years ago. Really makes you wonder what rock some people are living under. Or is the naivete refreshing? I don't think so. Thoughts?
I had a German roommate dress up as a shadow for a party once. People politely but firmly told him that painting himself all black was inappropriate. It was definitely cute (The theme was Plato's Allegory of the Rave), but a shower promptly followed.Or is the naivete refreshing? I don't think so. Thoughts?
To be fair, that's not the SS insignia, this is: But to be fair, that's close enough to the SS insignia that somebody prolly shoulda thought twice. I doubt he's oblivious. I expect the visit to the graphics shop went something like this: "Yeah, I'd like a couple cool lightning bolts for the S, sorta like in the AC/DC logo." "What color?" "Like, really bright chrome. That'd look awesome." "We've got silver. Chrome-look is another $20." "Okay, silver then. Done by tomorrow?" "Wednesday." ... "WTF, man!? This isn't even silver! It's, like, gray!" "Dude. Color chart on the wall over there." "But... it'll make my truck look Nazi and stuff!" "Relax, man, they look like lightning bolts." ... "Honey, why did you make your van look Nazi?" "D'oh!" ...and to be fair, it's not the worst example.
That Walmart t-shirt is jaw dropping. As to sawyer services, I get that it's not the insignia, but at the very least the person who came up with it must be, let's say dense, for politeness sake. I wasn't, however, nearly as put off by it as I was by the Zig Zags in Grand Budapest Hotel. I gotta hand it to you for swearing off Wes Anderson years ago. His movies are getting progressively more unwatchable, with his last being a grand trivialization of the nazis, a feat unto itself (but that's another subject for another day).
Problem with naiveté is that you get conversations like in my friend's Communications elective, which included the wondrous conclusion "well we have a Black president now, so I don't know why we're talking about racism. I mean if we just stopped talking about it it would go away." This leads to the three Black kids in a group of a 200+ lecture-hall students, only one of the three a girl, to look at you like they're wondering if you hit your head on a Wishful Thinking rock. Also it just leads to more resentment because of a lack of understanding. "How the hell could you not know this?", essentially. That logo is hideous, by the way.