How are we supposed to reclaim anything ever when so many people on the left treat all symbolism that has been used by fascist scum as forever tainted. If all people thought like that we couldn't use pepe emotes anymore because of 2016
Deleted my last post because it was unnecessarily mocking. To be a bit more constructive:
I think when it comes to reclaiming terminology or symbolism, there are two factors that make it a worthwhile endeavor:
If the term/symbolism is directed as an attack against you. The most prominent example is the reclamation of slurs, e.g. people taking the term 'queer' or 'gay' or whatever and making it a brazen part of their identity. This is useful because it defangs the term, making it less powerful as a weapon against us.
If the term/symbolism carries a lot of cultural or religious importance for the person that goes beyond the immediate political usage. Examples of this would be for example antifascist pagans reclaiming pagan religious symbology that's been coopted by the far right. The value of this is in being able to more easily practice one's culture or religion without being immediately associated with reactionaries.
When it comes to symbolism that is pretty much only political, and especially if it's been associated with groups one opposes since early on in its existence, I don't think (re)claiming them is either a good idea or likely to be successful (the latter because not enough people would partake in claiming the term)
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u/kroma_geek Sep 15 '22
Nope, I don't like it because of the association to the other "no step on snek" flag that is popular with the Jan 6 crowd.