Iron Cross

[Mataj]

Hi!
Can you tell my why do you people use Iron Cross? What does it mean to ya?

[Bob Parmenter]

Mataj, when you post Warsaw, I'm assuming you're in Poland, and you're wondering why in the world would Americans use an old German military symbol!!

It's one of those things where someone, possibly or probably not knowing the original significance of the symbol, thought it looked cool! It probably slipped into our usage sometime after WW1. Whether it was a hot rodder or a biker who started using it first is no longer clear, but the use of the iron cross has endured over the years and has enjoyed some renaissance, particularly with the "rat rod" crowd. I'm sure it's partly an irreverence thing!!

Hopefully I've explained it well enough. Your english is way better than my Polish.................since I don't know any.

[Bob Parmenter]

I KNOW you had to have copied that!!!! Nobody in NY ever heard of the word "fimbriated"!!!!!!!

[ljotto1]

Mataj,

I am 100% German, so I dont use the iron cross, I did have one on a hotrod one time, I got so much flak for it I never did it again.
I serve in the US Army and have been doing that for 6 years I am proud of my German back ground but I dont see the need to put any thing on my cars that can be taken the wrong way and most of the people I deal with every day are to ignorant to figure out what it really means. I also used to have a German flag (the new one) on the front plate bracket on my truck but some one found it offencive and ripped it off. I have found that when it comes to being German its better just not to talk about it or show pride in it.


Otto

[Mataj]

I'm from Warsaw, Poland. I wrote NY cause I had to, we don't have any shorter names for states. I couldn't enter "Mazowsze" :P I guess you have 12 Warsaws in USofA quite strange.. I asked that question because I wondered why it is used, because of some philosophy or just "because", without any reason.... I'm also curious to know things about confederates' flag... Are confederates considered to be rasists or sth? or not? (just curious)

[animalracer]

I've been using the Iron, or Maltese, or Surfer's Cross since the 60's, and still like the design. Most people who use it as a logo or decorative graphic have no political reason for it's use....they just think it looks cool. The kids today have adopted it, and I doubt if 10 % of them have even heard of an Iron Cross as a military relic. Schneider Clutches have been using it for decades, and I think it's an icon of hot-rodding & plan on putting one in the back window of my gasser-style '56 Plymouth. I'm a veteran, and, as anyone I know will tell you, a patriot through and through. I use the Maltese cross as the early rodders and surfers used it, as a cool design, no more, no less.

[qat727]

Originally posted by Mataj
also curious to know things about confederates' flag... Are confederates considered to be rasists or sth? or not? (just curious)

I'm one of the few born and bred southerners on the site, so I'll take on the Confederates. This is the first flag of the Confederacy.

[qat727]

The second Flag

[qat727]

Third Flag

[qat727]

The Battle Flag, which was the most commonly seen flag of the Confederacy.

[qat727]

This is the Bonnie Blue, which became the people's flag and had a song written for it.

[qat727]

This is the flag that most people incorrectly assume was the Confederate flag. It was in reality a Navy Jack, but its bright colors and vivid pattern made it unforgetable. It has since earned a place in the hearts of many rednecks that like to think they are southern historians, and thus a place in the garage wall or pickup window behind the gun rack.

[qat727]

Originally posted by Mataj
Are confederates considered to be rasists or sth? or not? (just curious)

Now that the Confederate Flag issue is straightened out, on to the bigger problem at hand. In order to properly understand the views that exist in the south today, you must travel back several hundred years and look at history. Start in Europe. You are familiar that blacks used to be called Moors. The warring tribes of Africa have always/ always did take slaves. They kept their own people as slaves. That is the first thing you must understand. That slavery started out as a trade by Africans OF Africans. NOT white Americans kidnapping Africans and selling them into slavery. This may have occured later, but it all began amongst the Africans. Slavery is nothing new. It has always existed and still does today. Existed among the Greeks some, Romans more. All ancient civilaziations kept slaves. Whether it be POWs or others, they had them. Africans were not alone in this practice. That being said, Moors have always been viewed as an exotic race. A strange people many feared, whether it be for their skin color or their fighting nature. Fear is the basis of hatred. Hatred breeds feelings of superiority and inferiority. You can see where I'm going, no? It was nothing new that whites thought themselves better than blacks. It was a predisposition that had existed for generations, taught carefully to each new child, or most for that matter. There are exceptions to every rule. So you come to the time where blacks are sold into captivity by other blacks, put on crowded, terrible, unsanitary slave ships for a voyage to the new world. When they got there, they were treated like cattle, which most people thought they were. This goes on for decades, the process only becoming more refined. The United States is formed, States are created, wars are fought. All with the help of slave labor. This goes on to the 1860's. Then the problems arise.

[qat727]

Forgot to add. The page with the flags and the info I got is:

http://americancivilwar.com/south/conflag/southflg.html

[suedeplymouth]

I salute the stars and bars. Our flag does not represent "slavery or any other liberal crap", it was battle flag. Most people forget that the north only "freed" the slaves two years into the war with the promise they had to settle in the south.

There is still slavery in africa but it is blacks owning blacks, so no one cares. Theres rampant cannibalism in the congo since they started governing themselves. No one cares. Ive had a friend killed in south africa because he was white, but thats politically exceptable because he was a white.

The world has gone into reverse rascism, and the worst possible thing to be right now is white southern male. I get hell all the time over talking like a texan. An okie buddy of mine is always made fun of. This world has just gone to crap.

Anyone else want to restart the war of northern aggression with me?