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Re: creepy symbolism



Au contraire, mon frere.  I meant no stereotyping, only a suggestion of a link.  In addition, I'll freely admit that symbols with a meaning in one era might have different meanings in another.
 
The swastika is the best example of recent years - for centuries a good luck symbol in Asia, co-opted by the Nazis it has become _the_ symbol of evil and hatred.
 
'Course, I meant to comment earlier that I found it odd that anyone would by choice associate themselves with a publication called the "Spinster", given its association with old maids, but maybe they were sticking by its original reference to spinning wheels.  Either way, this is too much thought for 9AM for me.
 
DS

______________________________________
Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator
David Taylor Archives
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
155 Community Drive
Great Neck, NY 11021
mailto:dsokolow@nshs.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott, Paul (FPM) [mailto:paul_scott@FPM.CO.HARRIS.TX.US]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 8:53 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Re: creepy symbolism

Daniel and Katrina both made a connection between the symbols of a Southern ladies’ society and the Klan.  I, for one, think that they are stereotyping the members of this group.

 

In her original posting Beth stated that the society was 100 years old, i.e. dates from about 1900.  At that time the Klan was dormant.  White supremacists were in firm control of southern society and were openly going about their business of disenfranchising undesirable voters (poor whites as well as blacks) legislatively rather than through secret societies.

 

It was not until after World War I that the Klan made a comeback at which point one does find KKK-inspired organization southern campuses (and probably elsewhere).  Moreover, the original Klan and related societies had drawn much of their symbolism from Greek mythology so one will have to come up with stronger evidence than a few Nordic symbols to make a convincing case that this society was some sort of a KKK Junior League.

 

Paul R. Scott

Records Management Officer

Harris County, TX