Take a look at this image above. What is your first impression of this image? What kind of emotions does it evoke, if any? Do feel a sense of peace and calmness or perhaps the opposite; tension and anger? Does it remind you of those children's windmills on a stick on which they blow to watch them spin and sparkle in the light?Historically, it is usually agreed that this is an ancient symbol for the movement of wind. A swirl of wind. It is a common sight in Asia in relation to Buddhism. Most Asians, in fact, only know this symbol in relation to Buddhism and nothing else. Often the symbol is reversed, swirling in the opposite direction, to relate to the Yin and Yang (as said in Chinese) philosophies. Often it is explained to English speakers as the four 'L's: Love Light Liberty Life
How about this image? What is your first impression of this image? What are your related feelings, if any? Are they the same as the above image?No difference to you? I have met people from Asia who have no or little knowledge of the Western W.W.II and this symbol in relation to it. Certainly if you are familiar with World War Two and all of the subsequent movies and other forms of propaganda that have used such an image, one would definitely be inclined to think of the slang word Nazi, with refers to the National Socialist German Workers Party. Of Adolf Hitler, the party leader. Of war. Of the systematic mass extermination of people. Torture. Starvation. Some other key words here within would be: evil, death, blood, power, strength. Rarely are the Nazis depicted as anything other than "The Bad Guys."
Myself, I certainly do feel the fist image is of a calmer cooler feeling, while the next, with it's stark contrasts is much more heated. The blood red, then the black on bright white really allows the symbol to almost jump out at me, saying, "Look here!" The former has far less contrast and is quite easy-on-the-eyes in comparison.
