• Perfide@reddthat.com
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    10 months ago

    Big problem with your example, you don’t choose to be French, you either are or you are not. You can be french and be an asshole, but the only choice there is in being an asshole. Being a libertarian on the otherhand, is a political position and is inherently something you have to choose to be.

    Consider this: Prior to the Nazis using it, in western usage the Swastika was widely considered a symbol of good luck. The West boiling centuries of Eastern religious and cultural history of the symbol down into superstitious BS aside, by all accounts, at the time that would be an “accurate definition” of what the Swastika meant in the west. But obviously nobody today is going to believe you* when you say your Swastika tattoo is a good luck charm and you’re “totally” not a Nazi. Hell, you’d be in potential legal trouble in Germany for it. Point is, all words(& symbols) are made up, and meanings can and will change.

      • (figurative you, I’m not claiming you actually have a Swastika tattoo)