in yesterday's ch5 season 4 episode of grey's anatomy's crash into me pt1, a white paramedic who'd had an accident refused medical help from black doctors in the hospital. it turns out he had a swastika tattooed onto his stomach. which greatly offended the non-white doctors.
so what i want to know is, what is a swastika, and what does it represent? im aware of my glaring ignorance at this point, but am insanely curious.
swas⋅ti⋅ka –noun
this figure is the official emblem of the Nazi party and the Third Reich.
which tells me absolutely nothing. again, ignorance.
Among the key elements of Nazism were anti-parliamentarism, pan-germanism, racism, collectivism, eugenics, antisemitism, anti-communism, totalitarianism and opposition to economic liberalism and political liberalism.
which i pretty much only understood like, none, of.
anyway, my main point is this - there is a school here called red swastika primary. and correct me if im wrong but it sort of seems like a blatant invitation to like, get bombed or something. cause i've been to that school for courses, and i am so not stepping into it again if the school name means what i think it means. i've heard it has something to do with buddhism or whatever (the school name, i mean) but i have no idea. and i highly doubt it stands for nazism. so clue me in on this, anyone?
p/s: again, no offense. and if you're wondering what a swastika looks like, no way am i posting a picture of it here. go yahoo it !
Monday, November 17, 2008
anyone who knows me at all knows im a certified bookworm. i read anything and everything, and thats my motto when it comes to books. i can plow through even the most dreary and long-winded books. i dont know why i do it, i just do. and it gives me a sense of accomplishment to have done so. especially if i've just read something through the night and completed it at 6am, which happens more often than not.
am currently smack in the middle of the menagerie. a series of four novels co-written by two of my favourite authors of this genre: christopher golden and thomas e. sniegoski. strangely, fantasy novels are not my thing but these are really exceptionally well-written.
the afore-mentioned menagerie novels. im only midway through the second but am loving it. its absolutely epic without going over the top, and the first few books still manage to hold some back so that you look forward to the next. the characters are a real revelation when u finally find out who they truly are. and then everything just clicks. i often gauge how good a book is by imagining its success level were it to be made into a movie. and this would be so completely twilight without all that heart-wrenching star-crossed lovers thing. think: stardust.
aethiests beware. one of my fav thomas sniegoski series, titled:
the fallen. fallen angels. and that about sums it up. really makes you think.. about going back to church. haha. its already been a tv series in the US for some time, but the concept of the book is great. riveting, really couldnt set it down.
chris golden's newest book: soulless. looks really promising to me as i've a real thang for zombie stuff. freaks me out like hell, and thats probably the attraction. im a super chicken when it comes to zombies. -shudders- and these are just to name a few. books such as these also often make us forget how good classics can be. having just completed emily bronte's wuthering heights and having found it surprisingly good, it makes me feel obligated to recommend pure classics i love such as black beauty, pride and prejudice, and twenty thousand leagues under the sea. all of which i managed to finish without getting too bored. do read the unabridged versions. the language is vastly different from the books of today. its what i like to call: pure english -grin-
p/s: sure beats reading soppy romance novels. and i always end up snivelling like an idiot when i read stuff like mitch albom, im such a sap. so these are a safe bet for people like me. action and adventure is the way to go! posted by stephie @ 3:45 PM ______________________________________________
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Win for Barack Obamai just felt like it would be prudent to blog about this. so.. yay Obama! and his vp, whoever it is - Joe Biden, i think? its so strange that Sarah Palin is so much more in the limelight than McCain is. guess they were aiming for the soccer mom votes or smth. and we're sure gonna miss george bush. man, gonna be missing a lot of good laughs. and if anyone has ever seen the video of george bush falling off the segway.. *whistles* absolutely classic!