General CALIFORNIA MAN PUTS GIANT SWASTIKA IN HIS FRONT YARD, NEIGHBORS ARE OFFENDED,

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jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
72,781
134,158
A California man has shocked neighbors by having a 10 foot-wide Swastika built in his front yard.

Aerial-view images captured above Steve Johnson's one-storey home on Lindell Drive in El Sobrante, Contra Costa County, show a huge black concrete Swastika taking up a portion of his yard. The Swastika measures around 10 feet by 10 feet, according to Bay Area News Group.

In interviews with local news outlets, Johnson claimed he wasn't aware of what the sign represents. He said he liked the shape and denied that he supported the Nazis, while his neighbors expressed concern.

Used as a sign of good fortune for centuries by religions including Buddhism and Hinduism, Adolf Hitler adopted the symbol for the Nazi party in the 1920s. It is now widely considered a symbol of fascism, white supremacy, and extremist nationalist ideology.

Some six million Jews were systematically killed during the Holocaust orchestrated by the Third Reich, as well as others considered sub-human, including people with physical and mental disabilities, LGBT individuals, black people, Roma, Sinti, Pole and Slavic peoples, as well as political opponents, Soviet prisoners, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

According to the Jewish organization the Anti-Defamation League, the swastika is "overwhelmingly viewed as a hate symbol" in the U.S. It is currently banned in numerous countries including Germany.


A design resembling a swastika is displayed in front of a home on June 5 in El Sobrante, California. People living in a San Francisco Bay Area suburb are upset that homeowner Steve Johnson has built a large design in his front yard that resembles a swastika.GETTY/JUSTIN SULLIVAN
Johnson spoke to reporters about his home's new feature. When asked about the sign in his yard, Johnson asked NBC Bay Area "What is a swastika?"

"I like swastikas," he said according to Bay Area News Group. "I think they look cool. I didn't do it to get attention. I'm not a worshiper of Nazis. I just thought it'd be a cool thing to put in there."

"I own this house I'll put what I want. It ain't none of your guys' business," he told ABC-affiliate KGO.

Johnson went on to claim he was referencing Tibet, rather than Nazism by placing the image in his yard, as well as on his doorbell and handrail.

"It's a Tibetan sign that's way back before swastikas were invented," Johnson said according to KGO. Asked whether he is Tibetan, he replied: "I could be."

Johnson also claimed the swastika was a reference to: "peace, tranquility and harmony."

But he told NBC Bay Area: "It doesn't represent anything.

"That represents me not having to pull weeds over in that part of my yard; that's what it represents to me. What does it represent to you?"

Speaking to Bay Area News Group on his Harley Davidson motorcycle outside his home, Johnson went on to state: "That Nazi [stuff] happened like 80 years ago. Get over it, I guess."

Johnson's neighbor Renee Schultz, who is Jewish, was asked by KGO if the symbol was offensive. She said: "Yes! On behalf of Jews that died with that—yes, absolutely!"

Schultz, who has lived near Johnson for 27 years, told NBC Bay Area, "I was very clear with him about my feelings.

"I don't agree with it; I think it's wrong. I don't like it, but it is his yard."

Vince Poehnelt, another neighbor, was worried that the sign would affect the value of his home.

"It's stupid. It kills the retail value of the house, kills the value of everyone on the street," he said.

Poehnelt told CBS SF Bay Area he doesn't think Johnson is "a hardcore Neo-Nazi. He may be racist."

NBC Bay Area, reported Poehnelt as saying that Johnson is "harmless" and "a little too lazy to be a full-blown neo-Nazi."

Nancy Appel, a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League, told Bay Area News Group: "Personally, and professionally, I find it deeply deeply offensive.

"The thing is huge, it's in concrete and symmetrical. It appears that a lot of effort went into it," she said.

The Anti-Defamation League considers displaying swastikas as a potential act of anti-Semitism.

Police told ABC7 they are not investigating the incident.

John Gioia, Contra Costa County Supervisor, told NBC Bay Area the authorities cannot make Johnson pull down the symbol.

However, he said: "This is an unacceptable thing because of what this stands for and how people perceive the symbol."

California man puts giant swastika in his front yard, neighbors are offended, worried about property value
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
71,541
71,465
no space between houses
he should sell that shit and get some acreage

why waste money on that fancy shit?
 

sparkuri

Pulse On The Finger Of The Community
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
34,420
46,562
Man, that is symmetric.

Can we just get over it already?
It's been 75 gawtdamn years.
Anyone getting offended by a symbol .001% of Americans take seriously should tour a cancer ward.

I can think of about a dozen social issues far more serious the media purposely doesn't report.
Rebel flag too.
Probably the coolest looking flag ever made.
To 99.99% of Americans that represents the Dukes of Hazzard.
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
39,772
53,672
Man, that is symmetric.

Can we just get over it already?
It's been 75 gawtdamn years.
Anyone getting offended by a symbol .001% of Americans take seriously should tour a cancer ward.

I can think of about a dozen social issues far more serious the media purposely doesn't report.
Rebel flag too.
Probably the coolest looking flag ever made.
To 99.99% of Americans that represents the Dukes of Hazzard.
You fucken racist!
 

Jesus X

4 drink minimum.
Sep 7, 2015
28,766
31,291
another case of leftist California liberals getting offended by everything.
 

Jesus X

4 drink minimum.
Sep 7, 2015
28,766
31,291
Man, that is symmetric.

Can we just get over it already?
It's been 75 gawtdamn years.
Anyone getting offended by a symbol .001% of Americans take seriously should tour a cancer ward.

I can think of about a dozen social issues far more serious the media purposely doesn't report.
Rebel flag too.
Probably the coolest looking flag ever made.
To 99.99% of Americans that represents the Dukes of Hazzard.
I agree. I'm waiting for the day I can get a sweet sweet swastika and a rebel flag tattoo without every liberal being offended. IT MEANS PEACE AND THE SOUTH EVERYBODY!
 
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Leigh

Engineer
Pro Fighter
Jan 26, 2015
10,925
21,293
"It's a Tibetan sign that's way back before swastikas were invented," Johnson said according to KGO. Asked whether he is Tibetan, he replied: "I could be."
I'm literal LOLing at the pic and this guy's hilarious attitude.

NBC Bay Area, reported Poehnelt as saying that Johnson is "harmless" and "a little too lazy to be a full-blown neo-Nazi."
Um, did he miss the giant swastika?
 

Never_Rolled

First 10,000
Dec 17, 2018
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I'm all for free speech but it's like living next to the idiot who paints his house deep purple. Nobody is going to want to live next to that. Property values are going to suck. I would get a group together and offer the guy a new place if he moved and have him quit claim the property, fix it up and sell it.
 

Hauler

Been fallin so long it's like gravitys gone
Feb 3, 2016
45,412
57,814
When it comes to the swastika, people need to follow U2's example when they covered Helter Skelter:

"This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles. We're stealing it back."

It's a cool symbol. Providing it isn't tilted sideways in a white circle set against a red background...who gives a fuck? The symbol has been around for a lot longer than the Nazi party.

If Hitler had chosen a simple square, would we only allow rectangles?
 

Hauler

Been fallin so long it's like gravitys gone
Feb 3, 2016
45,412
57,814
When it comes to the swastika, people need to follow U2's example when they covered Helter Skelter:

"This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles. We're stealing it back."

It's a cool symbol. Providing it isn't tilted sideways in a white circle set against a red background...who gives a fuck? The symbol has been around for a lot longer than the Nazi party.

If Hitler had chosen a simple square, would we only allow rectangles?
But 100% this dude is doing this shit just to piss people off
 

Never_Rolled

First 10,000
Dec 17, 2018
5,798
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You know when people say "You know what I'd like to do just to prove a point?" This guy's actually doing it.
I had a friend like that. He was going through a bitter divorce. He was an "it's the point" person. That divorce probably cost him at least an extra $100,000 in legal fees because of his "points". He could have emailed or sent texts to his ex wife but had his lawyer send a letter for everything and I mean everything. If he was going to be late for a visitation pickup boom had his lawyer send a letter. We all loved this guy but after a while (we had never met his wife) started to feel sorry for her.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
56,268
I had a friend like that. He was going through a bitter divorce. He was an "it's the point" person. That divorce probably cost him at least an extra $100,000 in legal fees because of his "points". He could have emailed or sent texts to his ex wife but had his lawyer send a letter for everything and I mean everything. If he was going to be late for a visitation pickup boom had his lawyer send a letter. We all loved this guy but after a while (we had never met his wife) started to feel sorry for her.
I know a few people who are going to be down to shopping at 3 stores because of every where they'll "Never go back to after being treated like that!!!"