Friday, June 23, 2006
Magen David Adom Finally Permitted To Join!
The good news: Magen David Adom is finally part of the International Red Cross. (The Palestinian Red Crescent was apparently included at the same time, no doubt as a compromise measure of some sort.)
The bad news: the silly, meaningless red crystal is still in:
Of course, the symbol is intentionally meaningless... to avoid offending anybody with that incendiary symbol, the red Star of David. That, by the way, is what Magen David Adom means; I trust we're not going to see a name change for the entire organization!
(Later -- Steve at It's Almost Supernatural has more background on how the International Red Cross expects the symbol to be used.)
Call it the first stage of antisemitism, as Emil Fackenheim pointed out: okay, we'll reluctantly accept you in our midst, so long as you don't look Jewish to us. Well, I suppose that's better than not being accepted at all.
UPDATE: In response to Michael's comment to this post, I wonder -- what would it take for the Red Rhombus symbol to be seen as an offensive reminder of Judaism as well?
Would this do it, for instance?
For that matter, what about standard logos with rhombuses in them? Should we now start seeing stars of David in them?
I welcome other Photoshop attempts!
UPDATE: Sol of Solomonia.com has taken up the challenge. (As he points out, it's based on a photo that drives antisemites batty; click this picture to see the original.)
