Just Asking

This started out as a symbol e-mail to some friends and has turned into a full blown post.  It all started with an e-mail that I sent asking if a certain symbol reminded them of something.  Some interesting points were made and I decided I'd share them all with you.

First, let's start with what got this whole thing running.  It's innocuous enough.  Just a banner on some blogs that I came across while surfing on Blog Explosion.  The only thing is that the symbol on the banner didn't quite sit right with me.  I knew it from somewhere, but I just couldn't figure out where. 

The banner in question was this one

The blogs in this alliance are right wing blogs.  That wasn't what peaked my curiousity.  For the most part, I don't read these blogs.  When I do read them, I don't look to see who they link up with. 

No, what peaked my curiousity was the eagle symbol. 

Here is the clearest image I could get of the eagle on the banner: 

Now, I have to ask, is it just me or does this symbol remind you of this one:

In case the swastika didn't give it away, that's the symbol for the Nazi party.  It was adopted during the 1930's. 

I will admit, I had seen that image over and over again and I just couldn't place it until Saturday.  For some reason when I saw the banner on Saturday the word "Nazi" popped into my head.  I won't say that the writing tipped me off.  It didn't.  I hadn't read anything on the site.  My eyes were first drawn to the banner.  From there I was opening another tab and asking jeeves about Nazi symbols.  The first site I clicked on provided the eagle with the swastika above.

When I sent an e-mail to some friends asking if the alliance banner reminded them of the nazi symbol one person mentioned that the symbol was taken from Native American symbols.  I was intrigued.  I did some searching and found that the Native American eagle and the Nazi eagle are vastly different. 

The Native American eagle was often symbolized like this

or like this one

However, the image of the thunderbird is very similar to the nazi eagle

So, does that prove that the image was taken from Native American culture (the nazi image that is).  Not really.  I'm not a scholar in this area but I do know that the eagle is not found only in the United States.  Eagles have also long been used on the heraldry (coat of arms) in Europe.  The black eagle was also the symbol of Prussia. 

Of course, that's far removed from where the e-mail first started.  Let's get back to that. 

The question was does this

look suspiciously like this

or this

You see, the Nazi's image had variations.  It wasn't set in stone.  For example, on one work the eagle's wings are down. 

On another, the eagle is juxtaposed near a church.

The implication in that image is that God was on the Nazi's side.  Belt buckles didn't just imply that God was with the Nazi's .  They outright said it. 

"Gott Mit Uns" translates to "God is with us."

There's a lot I could say about the Nazi party and fascism.  However, I already know that many members of this alliance insist that because the name of the Nazi party was National Socialist German Workers Party they were socialist.  They refuse to acknowledge that just about every book on fascism includes Nazi Germany among the examples. 

They also forget that just because you call yourself something doesn't mean that you really are that thing.  I could call myself a Republican but few people would believe that I agreed with their views.

So, I ask, did anyone in this alliance realize just how similiar their symbol is to the Nazi symbol?  Surely it wasn't intentional.  Just a lack of knowledge.  Of history, that is.