Re: [tibex] Swastika to be banned by Microsoft?

From: Christopher John Fynn (cfynn@gmx.net)
Date: Sun Dec 14 2003 - 12:22:17 EST

  • Next message: John Hudson: "Re: [tibex] Swastika to be banned by Microsoft?"

    The swastika is the main symbol of the Bonpo religion followed in Tibet and
    surrounding regions. Banning the swastika to a Bonpo would be like banning the
    cross symbol to a Christian, the star of David to a Jew, or the crescent moon
    and star to a Muslim. It is also an important symbol in Hinduism & Buddhism.
    If it is OK to include the star of David, various Christian crosses, the wheel
    of Dharma, and other religious symbols in a symbol font then this symbol should
    also be allowed. Or maybe Microsoft should produce a utility to selectively
    remove all symbols which might offend somebody or another. Anyway the swastikas
    used in Asia as religious symbols are usually not rotated at 45 degrees as the
    nazi swastika was.

    http://www.tibetanbon.com/

    http://www.bonfoundation.org/

    http://www.tibet.com/Buddhism/bon.html

    http://www.tibet-foundation.org/newsletter/articles/nl29-bon.html

    http://www.tibet.net/home/eng/settlements/dolanji/

    http://www.itaucultural.org.br/invencao/papers/Dauber.htm

    http://www.yetizone.com/bon-po.htm

    http://www.colorado.edu/Journalism/bylines/fall98/bonpo.html

    http://www.jammafoundation.org/

    - Chris 

    --
Christopher J. Fynn
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Everson" <everson@evertype.com>
To: <unicode@unicode.org>; <unicore@unicode.org>
Cc: "Tibetan Discussion" <tibex@unicode.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2003 12:26 PM
Subject: [tibex] Swastika to be banned by Microsoft?
> The following story was forwarded to me. The "offending" characters
> in question are, I take it, the left-facing and right-facing swastika
> symbols, often used in Tibetan, found among the Chinese ideographs at
> U+534D (yung-drung-chi-khor) and U+5350 (yung-drung-nang-khor).
>
> I hope that this story is not true.
>
>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&e=1&u=/nm/20031212/wr_nm/tech_microsoft_swastika_dc>
> =====
> SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) said on
> Friday that its latest version of Office software inadvertently
> contained a font featuring two swastikas, and said it would offer
> tools to remove and replace the offending characters from the program.
>
> The swastika, which was made infamous by Nazi Germany, was included
> in Microsoft's "Bookshelf Symbol 7" font. That font was derived from
> a Japanese font set, said Microsoft Office product manager Simon
> Marks.
>
> "It was discovered by one of our customers a couple weeks ago," Marks
> said, adding that there was "no indication of malicious intent."
>
> The Redmond, Washington-based software maker said that it had
> contacted various Jewish organizations about the font and said a
> utility would be immediately available on its Web site that would
> remove the characters from the system.
>
> Microsoft said it will release other tools at a later date to remove
> only the offending characters.
>
> A form of the swastika has been used in the Buddhist religion to
> symbolize the feet or footprints of the Buddha. The symbol, which was
> also used widely in the ancient world including Mesopotamia,
> Scandinavia, India and the Americas, became common in China and Japan
> with the spread of Buddhism.
>
> German dictator Adolf Hitler adopted the swastika as the symbol of
> the Nazi Party because of its nationalist identification, according
> to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international
> Jewish human rights group.
> =====
> -- 
> Michael Everson * * Everson Typography *  * http://www.evertype.com
>

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