[Sobeh]

Symbols are designed to be visual maps that reference large bodies of knowledge that require context to properly extricate. Flying the Southern Flag on a political building, for example, is poor choice because the symbol is not being interpreted properly by most people who know about it, so it serves its purpose as a symbol poorly and should be replaced because of that. Flags on caskets are viewed by those attending the funeral, and the symbol is likely to be properly interpreted by most of the people there, thus as a symbol it works perfectly.

The Swastika actually has a HUGE history cross-culturally, and the simple form of the + with extensions coming off of each arm in either direction is one of the almost universal human symbols, akin to spirals and circles. That it has the symbolism it does in the West is of course due to WWII, and is an example of what Hitler was trying to do, namely usurp a very powerful symbol to energize his movement, and while the movement is now much smaller than it once was, the symbol has nevertheless, because of the massive atrocities that took place under it, taken on additional meanings for us. For someone to try to claim that they're using it in an antiquated sense, devoid of all modern connotations, is to ignore reality in a pretty severe fashion. The symbol has changed, and I suggest it will never again become a popular symbol of benefit here in the West that it once had.

Cultures relatively uninvolved in WWII still use it extensively, and outside of Europe and the US it isn't charged in such a negative way. The point is, when using symbols one must take into account that others will be ascribing meanings to it. Symbols, as I said, are meant to refer to other knowledges, and are not in themselves that knowledge.

Wiccans have had to wage a PR war in order that the Pentagram wouldn't be seen as a satanic symbol by the larger American culture. The Swastika has no such support group.