An angular eagle behind the defense secretary departed from the Pentagon’s established branding. Critics saw echoes of the Third Reich.

A reimagined “Department of War” logo displayed behind Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a recent speech drew immediate comparisons to Third Reich iconography.

Speaking to Air Force Academy cadets on Saturday, Hegseth stood in front of a monochrome logo for his agency that differs from the designs in the Defense Department’s official branding guide. The backdrop features a stylized eagle that critics compared to the straight-edged Reichsadler used by Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.

  • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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    15 hours ago

    The DOD eagle is very close to the shape used, just with a slight swoop to the top of the wings.

    Sometimes the wings have been pretty straight.

    Both of those were taken from .mil pages. The major difference is in the straight horizontal feathers, which does match the Reichsadler.

    It’s questionable, but I don’t think this is a slam dunk you take to your Fox News parents

    • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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      5 hours ago

      If I had a hindu swastika outside a temple and wanted “do a modern redesign” I’d definitely avoid rotating it by 45 degrees, removing the inner circles, and choosing a red, black, and white color pallet.

      If I happen to do that by mistake. I’d definitely absolutely understand when someone pointed out that my “modern design” just suspiciously made it look MORE like a Nazi symbol. Which would clearly be the opposite intention behind a symbol that already has a similar look.

      Point being. If we have imagery or symbols from the past that are similar to a white supremacist genocidal state and we were doing a “redesign” there is no possible way a well intention person could accidentally make it “more Nazi looking”.

      It’s on purpose. It’s not gonna help your fox news parents. True. But anyone with a brain can understand what is being done here.

    • CrimeIsLegalNow@ani.social
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      15 hours ago

      If only they’d done any other deliberately Nazi-esque things you could include to prove a pattern of behavior.

        • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          Or so twisted they’ll not be able to get out without professional help. It’s pretty culty and people spend their lives getting over that stuff.

          There’s a pretty common thread of thought that they are ushering in the apocalypse, or in it already or something. That thought process takes a lot of work to prop up and nurture and a lot of that is internal. Who knows what that crash out will look like.

          All the Nazi stuff is pretty concerning, but I believe that’s more of an issue for military aged men than anyone else and society already has a way to deal with that.

    • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Agree. It’s even right there on the flag two feet away, which they’ve been using since 1949.