Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryson
Does all hanging = lynching for Americans? That's genuinely fascinating. Hanging in the UK was always something the government did. (Until 1965, of course.)
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Yeah. It's one of those images that burned into our collective memories as part of the horrible centuries-long racial conflict in the US. Rarely was the government known for hangings. It's more associated with racial hate groups like the ku klux klan and backwoods xenophobic rednecks. The klan was still lynching people late into the 20th century.
I'm having a hard time coming up with a good analogy to convey the effect, but think of it as something like putting up a building with a swastika on it. Sure, it has a long history in Indian and east Asian religions and cultures, but to a lot of westerners, it's just the flag of the Nazi party. (wooo godwin's law!!)