Vinyard's allegiance to the swastika is an allegiance to an idea that the America of today is perhaps not as equal, peaceful or harmonious as the average American would like to believe. The image is a shattering of the idea that the past was terrible, but the present is better. Rather, Vinyard's right hand pressed against his swastika-inscribed heart both repels and evokes revulsion. Iconic photographs stir a sense of nationalism and pride "they also illustrate the ways that visual communication can underwrite polity by providing resources for thought and feeling that are necessary for constituting people as citizens and motivating identification with and participation in specific forms of collective life" (Hariman & Lucaites, 2002). An iconic photograph can invoke a sense of inspiration and a commitment to collective ideals, and a sense of history, perhaps bloody and unjust a one time, but now reformed, improved and all together better....
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