Today’s fruit, when one types “Nazi” into Google News, is a yarn about a swastika crop circle that a farmer discovered in England.
Apparently, a farmer in Wiltshire woke up and found that a massive swastika, measuring an estimated 150-180 feet in diameter, had been mowed onto his crop field. Shortly thereafter, the farmer met a local man named Hugh Newman, a 43-year-old “ancient mysteries researcher” who had seen a post on Facebook and visited the site of the “land art.” So he did what any person would do: He flew a drone over the field to capture footage of the symbol so closely associated with the Nazi Party and hate.
But the swastika—which means “well-being” or “good fortune” in Sanskrit and has been used to as a sign of auspiciousness in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Odinism—was around long before it was appropriated into a symbol of evil by the Third Reich. And Newman made sure the farmer knew of its positive connotation. “He didn’t say much to me but he was a bit concerned by the symbol and he saw the negative connotation of it when he realized what it looked like,” said Newman.
The question then becomes, who did this—and with such skill? “The big trouble of the years is who cuts these crop circles? Because sometimes people don’t have a clue how they ended up there, and the farmer didn’t know,” said Newman. I don’t know, either. Some hoaxer, would be my bet. And if the farmer is scared, he should take DMX’s advice and get a dog. Or an alternate security system that would, ya know, catch people mowing swastikas into your field and ruining your crops.
But if it was done by aliens… run.
Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.