WWYD - accidentally bought inappropriate gift

[MjolnirDilemma]

I've name-changed for this because I feel like a bit of an idiot, frankly.

I was doing a bit of Christmas shopping yesterday. I always struggle with what to get my brother because he doesn't really have a lot of interests apart from gaming, and I know nothing about that so I don't try to buy him game stuff. I saw a shop that was selling Viking-related gifts and they had these pewter pendants with various symbols from Norse mythology on them. We have Viking blood in the family and my brother has always been into history, so I thought he might like a Thor's hammer pendant, so I got one.

It wasn't until afterwards that I started getting a vague idea that there was some problem with the symbol that I'd read or heard about. Sure enough, when I looked online I found out it has apparently been adopted by neo-Nazis as a symbol of white supremacy. It is officially listed as a hate symbol on a par with the swastika!

I think this is mostly in America, and I'm not sure how well-known it is in the UK. This shop had loads of different hammers so hopefully they're oblivious too. I doubt if my brother would know, but I still feel like I can't give this pendant to him now! What if he wears it at work and somebody gets the wrong idea?

I'm too embarrassed to take it back to the shop or sell it on Ebay. I will probably just put it away somewhere and buy him something else. What do people think? Am I overreacting? I do feel annoyed that a bunch of racist dickheads have appropriated a symbol that had nothing to do with racial "purity" and spoiled it for people with a genuine interest in history.

Why would it be embarrassing to exchange it for something else? The shop is selling them, they're not going to judge you.

Just exchange it, if you feel you have to say something, just say ‘mum has bought him one the same 🙄’. They really do not care

Yes you're over-reacting. It was an accident. You were being thoughtful really. And at least you've figured it out now. I'd just take it back. See if you can exchange it for an actual swastica. I'm kidding!

I don’t understand why you can’t return to the shop and exchange it for something else? Why is that embarrassing?

BestOption that might be a good idea. The other pendants they had were rather more feminine, iyswim - lots of pretty knotwork. I got the hammer because it was obviously blokey! They did have bits of Game of Thrones memorabilia as well. Maybe I could exchange for that.

Greenglassteacup it's a small independent gift shop. I suppose I was thinking that they might ask if there was something wrong with the pendant before they'd take it back, and it would have been awkward trying to explain that they were stocking a wide range of attractively presented white supremacist symbols. I could just use the "someone else has already got him one" line though, which I hadn't thought of.

Surely the shop must know, though?

You don’t need to offer any explanation or justification. You changed your mind and would like to exchange it for something else. either that or you could tell them why, maybe they’re unaware of the adoption of the symbol or maybe they’re white supremacists

Surely the shop must know, though?

Unlikely. Most people would see Thor's hammer necklaces as nerdy rather than Nazi, particularly in a fantasy fiction gift shop.

Came across this looking for something else but thought it worth replying to despite it being an old post. I don’t think the right answer here is to cancel these symbols. Thor hammers have a long history in Scandinavian culture which has nothing to do with extremism. I think if we cease to use or accept older cultural symbols because a small number of extremists in a very short period of history choose to misinterpret them for their purposes, we not only abolish the entire history of the symbol outside of that extremist use, but we give ownership of that symbol (or idea) to the extremists.

I have a Thor’s Hammer pendant, an original 8th to 10th century one as far as metal testing and visits to various museums can attest, though you can never be sure, dug up near York. Why do I wear it ? A lifelong interest in British history and archaeology and all its multicultural elements (I collect all sorts of artifacts), and maybe the fact my mother’s family were from Scandinavia a few generations back. I think it is sad if people forget the cultural history of these objects and effectively surrender them to extremists.

Knowledge is the key to cultural survival. The swastika is one of the oldest symbols in the world. I think the oldest one was found carved in a rock in the Ukraine dated c9000 and spread to the extremes of western Europe, down through the Indian sub-continent and then via Buddhism to China and the far east. For thousands of years it meant (varying views on the origin – whether a wheel of life or a representation of star systems) good luck and good fortune.

My Hindu friend’s wedding had swastikas, when I lived in Japan the local temple had a swastika, I have in my collection a late Romano-British man’s cloak brooch in the form of a cross with a large swastika in the middle (for the customer it probably meant double good luck if he was planning a journey beyond Hadrian’s Wall.)
All I am saying is just because a tiny and pathetic group of extremists claim incorrect allegiance to something, lets not treat it as untouchable and surrender it to them. Would you treat the crucifix as unacceptable because the Ku Klux Klan use it as one of their central statements ? Ignore them and make them a small footnote to history.

Thor’s hammer in the Uk is not associated with neo -nazis.It’s not an issue!

It's especially not an issue because this thread is from 2019.

Noted both, but came across it as I said because someone from the UK did have an issue around this issue, and didn't think the thread being older made it less relevant as a topic.