>Unless the 14-year-old previously mentioned in this thread is a lifelong
>resident of Brigadoon, it seems inconceivable that he could be completely
>ignorant of what the hammer and sickle signifies. US popular culture
>remains as saturated with cold-war detritus now as it was with WWII
>references when I was 14 in 1964 ... and there wasn't a teenager alive then
>who didn't understand that the swastika was a logo heavily freighted with
>meaning.
You've got some problems with ahistoricism yourself here. In 1964 there were three television channels and everyone had a friend or relative who fought in WWII. There's nothing comparable for teenagers now with regard to sources where they'd hear a lot about the Cold War. I'd also wager this 14-year-old knows a lot of stuff about the world that you haven't a clue about.