The New Symbology
People have been using symbols to represent things for as long as we've been able to think of ourselves as people. Where it gets really weird, really not like language at all is the subjectiveness of the symbols. Some ancient civilization creates a symbol that for them represents the sun. A few thousand years later this guy named Hitler used the same symbol to mean "We're better than you are." Now that same symbol is interpreted to mean "We hate YOU." Put it all together and we have a symbol that REALLY means the Sun hates us because its better than us. Or, I suppose it could mean we hate the sun because we are better than it. Or We hate the sun because it is better than we are. Never mind. That's a confusing symbol that doesn't really mean anything at all universally. Sun, Better, Hate, these are concrete, the symbol that they are attributed to mean nothing universally.
Some groups aren't all that big on symbols, they don't use them often, others use them all the time. Hitler's Germany loved symbols. They had symbols for everything, gays over there, jews over there, polish over there, blonds over there, old over there, young over there, please have your papers stamped at the barbed wire just follow the signs.
Some symbols are made up of other symbols to make one big symbol. Take the American flag. One star for each state, one stripe for each original colony, the blue field means something the colors of the stripes all mean something. Take that flag to a boy scout meeting and they salute it. Take it to an al qaeda sewing circle and it gets burned on sight. To the boy scouts the flag means all the best of our country. In the sewing circle it means evil oppressor bent on world domination. The only thing both sides will agree on is what it looks like and how much fun camping out is.
Back during the War of Northern Aggression. Those who wanted freedom created a flag to represent them. It was their symbol. It meant to them freedom from economic and political oppression. But people have the power to reinterpret, reassign, and outright steal symbolism. Hitler stole the symbol for the sun and reassigned the meaning, "we're better than you are." the world stole the symbol from him and now it means "we hate you". The southern battle flag was stolen and reassigned to mean "we hate those of African descent". Now people fight over it, each assigning their own personal "universal" meaning to it and try to hammer the other into the ground with it. Some cultures have a bunch of symbols, some have a few, some don't have that many symbols of their own so they borrow others. Hitler borrowed the sun symbol and the world borrowed it from him. The southerners had a symbol that others borrowed.
People are constantly borrowing/stealing other symbols for their own purposes. The pirate's skull and crossbones used to be an identifier for individual pirates, now it has been stolen and turned into a generic symbol that means either "biker" or "trendy cool rebelliousness" (available now at Hot Topic). The noose used to mean "execution by hanging". Now it has been stolen and reassigned the meaning "we hate those of African descent". That hardly seems fair considering how many people have been hung who aren't of African descent. Didn't they hang Saddam Husein? (North African doesn't count.) There are still a bunch of countries that execute by hanging and not all of those countries are in Africa. Still, credit where credit is due, it was quick thinking, to steal a symbol and whip up some real fear and outrage with it.
It got me to thinking. Maybe we could have some fun with stealing and reassigning symbols.
They took the noose, so lets take the square knot. The cord knotted with the square knot now means "We hate the boy scouts"! McDonald's golden arches could now mean "We hate healthy people". The symbol for the book that used to mean "library" can now mean "We're smarter than you." The symbol for the phone can now mean, "You talk too much". The symbol for school can now mean "pedophiles buffet ahead". The shamrock now means "we hate the Irish" (puts a twist on St. Patrick's day doesn't it). Pizza now means "Italians think the world is still flat". Bling now means "we hate everyone...biatch". The color red means "we hate everyone wearing the color blue", the color blue means "we hate everyone wearing red". The color yellow means "we hate everyone wearing green". Pink means "we are gay". The color black now means "We're all unique individuals" unless you wear black make up or have a really good tan in which case it means "help help I'm being oppressed". White used to mean, clean, holy, angelic. Now it means "nah nah, we're better than you are". Oh wait, we can't do that, someone's already given it that meaning, lets find a new one for white. How about, "use hot water and bleach, tumble dry warm, remove promptly." I read in this article that a city in Colorado is banning the use of green or red lights during the holidays. I am just glad I don't have to drive there, because if I got pulled for running a red light I'd have to sue the city for displaying one. Heck, someone ought to do that anyway.
Does anyone find it strange that a kid can vandalize a wall with a can of spray paint and its "obviously gang sign"? Truth is, it is probably only obvious to him, the gang, and the couple of guys on the police force in the gang unit. If a krylon squiggle is so obviously a gang sign why is it that scientist cannot create a symbol that will still mean "danger keep out" in a few thousand years?
Its because symbols have no meaning in and of themselves.
Symbols only mean what the person that views it assigns to it.
Therefore a "symbol of fear and hate" is so ONLY because you made it that way.
