The role of symbols as a rallying cry cannot be overrated.
But the root meaning of some of these symbols can vary from person to person.
I’m thinking today, of the Confederate States of America's “Stars and bars” flag; and the now well known Guy Fawkes mask.
When I was younger, the rebel flag was a mystery to me. I saw it on the roof of the orange 1969 Dodge Charger that was a star on The Dukes of Hazzard on television. That was probably my first association I had of it. It represented fun, rebelling against crooked authority, maybe speed, cool cars. My introduction to this American symbol was not really based in any reality.
In middle school, I think it was, I learned that the "rebel flag" (though not the actual official flag of the CSA) represented the Confederate States of America. I learned a little more about the American Civil War. But I didn’t clue in at all on the actual situation that brought about the civil war. I just figured they had wanted to form their own country, because they didn’t agree with how Washington DC ran things. Which, is basically true, if a simple reading of it.
But that doesn’t take all the facts into consideration.
.- EDIT: Rather than bullshit you with a bunch of half-wrong talk: Just reference the Cornerstone Speech, given by the Confederate Vice-President, in 1861. Slavery, and the subjugation of the black race, is the correct answerto that question of "Why the Civil War?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech
But I didn’t let it worry me. I was a self centered person. I still associated that flag with the Dukes of Hazzard, and fun, and the whole concept of being a rebel. And since I was into my long run of defying any authority, just for the sake of it, I still liked the flag.
Fast forward to when I was twenty-two. I’d moved up north to the family cottage, so as to live closer to my new career oriented job of aviation maintenance. I’d become a bit of an alcoholic, I’d bought a few guns, a new Jeep, and an old Harley. I bought a cheap Rebel flag at a flea market, and ran it up the flagpole in front of the cottage. I thought it declared me as a “rebel” for all to see. At the time, I liked it.
We are going to ignore the whole picture of me as a beer swilling redneck I just painted there. It hurts to look at that image of what I used to be.
Then my father came up north. He lost his temper when he saw that flag up there. Because to him, it meant something completely different. To my father, born in 1939, he associated that flag, that symbol, with the Ku Klux Klan, racism, segregation, as well as the Confederates. All bad things.
I didn't put it up again. By then I was at least smart enough to know that if something made my father that angry, it should at least give me pause.
I eventually came to the conclusion that as a symbol, the flag did not mean the same thing to all people. And that my view that it was a simple, fun image of being a rebel; was not the most common one. I found the truth of it. That it was heavily associated with the South, and racism. People who wanted racism and separation, tended to use it as one if their rallying symbols. People who wanted brotherhood and unity, looked down on it as a symbol of things opposed to those ideals.
I felt bad that I had offended people in my ignorance. I wanted to hide my face.
And if I had, I hope I would have chosen a Guy Fawkes mask.
This mask should be familiar to people these days for several reasons. The underground hero called V, wore it in the movie of the same name with great success. The group called Anonymous has adopted it as the "face" of who they are; and the occupy movement currently going on also uses it as a strong public persona.
But what is that mask all about? What does it mean?
To myself, who first saw it in the aforementioned motion picture; it represents power, vengeance, and mystery. The character called V, was avenging certain horrible wrongs. He did so grandly, and with style. Few things grab my emotions more than righteous vengeance.
A scene at the end of that movie, captures a hint if why it appeals to both the Anonymous organization, and the Occupy protesters.
It's when seemingly thousands of people, all wearing the guy Fawkes masks, black hats, and capes, converge on the police, guarding The house of parliament I think it was.
The power in that image, of all those people, standing together, against oppression, under the anonymity of the same face, making them even more unified and one: it was breathtaking.
I certainly cannot speak for Anonymous, although I am them and they are me, I understand the imagery. And it is powerful. They are everywhere, they are everyone, very effective.
Occupy Wall street movement uses it for much the same reasons, although with the added benefit of concealing your identity for awhile, avoiding needless reprisals hopefully.
I had to look up the Wiki on who exactly Guy Fawkes was though. Not growing up in Britain, I only knew what the movie had hinted at. That he was a revolutionary "terrorist" who had tried to blow up the British Parliament, but had gotten caught.
I learned he was a great deal more than that, and less, all at once. I won't bore you with everything. But in a nutshell, he was very Catholic, in a time when the Church of England was the only game in town, so to speak. He sold everything and fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty year war. Returning from that (he wasn't there the entire eighty years), he hooked up with a group that wanted to bring a Catholic King back to the British Throne. Papalists, as they were called. Their idea was to blow up the Parliament building with gunpowder, lots of it.
Tipped off anonymously (how ironic!), the authorities searched the building, finding Guy Fawkes in the lower level, guarding the gunpowder cache. He was tortured, confessed, and sentenced to death. But threw himself from the platform, breaking his own neck.
EDIT: That apparently may be a myth, as official records indicate that Fawkes was hanged until "half dead", then disemboweled, and quartered. That's what i get for trusting in the convenience of Wikipedia.
Going with the legend, I'd like to think he was attempting escape.
So somehow, by my innocent reckoning, he went from religious fundamentalist homegrown terrorist, admit it, that's what he'd be called today; to a symbol to be burned in effigy once a year by the British; to dark hero in the graphic novels, and movie "V for Vendetta"; to a symbol of nameless strength; to a symbol of the common people, Anonymous.
What a long road that image took.
What a variation on what people's feelings there must be about that symbol, that image, the white mask with the fabulous 'stache.
Symbols mean different things to different people. A face that is one's hero, is another's villain. One person's flag of rebel fun, is another's flag of hatespeak.
Cheers to the differences, and learning to see them.
But the root meaning of some of these symbols can vary from person to person.
I’m thinking today, of the Confederate States of America's “Stars and bars” flag; and the now well known Guy Fawkes mask.
When I was younger, the rebel flag was a mystery to me. I saw it on the roof of the orange 1969 Dodge Charger that was a star on The Dukes of Hazzard on television. That was probably my first association I had of it. It represented fun, rebelling against crooked authority, maybe speed, cool cars. My introduction to this American symbol was not really based in any reality.
In middle school, I think it was, I learned that the "rebel flag" (though not the actual official flag of the CSA) represented the Confederate States of America. I learned a little more about the American Civil War. But I didn’t clue in at all on the actual situation that brought about the civil war. I just figured they had wanted to form their own country, because they didn’t agree with how Washington DC ran things. Which, is basically true, if a simple reading of it.
But that doesn’t take all the facts into consideration.
.- EDIT: Rather than bullshit you with a bunch of half-wrong talk: Just reference the Cornerstone Speech, given by the Confederate Vice-President, in 1861. Slavery, and the subjugation of the black race, is the correct answerto that question of "Why the Civil War?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech
But I didn’t let it worry me. I was a self centered person. I still associated that flag with the Dukes of Hazzard, and fun, and the whole concept of being a rebel. And since I was into my long run of defying any authority, just for the sake of it, I still liked the flag.
Fast forward to when I was twenty-two. I’d moved up north to the family cottage, so as to live closer to my new career oriented job of aviation maintenance. I’d become a bit of an alcoholic, I’d bought a few guns, a new Jeep, and an old Harley. I bought a cheap Rebel flag at a flea market, and ran it up the flagpole in front of the cottage. I thought it declared me as a “rebel” for all to see. At the time, I liked it.
We are going to ignore the whole picture of me as a beer swilling redneck I just painted there. It hurts to look at that image of what I used to be.
Then my father came up north. He lost his temper when he saw that flag up there. Because to him, it meant something completely different. To my father, born in 1939, he associated that flag, that symbol, with the Ku Klux Klan, racism, segregation, as well as the Confederates. All bad things.
I didn't put it up again. By then I was at least smart enough to know that if something made my father that angry, it should at least give me pause.
I eventually came to the conclusion that as a symbol, the flag did not mean the same thing to all people. And that my view that it was a simple, fun image of being a rebel; was not the most common one. I found the truth of it. That it was heavily associated with the South, and racism. People who wanted racism and separation, tended to use it as one if their rallying symbols. People who wanted brotherhood and unity, looked down on it as a symbol of things opposed to those ideals.
I felt bad that I had offended people in my ignorance. I wanted to hide my face.
And if I had, I hope I would have chosen a Guy Fawkes mask.
This mask should be familiar to people these days for several reasons. The underground hero called V, wore it in the movie of the same name with great success. The group called Anonymous has adopted it as the "face" of who they are; and the occupy movement currently going on also uses it as a strong public persona.
But what is that mask all about? What does it mean?
To myself, who first saw it in the aforementioned motion picture; it represents power, vengeance, and mystery. The character called V, was avenging certain horrible wrongs. He did so grandly, and with style. Few things grab my emotions more than righteous vengeance.
A scene at the end of that movie, captures a hint if why it appeals to both the Anonymous organization, and the Occupy protesters.
It's when seemingly thousands of people, all wearing the guy Fawkes masks, black hats, and capes, converge on the police, guarding The house of parliament I think it was.
The power in that image, of all those people, standing together, against oppression, under the anonymity of the same face, making them even more unified and one: it was breathtaking.
I certainly cannot speak for Anonymous, although I am them and they are me, I understand the imagery. And it is powerful. They are everywhere, they are everyone, very effective.
Occupy Wall street movement uses it for much the same reasons, although with the added benefit of concealing your identity for awhile, avoiding needless reprisals hopefully.
I had to look up the Wiki on who exactly Guy Fawkes was though. Not growing up in Britain, I only knew what the movie had hinted at. That he was a revolutionary "terrorist" who had tried to blow up the British Parliament, but had gotten caught.
I learned he was a great deal more than that, and less, all at once. I won't bore you with everything. But in a nutshell, he was very Catholic, in a time when the Church of England was the only game in town, so to speak. He sold everything and fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty year war. Returning from that (he wasn't there the entire eighty years), he hooked up with a group that wanted to bring a Catholic King back to the British Throne. Papalists, as they were called. Their idea was to blow up the Parliament building with gunpowder, lots of it.
Tipped off anonymously (how ironic!), the authorities searched the building, finding Guy Fawkes in the lower level, guarding the gunpowder cache. He was tortured, confessed, and sentenced to death. But threw himself from the platform, breaking his own neck.
EDIT: That apparently may be a myth, as official records indicate that Fawkes was hanged until "half dead", then disemboweled, and quartered. That's what i get for trusting in the convenience of Wikipedia.
Going with the legend, I'd like to think he was attempting escape.
So somehow, by my innocent reckoning, he went from religious fundamentalist homegrown terrorist, admit it, that's what he'd be called today; to a symbol to be burned in effigy once a year by the British; to dark hero in the graphic novels, and movie "V for Vendetta"; to a symbol of nameless strength; to a symbol of the common people, Anonymous.
What a long road that image took.
What a variation on what people's feelings there must be about that symbol, that image, the white mask with the fabulous 'stache.
Symbols mean different things to different people. A face that is one's hero, is another's villain. One person's flag of rebel fun, is another's flag of hatespeak.
Cheers to the differences, and learning to see them.
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