
Why Symbols Aren’t Forever - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/76/language/why-symbols-arent-forever
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sweetheart
I’ve always thought that one of the most important parts of the human
experience is the freedom of forgetting, at least on a personal level. To
forget things is a gift in many cases. To forget hurt, embarrassment, or
feelings of negativity in general. But this article makes me wonder how that
belief works in a broader context, like in a culture, or country. Is it right
to also forget things like periods of historical violence? Is it right to
gradually lose our memories of symbols once associated with hate? Maybe 80
years is too short a period of time to forget these things (like the
swastika’s association with The Third Reich), but I’m sure as a species we’ve
forgotten similar symbology from thousands of years ago, or hundreds. Should
we try to make that our goal?

Im not sure, I’m just riffing while bored on my phone, but it also makes me
wonder if there are clear examples of symbols of evil being retrofitted to be
symbols of good, or at least neutral standing. It always seems to be that we
try to erase these symbols, but never pull them out of the depths of
immorality.

¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

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hprotagonist
Semiotics is ever lurking.

