Wow. I'm not very good at blogging. Over spring break I had every intention of participating in "amnesty week", but unfortunately my addiction to reading other people's blogs kicked in. Strange how that works.
While "stalking" people on facebook (aka looking at their pictures), I have noticed a similar theme between the "indie" crowd. That is, I have noticed that it is pretty cool to hold up the peace sign when someone takes your picture.
http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/58/81/miley_cyrus.0.0.0x0.300x400.jpeg
I will be honest, I have done it before. But, what are our intentions when we hold up the sign? This got me thinking about the denotative and connotative meanings of the peace sign. The v-sign, or the peace sign is a hand gesture with the index and middle fingers open and all of the others closed facing the viewer. The denotative meaning for this sign is victory and developed into a sign of peace during protests against the Vietnam War. As time went on this peace sign became a sign of love for the hippies as they chanted about peace and love and freedom.
Now, this sign of peace seems to have become a trivial thing to do when taking pictures. And t-shirts, jewelery, bumper stickers are plastered with the peace sign. Perhaps I am too judgmental and people are really meaning well and hope for peace when they flash this sign. Are we really striving for peace?
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Jani, I totally feel you. I myself cringe when I catch glimpses of the ever-present peace sign. I don't flash it often, unless out of jest, exactly for the reasons you talked about- it feels like it's sort of lost all meaning. We don't know what it feels like to be at peace, or maybe even at war. Hmmm.
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