The Meaning of Symbols

Freedom has two parts: potential and resolution; as metaphor has two parts: form and interpretation.  Of course, the two are intertwined.  Metaphor lines the road to freedom, as symbols and words are the bricks and mortar of meaning.  Freedom is being the bricoleur, the mason.

Symbol: a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something else.  (Synonym: metaphor)

Okay, obviously, there’s a huge amount of literature and theory out there about symbolism, and I have no intention of diving into that, despite the title.  So it’s safe to keep reading. =)  I do think, however, that some colloquial discussion about symbols is needed.

The problem with assigning meanings to symbols, in general, is that there’s two levels of meaning: the individual meaning, and the societal meaning.  (And obviously society has multiple levels in and of itself.)  As those two interpretations don’t necessarily agree, that can cause issues of understanding.

Let’s take a grossly oversimplified example, just to make sure we’re starting out on the same page.

The letter ‘a’ has a defined meaning in society.  It stands for a certain set of sounds, based on context, and it can also form a word (just like that).  Right?

Okay, now say I decide that from now on, I’m going to use ‘a’ to mean ‘Europe’.  Why?  I dunno, this is just a silly example.  Let’s say I’m doing it just to be contrary, because I’ve been known to do that every now and then.  (And Europe is, after all, the only continent that doesn’t start with ‘a’, excluding cardinal directions.)

Now, this usage of ‘a’ can be perfectly legitimate to me on an individual level.  After all, I can go ahead and redefine things however I want for my own personal use.  When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.  However, I should expect that, if I try to use this with other people, they will absolutely think I’m an idiot, because this isn’t the societally understood meaning of the symbol ‘a’.

With me so far?  Okay, good.

Of course, the “societally understood” meaning of ‘a’ can also change.  If you speak Spanish, it’s going to mean something different as a word (and as a sound, come to that) than in English.  Or, if you naturally speak a language without an indefinite article, it might not actually mean anything aside from one of the many quirks of English that you have to learn.  But as far as I’m aware, no language has ‘a = Europe’, so they’ll all equally think I’m nonsensical.

Alright, so with that under our belt, let’s make the pivot I’m sure you were all expecting pretty much from the beginning and talk about the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag.

(Nitpick head-off: I’m well aware that the currently-controversial “Confederate flag” is actually the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, and not any of the three national flags of the Confederate States of America.  However, since that’s how it’s colloquially known, and it’s a lot easier to type, I’m just going to keep using the term “Confederate flag”.  Though to be overly semantically pedantic, I would note that if “Confederate” is taken as an adjective, rather than a noun, it’s a perfectly accurate phrase, as it’s a flag associated with the Confederacy, even if it’s not an official flag of the Confederacy.  Anyways.)

As noted above, it’s pretty much useless to delve into individual interpretations of what the Confederate flag means.  Everyone’s got their own, and those interpretations are valid to them.

However, the societal interpretation of the Confederate flag is very different, and very interesting, because they vary wildly based on what boundaries you draw to define “society”.

To some, the flag is a symbol of pride in their heritage, history and region.  Unfortunately, people smarter than you or I have already put together a pretty thorough smackdown of that take. Since very few people will be openly proud of a history of white supremacy and slavery, the Civil War has to, to them, become about states’ rights (to what, exactly?) and Northern Aggression.  But as the link shows, that’s a gross misinterpretation of history, and primary sources show otherwise.  Once again, you’re entitled to your own opinions, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.

Additionally, aside from their state flags, most states started flying the Confederate flag in the 50s and 60s as the civil rights movement was heating up.  I’m dubious as to this being a coincidence.

So, while we can’t stop people from thinking what they want individually, that doesn’t mean we have to accept that interpretation on a societal level.  We can recognize that this interpretation is based on misinformation (without even ascribing intent!) and refuse to accept it as a society.

And look, I get being proud of your region.  I’m certainly proud to live in Washington, because we have a beautiful state (yes, both sides), a diverse group of people and lifestyles, and plenty of exports that make us known around the world (just to list a few things).  I’m generally not going to question what any given person is proud of.  However, the way you choose to show that pride can be better or worse depending on your choice of expression.

And I get being proud of your heritage, although, as discussed above, you should probably make sure you know what your heritage actually is.  But do you know what’s good at preserving heritage, even offensive heritage, in a responsible and non-offensive way?  Museums.  Museums have context.  They, too, are a symbol: a symbol of history, of the past, of things to study and learn from, without justifying, validating or glorifying.  (Well, if done properly, anyways.)

That’s just on a factual level, though.  What about on an emotional level?

Well, should states really be flying flags that a significant portion of their populace finds mortally offensive?  There’s a couple concepts in there to examine.

I’ve seen suggestions that the states should democratically decide what to do about their flags.  However, democracy isn’t always the best approach on moral issues. 

As a thought experiment (and I’m not at all claiming a level of moral equivalency here, just to be clear), imagine that, for some reason, Puget Sound and the rest of Washington State had their own historical flags.  (Maybe in this alternate history, they were separate territories or something.)  Now, imagine that we had a statewide vote, and decided to fly the Puget Sound flag at the Capitol along with the state flag, but not the Rest of Washington flag.  (This is possible; as of 2012, the Puget Sound area contained roughly 2/3rds of the population of the state, which is why Eastern Washington feels like they never get their way on things.)

How do you think the Rest of Washington would feel?  Insulted?  Inconsequential?  Unwelcome in their own state, perhaps?  After all, what would be the point of flying the Puget Sound flag except to rub it in the faces of the Rest of Washington that we could?

And this is just over some stupid territorial flag.  Now imagine if that flag were imbued with 150 years of attempts to cling to slavery and racial oppression and segregation, because I’m pretty sure that’s how the Confederate flag is seen by pretty much everyone in the South who’s not white.  And they have to put up with that flag flying simply because they can’t muster the votes to stop it democratically?  (Let’s not even get into the voter disenfranchisement…)

Even if you literally believed that the Confederate flag stood for sweet tea and hospitality, or the “indomitable spirit of independence” (snort) (someone needs to learn what “indomitable” means, unless he’s proposing another round of secession), surely you can recognize that others might not view it the same way, and might be utterly humiliated and alienated by its presence, right?  And if so, why would you do this? 

Because you’ve got the votes?

Now, as for offensive, let’s look at a couple counter-examples.

I saw on Facebook the other day a picture arguing that if the Confederate flag should be taken down for offensiveness, then pants should need to be pulled up due to offensiveness.  Where, oh where, to start?

First of all, let’s just note that this picture does a great job of confirming that the Confederate flag really is about race, since there’s really just one group (at least that I’m aware of) that typically wears their pants in that fashion.  That they’re singled out in retribution in this picture indicates a recognition that they’re the ones offended by the flag, and implicitly recognizes why that might be.

Second, the two are at VASTLY different moral levels. 

The Confederate flag represents a movement to dehumanize an entire race of people and turn them into property, and barring that, to delegitimize them, disenfranchise them, disempower them, and basically every other “dis-“ you can think of to make sure they never become equal to whites. 

Sagging pants is about a clothing style you don’t agree with.  Because it’s different from what you're used to.

(Personally, I’m just baffled by the physics of the whole thing.  How do the pants stay up, especially while walking?  Like, I literally don’t understand what is supporting them.  Legs taper!  There’s nothing of a larger circumference than the waistline/belt for them to catch on!  Is there Velcro or tape, like J-Lo’s dress?  What kind of strange sorcery is this?)

I haven’t actually seen my second counter-example made (although I’m sure it has been), but I think it’s likely, so hopefully it’s not too much of a strawman.  I can imagine that a large proportion of pro-Confederate flag people would be offended by the display of the rainbow flag (or, for that matter, the way the White House was lit after the Supreme Court decision), due to their lack of support for same-sex marriage.  What’s the difference there?

To me, the difference is in who stands to lose from the cause represented by the flag.  We’ve already discussed above what the Confederate flag should be recognized as standing for, and it logically follows who stands to lose by that cause.

But who loses with the granting of the right to same-sex marriage?  Honestly.  Who loses?  Barely anyone.  No one’s marriage is destroyed by this.  Churches aren’t going to be forced to change their teachings or perform same-sex marriages because of this.  (They're not.  Really.  Promise.)  The only people who are going to lose are the few additional florists and bakers who refuse to provide services, get sued, and lose, and we’ve already gone over why that is

So on an emotional level, there’s plenty of reason not to fly the Confederate flag, too.

Let’s sum up, shall we?  The Confederacy is a history and heritage that was openly and avowedly pro-slavery, and which fought a war for the sole reason of keeping their slaves.  The particular flag as the center of the controversy was resurrected as an anti-civil-rights symbol.  As far as I can tell, it’s unavoidably (and unsurprisingly) offensive and alienating to people of color.  This is the societal-level interpretation that we should all have.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that on an individual level.  And it’s certainly possible to reclaim symbols for other meanings, although some are harder than others.  But the peril of publicly using a symbol is that you’re likely to be judged in terms of the societal interpretation, not your own, so you may send a message you don’t intend or want to send.

Or you may send exactly the message you intend.

One last thing.  I’ve seen the suggestion that sure, we should take the Confederate flag down, but we shouldn’t expect it to make a difference in racism, because the flag isn’t magic.  Well, sure, it’s not magic.  However, consider what I’ve said above about what the flag stands for to many people.  Public and prominent display of the flag essentially amounts to a public celebration of racism, regardless of the intent behind the display (again, I’m trying not to judge individual motivations). 

Public display of a flag, as a symbol, means public acceptance, and even endorsement, of what it stands for.  On a public level like that, you can’t pick and choose what meanings you’re trying to ascribe.  And I just can’t buy the suggestion that there might not be just a few fewer racially-motivated shootings, church burnings, etc., if we weren’t publicly accepting and celebrating racism by flying the Confederate flag.

And of course the flying of the flag is intended to convey a certain message.  Why else do we fly the American flag outside just about every public building, in classrooms, etc.?  It’s intended to convey a message, and especially when it comes to classrooms, it’s a message that we’re trying to get our children to absorb.  Why would the Confederate flag be any different?

Symbols have meaning.  That’s definitional.  Use of the symbol, therefore, demonstrates an intent to convey that meaning.  And while you may not agree with every meaning of the symbol, it’s often not in your hands to define, especially if the facts aren’t on your side.  I can talk about backpacking around a all I want, but I’m not going to get anyone to go along with me.  You can equate the Confederate flag with only positive Southern culture and heritage all you want, but that doesn’t wash away its history and other meanings.  Those bricks are already solidly mortared in place.