???Interpretation is a powerful instrument. In today's society, interpretation has the ability to extract incredible beauty or create a cacophonous social upheaval. The way you (as the reader) are going to construe these words is going to be big. I can see myself receiving an enormous amount of disagreement with this, and I haven't even started.
???We are now in a day and age when the historical symbols of institutions, both small and large, are undergoing some forceful changes. We live in an incredibly racist society, and thanks to the rocky history of cultural acceptance in this country, the problem only grows worse. The analysis of symbols is a rather large gray area, since pretty much any one person can see something wrong with some thing that is completely arbitrary serving an arbitrary purpose and somehow has the potential for an issue.
???Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." These words, for the better or worse, couldn't hold truer these days.
???All of this thinking started with an incident that occurred a few hours before my return to my room from a friend's house one night. Upon the many photoshopped creations of my floor-mates that decorate the heavy wooden front door of my comfortable three-person dorm room, there dangles a yellow rubber chicken. This particularly comical chicken bears an indescribable facial expression, and when squeezed at the stomach, lets out an obnoxious shriek.
???The said chicken has been with the room for over a year now and has swung proudly. It has been part of the floor and it makes a great makeshift doorbell. Here's the catch though (looks around cautiously): The chicken is hung from the door by a durable twine in the form of a hangman's noose.
???My hall-mates and I never thought such a thing would be a problem, until we were advised by a Resident Advisor and demanded of by a higher up to take the chicken down. We never thought twice about the fashion in which the chicken was hung from the door. Was it the noose? That's ridiculous, we thought to ourselves.
???The noose itself has no meaning - it is merely one of many arbitrary items in this world. I would almost go so far as to say that looking at the very basics of symbols, nothing has any meaning unless somebody in society puts meaning to it. I am staring at a lamp right now as I write this. I bet somebody out there can somehow take this ordinary item and create an extraordinary excuse for how or why it could be offensive.
???Go back into history. You will find the origin of the noose being derived long before the rise and fall of slavery in this country, before lynching in the South, before separate but equal. This goes for many symbols that once meant something else, but interpretation weathered it down into something different.
???Take the swastika for example: Originally a Hindu symbol that signifies a large mythical bird (Astika) was then used by a man who unleashed a cleansing upon six million people for the sake of building a superior race of people. The swastika, which once symbolized a god, was then turned to symbolize evil, Nazi Germany and the Third Reich. The Nazi symbol even changed its appearance, having then changed in significance.
???That being said, I argue this: It is not in the symbol of the noose where hate lies, it is in the demonstration of how the noose is being used that breeds hate. No symbol carries hate; it is just an object among many objects made up of molecules just like us. We humans (being the hate machines we are), then take these symbols, after using or perceiving them in a particular fashion and develop our opinions of its offensiveness further.
???We take what is socially constructed as a hate symbol and adopt it as hateful. We only perceive it to be hateful or offensive because society has taught us to think that. Society teaches us a lot of things. We are often swayed by the beliefs of others, especially the mass media, as to exactly how bad a situation is and are developed to believe information that will further perpetuate an emotion. Misinforming of people is perhaps the largest issue of all.
???Jena 6 was an example of where the use of a commonplace item (a noose) was used as a symbol of intimidation, with the specific intent of being used as a hate message. The issue wasn't the noose or even at whom it was being directed. The issue was the threatening nature in which the noose was being used.
???Let's go back to the chicken incident for a few moments: If the issue of Jena 6 never made it to the media and there wasn't this sudden "resurgence" of racism in America, would the chicken being hanged have really been an issue? I have my beliefs that in light of all these nooses turning up, the news outlets are blowing the issue out of proportion. It all seems like there are a bunch of copycats out there, and any chance the media gets, they're all over it. Hence why it seems like such a large issue. There is no sudden "resurgence" - racism has always been there.
???Although the noose was used in early American culture, it does not mean that the noose was an American invention. My roommates and I were just using a common knot to suspend our rubber chicken from our door-with no message to send. The unfortunate stigma that goes hand-in-hand with the noose had nothing to do with us.
???Did all of this commotion really warrant the demand to take it down? Consider this: Take a long hard thought about everything around you. Objects or ideas you hold dear, as well as people. It is impossible to accommodate for everybody. Somebody is going to find something offensive, even if you don't see it that way. People walk on eggshells all day long trying to avoid offending people, but it is just not possible. Why must people try to find color in areas that will potentially remain gray forever?
???We cannot possibly just compile a list of everything that everybody finds offensive and then have none of it. Every end has its beginning, and the noose started somewhere else before it came to represent the illusion of white supremacy in America.
???The original "some thing" should always trump the meaning it has taken on. What it has become is all thanks to the ever growing quality of human nature (that's a lie), especially those who contribute to the steady but short decline of American culture. So I do warn you, beware of your every move in modern day America. Apparently one "wrong" move could regretfully get you into trouble.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
