The Power Of Symbols

     A picture is worth a thousand words and a simplified symbol even moreso, especially when it becomes so mundane that people don’t realize they’ve been propagandized.

1/
The radical left is already using the "paragliding terrorist" as a symbol for the exact same reason they use the picture of Communist leader Che Guevara on t-shirts:

To normalize it's use as a leftist symbol so the idea of it gets absorbed into the edges of the discourse. https://t.co/NzIycb9TMF pic.twitter.com/8T34KjZko9

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

     Normalization through reversible trivialization.

2/
They want to use it so that it no longer becomes a shocking thing to see, and we become accustomed to it's use as a symbol for leftist and decolonial causes.

The idea is to "normalize" the symbol so that the ideas remain at the edge of the discourse to be brought back later.

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

3/
By normalizing the use of Che Guevara and the paraglider as general symbols of resistence, they keep them in the edges of the discourse without having to explicitly endorse and defend their tactics.

The ideas then are not entirely removed from the discourse.

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

4/
This effectively allows them to keep the ideas "stored" in the symbolism of their movement, ready to be brought out, put to use, and defended when they think the time is right.

By storing the idea in the imagery, they can effectively "freeze" the idea in their symbols…

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

5/
And when it's convenient they can "thaw" the idea out by saying "here is where this symbol comes from, it is time to get back to our roots…."

Then they use the symbol as a way into talking about the virtues of Che Guevara's Communist tactics and paragliding terrorists…

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

6/
We can't allow them to use these symbols without defending those tactics and ideas.

We need to do to the Che t-shirt, the hammer sickle, and the paragliding terrorist, what we have done to the swas-tika: eject it from polite society and make it repugnant to everyone.

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

7/
Any org that uses the paragliding terrorist as a symbol of "freedom" needs to be made into a pariah.

That is our goal.

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) October 11, 2023

     Of course, they’re not the only ones who can play that game…

Tweet