I'll wear anything – part and parcel with being in any community, sharing the love. I wore one tee religiously, before it became a rag, that had RAG POETS plastered across the chest. I love those two words. That's what did it for me. The label wasn't important. I wasn't selling anything. Everything has meaning but not necessarily the meaning originally intended. Things mean what we want them to mean.
Look at this 'brand',
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The origins of the Prussian/German "Iron Cross"
The tradition of the Iron Cross (which was Cross Pattée in shape) had an honourable beginning, when it was instituted as a Prussian decoration, in March 1813, by King Friedrich Wilheim III during the War of Liberation against Napoleon. It was awarded without regard for nationality or social class to combatants for acts of heroism, bravery or leadership skills.
From
The Maltese Cross - a sinister design?
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How did it become the Independent Truck Company logo?
Skaters, surfies etc. had these trophies at home, inherited from their parents and grandparents, brought home from conquered Germany, as mementos etc. The spoils of war.
When the kids got hold of them, that 'meaning' was still intact. So when they paraded these images in the streets, the message was still 'We are the champions'. 'Freedom'. Everyone understood, back then.
Perhaps tragically, in a culture like ours, these meanings can and do get lost, co-opted, undermined, forgotten somehow. The thing
is, they're just symbols and can mean anything we want them to mean, both good
and bad. Most
importantly in all of this, if people start getting their wires crossed, essential understanding can be
lost. New symbols, new words, new clothes, may then seem more appropriate, to, hopefully, help claw back the real sense, the essence of things.
It's all just a fashion, really. On the surface, superficial. Promoting good things, or displaying stuff that makes you feel good, ain't necessarily a bad thing – on the contrary, most often. (Leaving advertising out of the equation). Our spirit, our presence, is what's most important, not what covers our bodies, not the not-so-surreptitious symbols we're wielding.
