Graffiti, Symbolism, and Spam

A great example of ancient graffiti would be the literal hand writing on King Belshazzar's wall. You know the story....the one in the Bible - specifically Daniel 5. Dooming his kingdom into oblivion.

 “And if art is a crime let God forgive all”

Yes, even graffiti!

The anonymous artists through the ages creating their ideas and scribbling them on the wall for all to see. Driving forth the creative spark inherent in us all. Gossip and political commentary, including those wicked and often funny vulgarities, have always been a common theme throughout history.

Whether you love it or hate it graffiti has always been an endearing factor in spreading ideas to affect human behavior. Anonymous images and memes compelling the common man to think, laugh, and sometimes even cry. Out in the fringes the bleeding hearts and artists making their stand.

Comic and vulgar with dramatic themes. Underlying the complex layers within the meme. From the simple taggers to the ones carving their dated names. They state for us all "I was here!"

This sort of leads into something like graffiti trolls. I wonder if spammers count as artists of a kind? Like cyber trolls spray painting bullshit everywhere. Graffiti to push products; more to push agendas. Lots of it is total garbage and is cleaned appropriately. Many are priming tags leading you to a specific idea or thing. The meme makers create effective devices of all sorts to garner public emotions. Spinning and swinging their preconceived plans of disinformation confusing many with cognitive dissonance.

Bear in mind, graffiti is illegal.

This brings us to today's logical fallacy:

Symbolism uses ideas and aspects to designate deeper and more significant meaning within its structure. Using all kinds of objects such as animals, plants, colors, and material articles of all kinds. Pictures and writing using allegory, metaphors, and similes are used to express symbolic ideas.

Symbolism offers a way to communicate with double meaning. The literal self evident portrait and the symbolic one which contains a more profound meaning or action.

An aspect of symbolism is Zoomorphism. This uses animal or other material characteristics to associate with non-animal objects. These can include humans, gods, and other non-human entities.

The opposite of this would be anthropomorphism. Which assigns human qualities into animals and other objects. It's a great way to describe different characters and create a symbolic language to add spice to your illustrations.

Click here for more...

Gettin' Jiggy with it

Juxtaposition is a fancy rhetorical effect used to create contrasts when two or more ideas are compared to one another. It can be used both literally and figuratively. It helps to create subtexts of meaning in between the lines. The good cop, bad cop routine is a simple example. It shows the differences or similarities in their connection and controls the interest of the reader or audience. Adding more elements to a scene will increase the meaning again and can change depending on the order of the ideas or images presented.

Timing and space are important to consider.

Elements to help create juxtaposition include color, size, age, gender, race, height, and personality. Meanings can be found in private languages and strange imagery through the use of symbolism. Every element can have multiple meanings determined by its juxtaposition. This technique is used extensively in media advertising using both words and images.

List of Juxtaposition elements:

- War and Peace
- Authority and free will
- Modern and old fashioned
- Light and dark contrast
- Love and separation
- Bricks and metal
- Friendship and loneliness
- Adults and children
- Good and bad
- Law and rebellion
- Cool and uncool
- Young and old
- Stereotypes and reality
- Fat and skinny
- Danger and Safety
- Big and small
- Red and blue
- Smart and dumb
- Nature and Industrial
- Strong and weak

Ad placement is important...



How about McDonald's for lunch?


😁

To Boldly Go...

Parrhesia - Free and fearless speech. Being bold and assertive when telling the truth. Bombastically displaying it all for everyone to see. Ideally, It is used to gain the attention of an audience for moral purposes. Although negativity is often inserted to add extra firepower.

It comes from the old Greek meaning 'to speak everything'. It also implies the obligation to speak the truth to all, even at personal risk. I guess Socrates would know all about that...

It means more than just stating your own personal beliefs but a public commitment to those beliefs. It concerns the truth about his or her own being and displaying that light outward for others to see. It comes from the core of the very self. Your own awareness of being completely naked for all to see.

Parrhesia unleashes a torrent of ideas freely without compunction, without much forethought, without stiff composure. Letting the spirit move the the moment forward. Directly expressing blunt truth by using simple, clear words to gather attention. You can see this device used all the time by the politicians and the religious ministers. 

The truth spouting from their gobs is loaded with artificial sweetener....

Fake News?

Refuting the Central Point

 

Logical fallacies are everywhere in today's media. These little nutcrackers always get in the way of decent discourse. Many people are ignorant of their usage in all the media forms.

Too bad, too.

So, I figure learning about them in a little more detail would help distinguish the different types of literary devices used in everyday social interaction.

Today, I'll start off with the ad hominem attack.

This one is used constantly because the response can be immediate.  It's so much easier to question an individuals personal associations and attack his/her character rather than paying attention to the validity of the main argument. The entertainment factor is ever present.

Blatant and clever insults against somebody makes it hard for people to believe it isn't true. If you look at this rationally such techniques never provide a valid reason to disregard decent criticism.

Ad hominems leave a large impression on the mind of the audience using cognitive bias as a persuader. This is a flawed arguing technique as it causes judgments to be made without evaluation of facts on logical grounds.

Snarky Sarcasm

Most people know what it is, what it feels like, where to direct it; both on the sending and receiving end of things. It can be used as a witty comeback or an avoidance to an uncomfortable situation. It deflects attention away from embarrassing moments and can be used to hide uncomfortable feelings.

Sarcasm is used to express a mocking attitude towards an object, person or an idea. It's usually used for the specific purpose of destroying an opponents opinion.

Sarcasm can be cruel, amusing, pointed, and biting. It has the effect of digging into another's emotional center of being by attacking the spirit. It generates an emotional outburst that deflects the main point of thought away from the conversation.

Delivery of Sarcasm is key.

There are 7 basic types of tone to consider when employing its biting commentary:

Self-Deprecating Sarcasm - Inferior, worthless
Brooding Sarcasm - Polite bitterness
Deadpan Sarcasm - Without emotion
Polite Sarcasm - Delayed effect; listener must think about it to get it.
Obnoxious Sarcasm - The kind that makes a listener wanna crack a skull.
Manic Sarcasm - Delivered with an unnaturally happy mood
Raging Sarcasm - exaggerated violent threats

Here's a decent link I've found describing these tones in more detail: 7 Types of Sarcasm

SNARK!

Don't cha just love the sound of this word?

It's so sharp and snakey.

Always good with an exclamation point!

Snarks are quirky, quick little quips meant to tease someone into an emotional response. They are snide and sarcastic, derisive in nature and will at times cut deep into the psyche. They can also be used as a defensive device to cut away at an individual like an ad hominem attack. Most of the time snarks are used to mask points of view.

They can be both wildly stupid or incredibly clever. Depending on the point of view. It combines cynicism with blended wit. Garnishing an outlandish outburst.

Using these simple logical expressions is like playing a game of Battleship.  Using them to lob missiles into the inner character of an individual or group.

It's a hit and miss kind of thing.

But, lo and behold, they can create tremendous results. Especially when a hit is scored. It triggers responses on both sides of the coin.

Learning to identify and counter them is a prerequisite in thoughtful conversation.

These things can be easily noticed on social sites, chatroom's, videos and movies, books and articles, etc.

The age old sophist attitude of win, win, win comes into play...

...at all costs...

Beware the price!

It involves letting others tell you what to think. Hidden behind that are the tools used in how to think. These are basic elementary levels in the art of communication.

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

First off, we'll start simple and begin with some basic definitions on general rhetorical terms. These are used constantly in today's marketplace. Using these rhetorical appeals as a foundation gives the viewer something to attach to:

Ethos refers to how trust worthy a person is. Ethos is used as an appeal to a moral philosophy or reliable integrity in a person. It attempts to signify credibility within the speaker.  It is an effective strategy because it automatically inserts belief in the speakers credibility because of a higher educational or moral standing in society. A doctor is good example. People hold a doctors power of reasoning in high regard. Same with a judge because a certain trust is automatically implied. It can be used to challenge the reliability or moral stance in an argument.


Pathos is another powerful device. This appeals to emotion. It's always loaded with vivid illustrations that trigger our psychic buttons. The speaker wants the listener or reader to be persuaded by the emotional value this type of argument can generate. Packed with sympathy and empathy they dim the analytical processing of rational thought. The more people react to this type of rhetoric the more they become least likely to ask the big question(s). Like WHY? In many instances they're used in calls to action within a group or society.


Logos denotes an appeal to logic and reasoning. Logos is tricky because it relies on theories and abstract language. They include definitions, factual data, and statistics. Including learned comments by authoritative sources with Ethos driven opinions. Logos tries to give the best sources and reasoning. Appeals are taken as matter of facts and are useful in persuading others to believe a conclusion.

Logos is tricky because it relies on theories and abstract language. This includes definition, factual data, and statistics. Logos tries to give the best sources and reasoning. Appeals are taken as matter of facts and are useful in persuading others to believe a conclusion. Cherry picking is a common practice.

Anything really thoughtful is subjugated to ad hominem prejudice by any who hold high authority. For a reason! I think the value of Ethos has been taken over to shield these powers from the common people. Inserting passive pathos against the masses and using logos to fool common sense. Turning knowledge into a commodity. Even simple trade knowledge is being suppressed.


Yes, knowledge is a commodity...


Criticizing knowledge itself and denying the possibility of a universal truth makes knowledge dependent on the individual knower. This is an old concept meaning that your ideas are as good as mine and that there is no objective truth that is absolute for all men and women. With that in mind it became necessary to investigate thinking in a carefully framed theory of knowledge. Today we call this logic: a set of laws and a blueprint to work within the science of thought.


Common sense for the masses is based on consumerism. Using desire to tease out an emotional response. The tools to learn new things for the individual knower are there.

But, they're obscured by thunderous clouds of wanton emotion. Raining torrential temptations down on the common mind to befuddle it with endless addictions that go nowhere.


Combined with pathos, logic is used to affect our emotional outlook, add the power of authority to that and you really got something to dictate opinion on a grand scale.

Does this do a society well?

Communication Breakdown

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Communication Breakdown