No Nukes? Anti-Materialism? Unity? No it means Peace

Word Count: 351

The peace symbol is a perfect example of an image outweighing the meaning behind it. For 51 years the peace symbol has been one of the most powerful symbols in the world, but the meaning behind the symbol has never been the same. But no matter what the meaning behind the symbol was it still always meant peace.

In 1958 British artist Gerald Holtom designed the logo, but it was not intended to be a symbol for peace, it was intended purely to be a symbol for nuclear disarmament. As it seems, the symbol is simple. It is comprised of three parts, a circle, a straight line, and a v-shaped line. The three pieces superimposed created the peace symbol. From that moment the image was seen as a symbol of good and hope and…peace.

But what does each piece mean? First, the v-shaped line means the letter N (for nuclear) in semaphore flag signaling system. Next is the straight line, which is the letter D (for disarmament) in the semaphore flag signaling system. Finally there is the circle. But actually the circle had no original meaning. It was originally just added to make the symbol look better than just two lines.

Then the image came to America. In the 1960’s the image was adopted by Hippies and the intent completely changed. Hippies originally intended for the symbol to be a symbol against materialism. They felt the image looked like a chicken’s foot and they embraced it, showing they did not care about material things. But the meaning still did not change. The symbol was still seen as a symbol for piece rather than anti-materialism.

The symbol was then used to represent unity, as the three branches merged into one line. It was also this point that the circle around the symbol had meaning- the world. The symbol was intended to mean world unity- a united world to better life and earth.

But despite the original meaning of nuclear disarmament, the hippie meaning of anti-materialism, and the newest intended meaning of unity, the symbol is still only known for one thing: Peace.