Iconic Irony

Icons surround us and bombard us daily with little hidden messages. Taking place in such a variety of forms and locations, today, icons are used to project non-textual meaning in milliseconds. The human brain is an amazing interpreter of our environment with lightening fast sensory. A half-glance is all we require to recognize commonly encountered images. In a split second, we are capable of noticing and understanding entire messages embedded behind little images put before us. We, as people, often use little icons to express ourselves and let the world know something we stand for, believe in, or somehow connect with.

When you are forced to slam on your brakes as the driver of the car in front of you has incomprehensibly applied their brakes and you suddenly visualize your hood crumpling into the rear end of that “idiot,” rage and fear consume you. Oops, now that your car has stopped just short of crumpling, a metallic image pops out at you in the shape of a stick fish. The little stick fish on the back of that “idiot’s” car tells you something quite quickly. Now, the “idiot” begins to mean something new to you, as you understand their involvement with the Christian faith. Granted, a little stick fish, Ichthys, doesn’t tell you the depth of your “idiot’s” religious commitments, but you may be more understanding of their almost cause for a wreck. Maybe you begin trying to rationalize the situation, rather than persecute their actions. Then again, depending on your own thoughts about Christianity, the little gleaming fish image could enrage you even more. Either way, the posted icon on your “idiot’s” car has almost instantly given you more understanding about the driver in front of you.



Sitting, once again relaxed in your car, shift gears. Think about Albert Einstein and what his name brings to mind. Albert Einstein is a stand alone icon, rightfully earned. Ms. Cooper has posted the following image for discussion.



The Einstein button above sends a number of messages to us. Initially, and most commonly, the word or idea of “genius” comes to mind. Einstein’s face, given his genius status, stirs thoughts of intellectual greatness. What are the lines and dots bounced about his head? The loose representation of the Bohr model represents, in its entirety, the basic nucleus structure and orbital electrons making up a generic atom. Einstein’s face has been placed at the center of the Bohr model, possibly signifying Einstein’s central importance to science. After all, Einstein did receive recognition as “Person of the Century.” Let us twist some perspective for a moment, and with no disrespect to the great Albert Einstein. Consider Einstein’s fifteen year strife with fully understanding the laws of gravity and how Newtonian Physics hit a brick wall when an attempt is made to pass from the sciences of “macro-atomic”, or Classical Newtonian Physics to the sub-atomic world. The realm of Quantum Physics quite possibly presented Einstein with his most challenging endeavor. Now, for the twist… The picture of Einstein’s weathered face, as the nucleus of the atomic structure, could also indicate a different proposal than “scientific genius.” Could the button represent the genius’ time-restrained limits to peeking deeper into the sciences of Quantum Mechanics?