Happy 48th Birthday, PEACE SYMBOL!

[no name no slogan]

The peace symbol made its debut on Easter weekend, 1958, in the UK.

From Peace Symbol History:

One of the most widely known symbols in the world, in Britain it is recognised as standing for nuclear disarmament – and in particular as the logo of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In the United States and much of the rest of the world it is known more broadly as the peace symbol. It was designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist and a graduate of the Royal College of Arts. He showed his preliminary sketches to a small group of people in the Peace News office in North London and to the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, one of several smaller organisations that came together to set up CND.

The symbol itself is built on the semaphore code letters "N" and "D", which stands for nuclear disarmament. The circle represents the whole world, and as a whole the symbol means global nuclear disarmament.

Since its creation in 1958, it has been adopted by people around the world who fight for peace and justice, and remains a powerful symbol to this day.

[raysr]

1. 1958 to 2006=48

[mdmc]

2. I did not know this

thanks so much for posting...

[Branjor]

3. That would make it

48 years old, not 58.

[Quakerfriend]

4. Wow, I never knew this and, I was born on Easter day 1958!

Very cool!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. And I'm wearing one at this very moment. :-)

[peace13]

6. Thanks for that!

I did not know that Easter was the anniversary. We have a peace sign lit in the yard constructed on a satellite dish. It is beautiful. Somehow it gives me hope.

[bliss_eternal]

7. Happy Birthday to my avatar!

:bounce::toast::party::bounce:

[bleever]

8. Arms open in surrender, or in opening to possibility.

Happy Easter!

[bleever]

9. The symbol itself is built on the semaphore code letters "N" and "D"...

In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down "V", and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. These two signals imposed over each other form the shape of the peace symbol. In the original design the lines widened at the edge of the circle. Ironically, considering the organization for which it was created, the symbol resembles a stylized, skeletal missile.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_symbol

[Clark2008]

10. It also looks like a dove's footprint.

I didn't know about the semaphore code letters "N" and "D." I always just thought it was the dove of peace's footprint on the world.

Different way of looking at it, I guess.

[MaggieSwanson]

13. A different take on what the symbol represents...

As my two friends and I were walking back to the parkade after protesting * in Des Moines last Tuesday, three Vietnam vets stopped us and asked us if we thought we had done any good that day. We struck up a conversation, and one of the vets traced the large peace symbol on my bag that holds all my protest signs. He asked me if I knew what the symbol was sometimes called. I asked warily if it had anything to do with "footprints" and he smiled and shook his head.

"We called that the 'Freedom Bird'", he said, still tracing the outline with his finger. "See the nose of the plane, and the two wings pointing down? We knew the Freedom Bird would come fly us home. And we knew that the protesters had our backs."

[MaggieSwanson]

11. K&R

Peace grows. Plant seeds.

-M

[kentuck]

12. Isn't it time to bring it back?

[IndyOp]

14. It *is* back...

I live in the center of red, red, red Indiana. Just last week, walking through my little park I came upon a colored-chalk masterpiece peace sign!

Within the last week I also spotted a "Make Love Not War" T-shirt!

:bounce:

[no name no slogan]

15. I have a button I bought in the late 80s w/ the symbol on it

The caption reads "back by popular demand"

I don't think it's ever gone away. Especially considering that our government is still using Depleted Uranium in its weapons, and has dumped over 75 millions tons of it on Iraq since March of 2003.

[struggle4progress]

16. Wingnuts in the 60s and 70s used to hand out literature claiming ..

.. the peace sign was a medieval symbol promoting devil worship ...

[deutsey]

22. That wacko JT Chick actually claimed it was created by Nero

as a sign of the broken cross. In one of his cartoon tracts he has Satan wearing a peace symbol because of this.

:eyes:

[deutsey]

23. Here's something on "Nero's Cross" and other "explanations"

http://www.locksley.com/6696/peacesym.htm

[BrklynLiberal]

17. Kicked and recommended

[Lefty48197]

18. PEACE - It's an idea that just won't die...

.

[Sugar Smack]

19. K&R, baby!

:bounce:

[Sugar Smack]

20. dang.

ok, then, just "kick"

[leftchick]

21. born the same year as me!

groovy!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

24. The first time I saw the Peace Sign was in the mid-60s. My brother

took me to a music store in Greenwich Village and it was on a poster that said Ban The Bomb. Who would have thunk that I would have one on the bumper of my car 40 years later? We still have not evolved......

[madokie]

26. Makes me laugh, I modified the vw circle on my bug to a piece sign.

Damn I wish I still had that old bug. Almost brings me to tears every time I think of it.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

27. What a clever idea about the VW sign! I'm laughing now because

I just remembered ... a person who lived in my neighborhood, whom I hadn't met at the time, during the first Gulf War, created in Christmas lights a Mercedes sign on his lawn.????

I met him a couple of years later (and he became the love of my life)and told me that he had meant it to be a Peace Sign, and he screwed up! Thanks for reminding me...he passed over 5 years ago and it is a great memory. :)

[madokie]

28. The blessings of sweet memories

Peace.
I wish we had a peace sign in our smilies.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

29. madokie

(most of my biz is from eBay auctions, and I use this peace sign in all of my listings)

and have an absolutely beautiful day!

[madokie]

30. Thank you I will and you have a great day.

Actually you just made my day.
my hope is to one day reciprocate ;-)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. My pleasure and thank you! Big smile here!!!

:)

[madokie]

25. i was born on Easter Sunday '48, so I guess that makes me and the peace

sign brothers in Peace, huh.

[genie_weenie]

32. I thought it was the Satanists' Symbol

upside down cross with arms broken downwards to indicate the failure of the Christ? :shrug: