RE: help needed with adding new character

From: Kenneth Whistler (kenw@sybase.com)
Date: Thu Mar 18 2004 - 18:08:56 EST

  • Next message: Michael Everson: "RE: help needed with adding new character"

    Gentlemen,

    I think we are missing some important questions here. First:

    Why is an Anarchist asking to standardize something?

    And, as |\|\ike intimated:

    Why is this symbol so neat?

    I always thought the anarchy symbol looked more like:

    http://www.oneposter.com/Product-recordCount-1-stockid-6050.html

    Note that in *that* rendition of the anarchy symbol, the
    crossbar on the A does *not* touch the circle on either
    edge, but it may just be that the renderer was a little
    short of black paint.

    Then there is:

    http://globalgoodys.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=45

    where all parts of the A extend, anarchically, completely
    outside the circular bounds.

    Next question:

    Why are Anarchists buying their posters and t-shirts from
    online stores, instead of just defacing their own?

    The answerbag (answerbag.com) has posed the question:

    "Does the anarchy symbol (an 'A' surrounded by a circle) convey
    any messages of hate?"

    To date no one has answered that question -- which I guess is
    in the spirit of Anarchy. But such a question then does
    beg another one:

    If the anarchy symbol is recognized as "an 'A' surrounded by
    a circle", then why is its representation by a character
    U+24B6 CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A insufficient for any
    putative occasional representation of the symbol in text?

    And *that* begs the next question, related to the first:

    Why is it so important to Anarchists to have their symbol
    recognized and enshrined as a character *distinct* from "an
    'A' surrounded by a circle", when they currently have the
    complete freedom, unencumbered by any governmental
    institution whatsoever, to design and use fonts to display
    it howsomever they please? Neither the Bush Administration
    nor the Trilateral Commission -- not even the Benevolent &
    Protective Order of Elks -- is trying to regulate and control
    anyone's liberty to display U+24B6 as they will.

    Next question:

    If we need a circled sorta-A for Anarchy, why not also the circled
    triangle symbol that the Siloists used to paste around college
    campuses?

    Next:

    If Anarchists were truly Anarchists, why not break the bounds
    of conventional expectations, and use U+2A37 MULTIPLICATION SIGN
    IN DOUBLE CIRCLE one day and U+1D10B MUSICAL SYMBOL SEGNO the
    next? Those would look equally appealing spray-painted on the
    walls of Wall Street brokerages, would certainly leave people wondering,
    and might open their minds to questioning their conventional
    political beliefs as well. :-)

    Finally:

    If this discussion drifts off taco, will it ever circle around
    to A meat conclusion?

    --Ken



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