Let's have a look at what he said:
SOME folks want to colour code us. There has been talk that people have been asked to gather in Ipoh and wear black for the much-awaited sitting of the state assembly tomorrow. Just like in neighbouring countries, some want our political activism to be reflected by the shirts we wear.
I am not sure why the colour black was chosen. Ideally, primary colours are preferred, of course, but black is cool, too. But it can be also ominous and threatening. Or are they in mourning?
During the reformasi days in the late 1990s, it was red, copying the Indonesian political activism then that chose the colour as a rallying cry against their government.
Similarly, the Bersih de-monstration chose yellow after the Thai pro-monarch groups.
During the protest march against the use of English for the teaching of Mathematics and Science, the colour of choice was white. It must have cost a lot of money to have all those shirts made.
Apart from the obvious problems brought about by the demonstrations, one would ask what purpose is served by such gatherings.
I hope it is just a show of collective displeasure in the political developments in the state and nothing more than that.
I am rather agnostic about the desire to express anger and dissent by demonstration. As much as I think it is a waste of time -- the ballot boxes after all await us sooner or later -- I also believe people should be allowed to gather peacefully if they want to.
I am not here to condemn anyone but to raise awareness of the issue from a sociological perspective.
The color black has tremendous symbolism in religion, politics, culture, music, science, language, philosophy and even fashion. What is black? Wikipedia says that "black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light. Although black is sometimes described as an "achromatic", or hueless, color, in practice it can be considered a color, as in expressions like "black cat" or "black paint".
1. Black flags, although not exclusively political in nature, give many political meanings.
* The Black Flag was flown by certain irregular Confederate Army units in the American Civil War of 1861-1865 to symbolize that they would neither give, nor accept quarter; symbolizing the opposite of the white flag of surrender.For more on black flags, please click THIS LINK.
* The black flag is the traditional anarchist symbol
* The Anarchist black flag has been an anarchist symbol since the 1880s. Anarchists use either a plain black flag or a black flag with an "A" and an "O" around it, this symbol is a reference to a Proudhon quote, meaning anarchy is the mother of order .
* Black flags are often associated with funerals in the West, particularly state funerals and public mourning.
* In former Yugoslavia, a plain black flag is the flag of mourning. It is displayed for 40 days after death on the deceased person's house.
* A black flag was used by Muhammad to represent his religion.
* Black Flag is another name for the Jolly Roger, a skull and crossbones on a black background, and is associated with pirates.
2. Wikipedia also explains:
Black is used for anarchist symbolism, sometimes split in diagonal with other colors to show alignment with another political philosophy. Wearing black clothing is also sometimes an anarchist tactic during demonstrations, with a practical benefit of not attracting attention and making later identification of a subject difficult. This strategy is referred to as a black bloc.
A black bloc refers to a tactic, developed in the 1980s by anti-nuclear activist autonomists, whereby participants attended protests and marches wearing black clothing, ski masks and motorcycle helmets with padding, steel-toed boots and often carrying their own shields and truncheons. The clothing is used to avoid being identified by authorities, and to theoretically appear as one large mass, promote solidarity, and create a clear revolutionary presence.
3. The learned writer claims that black is cool without realizing that black has an important role in many societies. Others are upset that there is a call for citizens to wear black but what is the big deal?
* Graduates wear black robes for their graduation.4. Symbolically, black signifies evil (e.g. witches are stereotypically dressed in black) while white signifies good (fairies are usually in white)
* Black tuxedos are worn at formal occasions known as black tie functions.
* Black is worn by religious figures within Christianity, e.g. priests (especially of the older religious denominations), monks and nuns.
* Hassidic Jews also wear .
* Black is worn by some Muslim women; see List of types of sartorial hijab for photographs of examples such as the abaya.
* Lawyers and judges often wear black robes.
* Many performers of European classical music or other serious art music dress in black for a concert or recital.
* Members of the modern goth and some punk subcultures dress predominantly in black (see also goth fashion).
5. In technology, a BLACKhat is a cyber attacker with evil intentions whereas whitehats bear no ill will.
6. Historically, black is associated with certain events namely -
* A "black day" (or week or month) usually refers to a sad or tragic time.
* The Romans marked fasting days with white stones and nefasti days with black.
* The Wall Street Crash 1929, the stock market crash on October 29, 1929 which is the start of the Great Depression, is nicknamed Black Tuesday, and was preceded by Black Thursday, a downturn on October 24 the previous week.
* Black Monday, stock market crash on October 19, 1987.
* Black Wednesday caused Britain to pull out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
* Black Friday, various tragic events. (Exception: See Black Friday (shopping).)
* Black months include:
- the Black September in Jordan, in which thousands of people were killed.
- Black July killing of the Tamil population by the Sinhalese government in normal.
- Black Spring 2001 (Printemps noir), in the Berber region of Kabylia (Algeria), when the
police shot and killed more than 100 people.
* The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, was a pandemic in Europe which killed tens of millions of people.
* The Black Hole of Calcutta was the overcrowding of an impromptu prison cell in which many died.
7. Where language is concerned, black is associated with different shades of meaning (as extracted from Wikipedia) :
* A black-hearted person is mean and unloving.In view of current developments, I wonder if there will be a change in fashion and expressions since it is not correct to use that term. Why do some object to others wearing black en masse as a show of solidarity to protest against the attack on democracy? Is it because the color is a reminder of their evil and blackened hearts? Or is it a physical exercise to flex their muscles and make others cower in fear and don clothing of other colors to celebrate the fact that they are being intimidated? It appears that we are expected to be robots to be programmed or re-programmed as outspoken dissenters are whisked away to unknown places. Indeed, strange developments are unfolding in our midst and I foretell even stranger events will occur.
* A blacklist is a list of undesirable persons or entities (to be placed on the list is to be "blacklisted").
* Black comedy is a form of comedy dealing with morbid and serious topics.
* A black mark against you is a bad thing.
* A black mood is a bad one (cf Winston Churchill's clinical depression, which he
called "my black dog").[4]
* black market is used to denote the trade of illegal goods, or alternatively the illegal
trade of otherwise legal items at considerably higher prices, e.g. to evade rationing.
* Black propaganda is the use of known falsehoods, partial truths, or masquerades in propaganda to confuse an opponent.
* Blackmail is the act of threatening to reveal information about a person unless the threatened party fulfills certain demands. This information is usually of an embarrassing or socially damaging nature. Ordinarily, such a threat is illegal.
* If you sink the black eight-ball in billiards before all others are out of play, you lose.
* The black sheep of the family is the ne'er-do-well.
* To blackball someone is to block their entry into a club or some such institution. In the traditional English gentlemen's club, current members vote on the admission of a candidate by secretly placing a white or black ball in a hat. If upon the completion of voting, there was even one black ball amongst the white, the candidate would be denied membership, and he would never know who had "blackballed" him.
* Black tea in the Western culture is known as "crimson tea" in Chinese and culturally influenced languages, (Mandarin Chinese hóngchá; Japanese kōcha; Korean hongcha), perhaps a more accurate description of the color of the liquid.
* "The black" is a wildfire suppression term referring to a burned area on a wildfire capable of acting as a safety zone.
Anyway, I am not going to waste my time rebutting that writer's skeptical and fallacious arguments. Instead, I would like to share with you this song "BLACK IS BLACK" from Los Bravos .
Los Bravos were a Spanish beat group, formed in 1965, and based in Madrid. Their single "Black is Black" reached #2 in the United Kingdom in July 1966, and #4 in the United States (the first Spanish group to do so) selling over a million records. The song sold over one million copies world wide. The track was written by Tony Hayes and Steve Wadey, in their recording studio for cutting demo discs in Hoo St Werburgh, near Rochester, Kent, England. The song was later covered by Johnny Hallyday and the French based outfit Belle Epoque, and in 1977 their disco version of the song coincidentally also reached #2 in the UK.
Click and enjoy "BLACK IS BLACK". Have a good day, dear reader!
Porter du noir ! C'est beau!
Starmandala What an encyclopedic essay on the semiotics of BLACK THURSDAY... bravo! :-)