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What does "iconoclasm" mean in this context?
by matt1 18y ago
What does "iconoclasm" mean in this context?
- DaniFong 18y agoI meant two things: 1) Worship of icons and behaviors instead of the things which they represent; that is, cargo cult entrepreneurship. This is my own vague and probably incorrect usage. 2) If someone exclaims "Let's change the world," I would ask "Which part? Why?" Iconoclasm has a secondary meaning "A person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions." Changing the world does; to do so vaguely, or at random, or without actually mentioning the target, is not always such a sane thing to do.
- swombat 18y agoIconoclasm actually means the opposite. Iconoclasts were a bunch of people in the middle ages who had something against religious images and so went around breaking them. Icons = images. Clasm = break. So the traditional meaning of iconoclast in this context would be someone who seeks to break accepted imagery on a specific topic.
- DaniFong 18y agoThanks for pointing that out.