From solid compass to flimsy spiral - all in sixty years
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The Brussels Journal recently had an article on NATO titled, "As goes the West, so does NATO", and put a logo beside the article. I was struck by the flimsy spiral on the right, and wondered whether BJ got it wrong. I scoured the internet for this, and the only place I could find this spiral was on NATO's 60th anniversary website (different from its official website), where this spiral is placed to the right of the original NATO emblem, as in the BJ article.
The original emblem, adopted in 1953, was described by the then NATO Secretary General Lord Ismay as:
[A] four-pointed star representing the compass that keeps us on the right road, the path of peace, and a circle representing the unity that binds together the 14 countries of NATO.
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Now, what does a flimsy spiral represent? In fact, the 60th anniversary logo looks like some kind of wiring had sprung loose from the insides of a machine. Are the NATO designers envisioning the uncoiling of this spiral into a distant, happy, warless future? Close.
I often see this kind of whimsy, sloppy spiral in feminist goddess artwork. Gaia followers describe the spiral as:
[A]n ancient symbol of the goddess, the womb, fertility, feminine serpent forces, continual change, and the evolution of the universe.
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The spiral is actually of ancient mathematical interest. The Archimedean spiral, which these floppy pagan female symbols resemble, is formed with precision to produce a spiral with equal distance between the turns.
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is described by the equation: r = a + bθ
So, what does the NATO 60th anniversary spiral resemble most, the Archimedean or the Gaian spiral? A floppy Gaia imitation, I’m afraid. Now, why does the military safe keeper of peace in Europe opt to celebrate its 60th anniversary with such a mediocre, and what appears to be ill-thought-out, design? But I think the design was quite deliberate.
The solid compass of the original design, with its precise purpose, is no longer valid. War is out, peace is in. Let’s be universal peacemakers, like the goddesses of yonder years, and engulf the earth with our good intentions. Let this spiral uncurl to reach the depths of the world and impart the message of peace, and not war.
This is the new mantra of the once militarily conceived NATO, now celebrating its 60th anniversary with its spiral goddesses.
