Semiotics: A Discussion Pt. 1

As I sat in class and learned about semiotics and the sort, I was reminded of several thoughts that I have had flowing through my cerebellum for many years. These are things that I have pondered and always wondered if there were answers to my questions. After learning some of the basics of semiotics, I can see where I might be able to have a starting point to find the answers to my questions, but by no means have a had a great revelation of genius in regards to any of my ponderments. I just hope to share a few of my thoughts here.

For several years, one of the most mind boggling questions I have boggled with in my head is this. If a child was taught from the begining that everything was the exact opposite of what everyone is taught, would it be wrong. What I mean is, if a child was taught that red was green and green was red, would the child be wrong if he saw a red rose and said if was green? Of course we must lay the assumption down that this little tot is not red-green color blind. Even deeper than just colors, what if a child was taught that a dog was a cat, and a cat was a dog? Would they be wrong if they called out for the family feline and a ginourmous Great Dane camp romping around the corner? These questions have intrigued me for many minutes, and even hours at some times.

At the base of Semiotics, we have the signifier, and the signified. Also we have the codes that shape and provide a mold for those "significances" to follow. Of course we could go deeper into syntagmatics, and paradigmatics, BUT for the purpose of this simply hypothetical blog, we will stick to the basics of signifiers, signifieds, and codes that they follow. The following is going to be a little abstract, but just stick with me, and hopefully I can help makes some sense of all of it at the end.

Let's name the child...Frankie should do the trick.... Frankie was walking down the sidewalk, on the way home from his 3rd grade endeavors for the day, and he saw a terrible spill that took place between a mailman and a youngster on a bike. Let's assume that Frankie just learned in his semioticly-morphed class, that men who carry mail to houses are called Presidents, and little tikes on bikes are called Bombers. After realizing that the spill wasn't nearly as bad as it looked, Frankie flees the scene of the action, and hurries home to report to his mommy what he just saw. Walking in the door Frankie frankly says to his mother " Hey Mom! Guess what I just Saw?... The president just ran into a bomber and it was terrible..(leaving out the important detail that everyone was fine). Following the rules of our code of understanding the mother would have a rather terrifying image in her head. She would see the president of the United States (from the signifying word PRESIDENT) running into a suicide bomber, and having a rather untimely and terrible death. She would be following every code and rule set out before every commonly schooled American of our day and time. Unfortunatly, Frankie's mother is unaware of his morphed view of the world.