A Brief History Of The Clenched Fist

May 3, 2006 7:20 AM

A Brief History Of The Clenched Fist.With illustrations.
posted by jack_mo (18 comments total)

we seem to have forgotten my favorite.
posted by Espoo2 at 7:23 AM on May 3, 2006

Nice, it's good to see the Howard Stern use of the fist, 'cause, you know, he's so radical, so dangerous, so with the people.

The larger Docs Populi site seems to have a lot of good stuff.
posted by OmieWise at 7:27 AM on May 3, 2006

Cool link!
posted by klangklangston at 7:29 AM on May 3, 2006

I like Howard, omie. I don't think he's any kind of radical, but I admire his abandonment of any pretensions of improving the world and admission that he's all about pussy and money. And there is no 'the people.'

and the best use of the raised fist was the kids at the end of this flick.
posted by jonmc at 7:31 AM on May 3, 2006

[this is good]
posted by anastasiav at 7:33 AM on May 3, 2006

This one time (years and years ago) I wanted a picture of The Fist as an icon on a website. I HotBot-ed (this was pre-Google) "fist". That was a rude awakening.
posted by Plutor at 7:37 AM on May 3, 2006

Ok jon, it's fine to like him, and don't forget, he was here in DC before he was in NYC or syndicated, so I grew up listening to his show on DC101, until he got fired for calling Air Florida the day after one of their planes crashed into the Potomac River, killing most passengers, and asked how much a one way ticket to the 14th street bridge would cost. I'm not really a fan now, though, and I definitely don't buy his pretensions to populist revolt. I know that with a symbol like this a whole lot of the meaning has been leached out already, but it's a bit like Prince calling himself a "slave" because he wanted out of his contract, hard to swallow and not feel betrayed by.
posted by OmieWise at 7:39 AM on May 3, 2006

I'm not really a fan now, though, and I definitely don't buy his pretensions to populist revolt.

Neither do I. I actually like him for the exact opposite reason, he seems to be liberation through embracing mediocrity, which I'll buy with everything I've got.
posted by jonmc at 7:43 AM on May 3, 2006

As long as we're on this, any idea why the peace sign borrowed from the V-for-victory sign?
posted by surplus at 8:03 AM on May 3, 2006

The V sign Wikipedia article claims that it was purposely stolen by anti-war protesters.
posted by Plutor at 8:10 AM on May 3, 2006

Oh, I'll give you a brief history of the clenched fist, alright. It'll only take a fraction of a second.
posted by dgaicun at 8:24 AM on May 3, 2006

I just wish I knew why the anti-war protesters did that. Seems like it made it impossible to distinguish (in pictures) unfamiliar anti-war candidates from unfamiliar pro-war candidates.
posted by surplus at 8:27 AM on May 3, 2006

My favorite use of the fist was when I was at my hairdressers' in Boston, just after the Tinky Winky is gay scandal, and one of the hairdressers started making fisting motions into a triangle. Or perhaps you had to be there.
posted by kalessin at 8:34 AM on May 3, 2006

How very interesting! Thank you.
posted by fluffycreature at 9:49 AM on May 3, 2006

They also didn't mention my favorite.

(not safe for work.
I'm not affiliated, I just have a coffee mug)
posted by ruby.aftermath at 9:57 AM on May 3, 2006

we seem to have forgotten my favorite.

Quite right
posted by Raoul.Duke at 1:16 PM on May 3, 2006

posted by djeo at 4:37 PM on May 3, 2006

The Havard protest fist was widely cloned at the time and I actually purchased a heat transfer of it at a gas station. I ironed it on a white T-shirt and wore it to school (8th grade). It got me sent home!
posted by bonefish at 9:59 AM on May 4, 2006