The Wars of the Roses

What it historically was is just... yet another set of wars fought long time ago, nothing special really, humanity is at war with itself ore often then not. At least it was the case for most of the time - the relative peace we have now is something new. Made possible by increased awareness of the people, that cooperation is better than mutual killing, an... etc. Not what I wanted to mention.

A rose is a deeply symbolic and meaningful flower. For many reasons. Naming a set of wars after it should be regarded as a faux pas, but hey, we have "war for peace", "war against drugs" and the word "war" itself has been used in so many wrong contexts that I'm not sure which bit I dislike more, the wars or the roses.

Anyway, a rose makes a nice brand name. After all, isn't House of Lancaster or House of York just a brand? Some brands are bigger than others, some prefer to see themselves as more than just a name, some have more fervent supporters than others, but at the end of the day - they are ind constructs that managed to get enough attention and faith from people that they became focal points. Attractors. They placed themselves on a map of reality that most people know, have heard of, can use as navigation mark.

Nike, Coca-cola, Catholic Church, United Party of People of Sokovia, United States/ZSSR... There are differences. There are, also, similarities. Brands of old had powers to kill people by thousands, football clubs of today have the power to inflict some damage too, and their believers can be as fierce as prophets of one true god, whatever his name happens to be this week.

By the way, branding also means marking cattle with red hot iron. Mark, symbol, identification badge. Ha. T-shirts and tags are soft version of slave marks. Football clubs (and soldiers) tattoo their allegiance right into their skin.

Brand is a powerful thing.

More correctly and universally the wars of the roses could be renamed as wars of the brands.

Exercise #8: Identify three strongest brands (most attractive symbols) on the map of your mind. Print them out, A4 format. Hang on the wall. Find their opposites (Pepsi is not opposite of Cola!), hang them next to the first three. Meditate on differences and similarities. Make the symbols dance. And then imagine a great sea serpent rising up from the bottom of cosmic ocean and eat them whole. And now you are free...