What are icons used for?
Icons are simplified symbols or images that represent something, often metaphorically. In computers, icons are graphics that allow you to see the nature of the file or application they are attached to, or (as with emoticons) to represent human expressions that don’t translate well into text. In the more general sense, icons usually represent ideals: the cross is an icon for the Christian faith, Andrew Jackson was an icon of American industrialism, a flag is an icon for a nation or state. Icons generally represent positive ideals – they are symbols or things that we look up to and want to emulate. Thus, even though Andrew Jackson was a brutal industrialist who did a lot of objectionable things in the pursuit of money, as an icon he represents the strong, decisive, energetic persona that we all admire; the best of capitalism, as it were.
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