A student recently pulled a quote from Homer’s The Iliad where democracy was represented by a staff. The quote reminded me that “staffs” have been used habitually up to, at least, the nineteenth century. Staffs stood for many things. In this pre-palatial example of Homer, the staff represented the ability to command attention during a political or social situation. Biblically, the staff represented power – those who held it had the right to command. Tarot cards, if we go the pagan route, represent the staff as leadership. In the eighteenth century, John Wilkes used the “staff of liberty” to stand in for the ideals of representation in Britain’s parliament. William Hogarth drew a cross-eyed Wilkes to ridicule Wilkes as the ugliest man in London, but Hogarth made sure that the staff was depicted in all it’s splendor. Protests throughout the UK during the French Revolution and up through the Chartist protest in 1848, staffs were used to display the tactile issues of the day. Staffs held up banners, symbols, effigies, but all were a prominent part of public revelry that communicated their angst to the powers that be.

Today, I would argue, that the staff has been replaced by iPhones and Androids; people use their hand-held electronic devices to command a presence; except, everyone is talking, and no one is listening.

In Homer’s The Iliad, the staff meant to give the one who held it a voice and for the others to consider the staff-holders words. The pre-palatial staff proved a crude democracy, no matter who held it, poor or of prestige, it allowed an equal voice. I wonder if modern electronic devices provide the same?