“Red state, blue state” by Angr – self-made; base map is Image:Blank US Map.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_state,_blue_state.svg#/media/File:Red_state,_blue_state.svg
While I was gone, one of my ADCO colleagues pinned this item on Pinterest, and my attention was drawn to it today when I saw it had gotten some repins.
It was a fun graphic from Digital Information World about all the associations we have with various colors. But what grabbed my attention was the observations about the political meanings of two colors in particular:
Indeed, I have found this whole business of calling conservative states “red” and liberal states “blue” confusing ever since it got started.
Red has always been the color of revolution, of overturning the status quo, of charging the ramparts in the cause of radical change. Blue is the natural color of conservativism, as in blueblood, or the blue associated with royalty. Red is hot and dynamic, while blue is cool, sedate, satisfied with the status quo.
So why have we so widely accepted the opposite in recent years? Well, it was pretty random. Here’s Wikipedia’s account:
This terminology came into use in the United States presidential election of 2000 on an episode of the Today show on October 30, 2000. According to AlterNet and The Washington Post, the terms were coined by journalist Tim Russert, during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election.[1] That was not the first election during which the news media used colored maps to depict voter preferences in the various states, but it was the first time a standard color scheme took hold; the colors were often reversed or different colors used before the 2000 election.
It was just that random. Whoever made up the graphic just happened to use those colors that day, and it stuck, contrary to all reason.
And in the very next graf, Wikipedia acknowledges the contradiction:
This reverses a long-standing convention ofpolitical colors where red symbols (such as the Red Flag or Red Star) are associated with revolutionary movements, and conservative movements often choose blue as a contrasting color.[2]
That’s right. Anyway, it still bugs me…
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Well, the right-wing Republicans are not really conservative so much as reactionary revolutionaries.
One definition for conservative I’ve alway heard is “maintaining the status quo” or “not given to change”. So being “conservative” would have different implications in different countries. American conservativism is indeed revolutionary these days.
Exactly!
Well, no doubt about it, few of the people who call themselves “conservatives” this days live up to the term. No one who carries a revolutionary snake flag emblazoned with “Don’t Tread On Me” is a conservative.
But setting that aside, what we’ve done in recent years is assign the CONCEPT of conservatism with the color red, and that doesn’t make sense. When you’re dealing with symbolic representations of abstract concepts, red makes no sense for conservatism…
If I hadn’t read the Wikipedia bit, I’d have said it’s about Nancy Reagan’s signature color.
“No one who carries a revolutionary snake flag emblazoned with “Don’t Tread On Me” is a conservative.”
The word you’re looking for is “Libertarians”.
Actually, that’s more revolutionary. I mean, yeah, they’re libertarians; but the “don’t step on me; I’m a snake” mentality goes beyond libertarianism.
Long before the Tea Party discovered that symbol, I used to want to go back in time and have a consult with the PR geniuses who came up with that. Like, guys, wouldn’t you sort of like to have a SYMPATHETIC symbol for your movement?
Reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb skit in which an SS trooper suddenly asks his comrade, “We’ve got skulls on our caps… are we the baddies?”
The PR geniuses were creating a flag for the new US Navy right? Aesthetically and philosophically, I have to say that I prefer the Moultrie Flag. A nice sea of blue and “Liberty” on the crescent just appeals to me. It’s less confrontational than the Gadsden Flag in that it’s just advocating liberty without a threat of a rattlesnake biting a tyrant.
The Moultrie Flag. What’s not to like?
It’s fascinating that out of 50 states plus DC only 9 voted at least for both parties during the last 4 elections.