I Think We Broke Their Brains
By Mitch Berg
Last week, Sally Jo Sorenson of Bluestem Prairie – one of the small minority of Minnesota progblogs that don’t deserve police surveillance or restraining orders – was jumping up and down over this article in the Minnesota Daily, the U of M newspaper.
It’s an interview with a couple of design and communications professors, going over the symbology of various campaign signs.
On the one hand, I do a lot of that sort of thing as part of my day job. It’s more than an academic subject to me.
Sorenson quotes the piece in the Daily by Kevin Karner, in re the two professors’ comparisons of the signs in the Secretary of State Race between Steve “Couldn’t Get To 45% in the Primary” Simon and Dan Severson:
Severson also tries to indicate his party affiliation through color, but the placement of the blue ribbon with white stars over a red backdrop almost evokes the Confederate Flag — an odd choice for Minnesota.
Here’s the Confederate Flag – the “Stars and Bars”, which sounds a little like an uptown hipster tavern.
Yep – red field, blue bars, white stars. Modeled after the Union Jack. Maybe the regional left needs to get on the Scots and Brits for their racist microaggressions.
Here’s Severson’s:
Red “Republican” background. Blue stripe – unlike the Rebel flat, there’s one, not two of them, and not only is it wavy, but it and its white stars seem to vanish into the distance. Almost like something zipping across the sky. Leaving contrails behind it, even.
Now, I’m not a college professor or a progblogger, so I have no idea what one might associate with Dan Severson…
…that would involve something with a star on it flashing across the sky into the distance?
Being neither an associate design professor nor a progblogger with numerous elite academic credentials, I’m obviously too stupid to figure it out.
Heck, we all are! It just has to be a Confederate flag reference! Sometimes I just feel so stupid.
Hm. What could that slashing, star-clad blue ribbon mean?
DUURRR! DAAAAAAAR! Stupid conservative blogger! Must smash things!
Oh, yeah; Sorenson:
Given the side Minnesota’s soldiers fought on in the Civil War, it’s odd indeed.
Given the side Ms. Sorenson’s Democrat party forebears fought on in the Civil War, I suppose it’s just high time for incongruity.
October 6th, 2014 at 7:55 am
Merg, that is not the “Stars and Bars”
This is http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/u/us-csa.gif
October 6th, 2014 at 8:13 am
looks like the “bloodstained banner”, but maybe its the “stainless banner”, i get them confused.
October 6th, 2014 at 9:15 am
Swiftee – yeah, I get them mixed up.
Point being, Severson’s sign? Not Confederate!
October 6th, 2014 at 10:42 am
Curious. Why is it the people who point out ‘racist dog whistles’ are always Lefty’s who appear to be the only ones that can hear them?
October 6th, 2014 at 11:01 am
if you look at the past Obama campaign posters its curious how often the background imagery is clearly derived from the actual “stars and bars” – much moreso than Mr Severson’s poster.
October 6th, 2014 at 11:37 am
It could also be like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennant_%28commissioning%29#United_States_Navy
Of course, what were his signs in previous elections?
October 6th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
The “dog whistle” thing is pretty scary. Schizophrenic. “I know you said A, but I know you meant B, you were using a secret code. Now justify your saying B.”
October 6th, 2014 at 1:25 pm
Boy just when you think lefties can’t be any stupider something like this comes up.
October 6th, 2014 at 1:49 pm
M Thompson: I’ve heard that suggested.
Since Severson was a pilot, I’m going to run with the “swooshing across the sky” thing, but they may both apply…
October 6th, 2014 at 2:43 pm
I say this is a textbook case of Berg’s 7th law
October 6th, 2014 at 3:05 pm
The similarity of the actual “Stars & Bars” to Obama campaign posters reminds me of the interesting way Mr. Obama, by promoting the nonsensical idea of mandatory volunteerism, became both the first black President and a proponent of the effective repeal of the 13th Amendment.
October 6th, 2014 at 3:46 pm
You have to have brains to break them.
October 6th, 2014 at 3:49 pm
Maybe it’s time to rethink your opinion of Sally Jo…
October 6th, 2014 at 4:37 pm
Maybe it’s time to rethink your opinion of Sally Jo
I don’t actually have an opinion of her.
But as yet, there’s no law against making a scabrous rhetorical claim.
If there were, there’d be a lot of progbloggers in jail.
October 6th, 2014 at 5:55 pm
bikebubba wrote:”Mr. Obama, by promoting the nonsensical idea of mandatory volunteerism . . .”
Obama’s ideas about volunteerism are typical for progressives.
Volunteers who choose freely to donate their time may volunteer incorrectly. They may choose to give their time in ways that are unapproved by the state.
When you are paid to do something, you do as you are told. When you volunteer to do something, you choose what to do. You may volunteer to serve on the board of a charitable organization that does not meet government requirements for diversity, for example, or you may choose to volunteer to that actively discriminates against a protected class of people or you may give your time to an organization that opposes state interests.
This is very old progressive philosophy. It goes back to the turn of the 20th century. Only the state is competent to determine the needs of the people. If what you are doing advances state interests, you won’t have a problem with state direction. If what you do goes against state interests, you need to be stopped. This, for example, how they do things in Cuba. Every organization has government representative on its board who makes sure they do what the state requires.
This is one of Obama’s core beliefs, but I doubt that he knows why he believes it. Obama doesn’t strike me as a person given to examine his beliefs.
October 7th, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Wasn’t the previous Democrat Senate majority leader a klansman?
My God those people are shameless.
October 7th, 2014 at 8:58 pm
Nice Hornet shots
Thanks
October 8th, 2014 at 9:02 am
Fingers,
Thought you’d like ’em.
The candidate in question – Dan Severson – was a Hornet jock for about 20 years. I asked if he’d met you – but he was always in the Pacific Fleet.
October 14th, 2014 at 12:36 pm
[…] the facts against them, they went for the sleaze. The “progressive” alt-media’s attempt to paint Severson as a confederate sympathizer because of the color scheme on his lawn signs was not only idiotic, but transparently […]