{"id":69436,"date":"2023-09-23T04:06:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T09:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/?p=69436"},"modified":"2023-09-23T04:08:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T09:08:40","slug":"crowdsourcing-contest-our-banner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/23\/crowdsourcing-contest-our-banner\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdsourcing Contest: Our Banner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Crowdsourcing Contest!<\/em><\/span><\/a>
\nOur Banner<\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

A\u00a0Counter-Currents<\/em> reader has offered the following essay to stir thought and four prizes \u2014 a first prize of $200, and three runner-up prizes of $100 each \u2014 for the best concrete ideas on the topic outlined in it, to be submitted to:\u00a0editor@counter-currents.com<\/a>\u00a0 before October 1, 2023.<\/span><\/h2>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/h2>\n

I wish to share some ideas about the power of symbols in claiming territory. I wish to make three points:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    symbols are powerful,<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n

    the Left has good symbols, and<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n

    the Right needs better symbols.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I feel distinctly unwelcome in areas that are filled with rainbow flags and Black Lives Matter signs. It\u2019s demoralizing. When I see them, I want to leave and never return. I think Trump and Make America Great Again flags \u2014 and even American flags \u2014 have a similar effect on the Left in great enough numbers.<\/h2>\n

    I think the rainbow flag is quite brilliant propaganda. Consider some of its merits:<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • \n

      Rainbows are lovely; they\u2019ve co-opted something everyone loves.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n

      The color scheme is endlessly adaptable to all kinds of shapes and merchandise.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n

      Although the full LGBTQ+ package is highly destructive, its symbolism provides plausible deniability, not only as to what it means but also as to whether it means anything at all. Is that rainbow sign in your kids\u2019 classroom political propaganda, or is it just a rainbow? When the hospital gave my daughter a rainbow-colored bear during Pride Month, was that subtle propaganda targeted at a child, or was that it simply a rainbow-colored bear? When children in school have shirts that say \u201cBe kind,\u201d where \u201ckind\u201d is rendered in a rainbow theme, is that sexual politics or is it \u201cjust promoting kindness\u201d? And who can oppose kindness without seeming churlish?<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n

      Despite plausible deniability, it serves as a reliable marker for Leftists to identify each other. When the schoolteacher has a rainbow flag sticker on her car that says \u201cCompassion\u201d or \u201cAll are welcome,\u201d they mark themselves as part of the tribe. Perhaps you can\u2019t nail them down as to whether they\u00a0really\u00a0<\/em>support the sterilization and mutilation of children \u2014 I mean \u201cgender-affirming health care\u201d \u2014 but you know they\u2019re part of the tribe.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n

      The Left goes around to businesses and asks them to hang rainbow flag in the windows \u201cto show that all people are welcome here.\u201d but it also has the (likely intentional) effect of visibly claiming that territory for the Left. Some rural areas have a fair number of Trump flags flying from the houses, but I\u2019ve never seen a Right-wing equivalent of an entire business district festooned with rainbow flags. Would a Leftist want to patronize a business with \u201cStraight pride\u201d and \u201cTrump 2024\u201d flags? What if nearly every business was like that? I think it would demoralize them. (Yes, a few would defiantly paint their house like a rainbow in the middle of Trump territory, but most might be pressured to find bluer pastures.)<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      It\u2019s unfortunate that the Right doesn\u2019t have good flags and symbols to rally behind and claim territory with, except the highly imperfect Trump\/MAGA flags. We need symbols that explicitly counter those of the Left with our own positive vision.<\/h2>\n

      The flag should be pro-heterosexuality, pro-marriage, pro-children, and pro-European\/Western<\/strong><\/em>.<\/h2>\n

      Do we have somebody who can make such a thing, in a way that\u2019s wholesome, distinctive, and in a manner that instills pride?<\/h2>\n

      The Right\u2019s most popular symbols are all lacking:<\/h2>\n
        \n
      • \n

        The Gadsden flag doesn\u2019t directly counter the Left. It instead counters tyrants, or rulers and governments generally. Unless you\u2019re an anarchist or pure libertarian, it\u2019s too vague. You might say it\u2019s \u201cpro-freedom,\u201d but the Left can claim to just want \u201cfreedom,\u201d too: the freedom to love whoever they want to love, to choose their own gender and family structure, to let all children encounter their ideology in schools and libraries, to give children the freedom to choose to be free of parental tyranny, and for all oppressed and downtrodden peoples to have the freedom to seek a better life in the West. \u201cI\u2019m a childless trans lesbian: Don\u2019t tread on me!\u201d This is not self-contradictory.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
      • \n

        The MAGA flag is vague. Make America great in what way? And if greatness is accomplished, the symbol would become obsolete. It\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0directional, and the direction is towards the Right, but that\u2019s about all. One can argue that it works well in the plausible deniability department, but its meaning is perhaps\u00a0too<\/em>\u00a0much in the eye of the beholder.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
      • \n

        The Trump flag is pro-Trump, but it\u2019s similarly vague. It\u2019s also bound to a specific time period. Unless he becomes a much greater man than he is now, flying a Trump flag 20 years after he\u2019s dead will merely be sad.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
      • \n

        FJB is anti-Biden and similarly time-bound.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
      • \n

        The Thin Blue Line flag is pro-police, pro-law-and-order, and implicitly pro-government and anti-crime. Those are generally good things, but they only tangentially touch on the culture wars.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
      • \n

        Then we have Pepe, Gigachad, and other meme characters. These are probably best left on the Internet.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Ideally we\u2019d have symbols that:<\/h2>\n
          \n
        • \n

          espouse a positive vision and set of ideals, not simply state opposition to the enemy or his ideals;<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          have a lasting message that will be continually relevant and inspiring, even after the mission is accomplished;<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          can be adapted into many formats;<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          spark interest and curiosity in those who see it, providing natural opportunities to spread the word;<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          leave no wiggle room for enemy subversion, such as how \u201call men are created equal\u201d has been subverted.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          espouse ideals that are simultaneously wholesome and good \u2014 such that most on our side would proudly and openly agree with them \u2014 while simultaneously demoralizing the enemy, who could not agree with them without compromising their own ideals, and who face an uphill battle justifying their opposition (just as you have to effectively oppose \u201ckindness,\u201d \u201ccompassion,\u201d and \u201cbeing welcoming to all\u201d to oppose the rainbow flag), and<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          appeal emotionally to both men and women, young and old.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
        • \n

          Given the realities of media and cultural power, they may also need to provide plausible deniability for the more extreme implications of those ideals \u2014 just as the rainbow flag provides plausible deniability for child mutilation and sterilization under the guise of \u201clove\u201d and \u201ccompassion.\u201d It should be the kind of thing that a young, rebellious teen would want to put on his backpack, except for the fact that his mom already has one on her SUV \u2014 not because his mom is an extremist like he is. She merely has the equivalent of the \u201ckindness\u201d and \u201ccompassion\u201d rainbow flag.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          I realize this is something difficult to achieve, and perhaps even impossible. I also realize that the Anti-Defamation League and its ilk are ruthless in smearing any symbol even tangentially connected with \u201cextremism.\u201d (Caught cracking your knuckles in a way that somebody thought looks like the \u201cokay\u201d symbol, which has meant \u201cokay\u201d for decades but was recently declared evil? You\u2019re fired!) We can\u2019t hope to pull the wool over\u00a0their<\/em>\u00a0eyes. It unfortunately seems to require the kind of skill and talent that money can\u2019t buy. But don\u2019t we have artists who can do better than the symbols we\u2019ve got? I wonder . . .<\/h2>\n

           <\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Crowdsourcing Contest! Our Banner   A\u00a0Counter-Currents reader has offered the following essay to stir thought and four prizes \u2014 a first prize of $200, and three runner-up prizes of $100 each \u2014 for the best concrete ideas on the topic outlined in it, to be submitted to:\u00a0editor@counter-currents.com\u00a0 before October 1, 2023. *\u00a0 *\u00a0 * I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[473,74,14245,5540,481,482,486,487,14620,14057,13855,491,492,493],"tags":[16534,15907,9152,488,490,8729],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69436"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69443,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69436\/revisions\/69443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}