Blue-purple-red

[altariel]

This graphic shows county by county the US election results. Each county's colour is a mix of three colours (blue for Democrats, red for Republicans, green for other) in proportion to the results for that county. The larger graphic is worth a look too.

Comments

[fictualities.livejournal.com]

Wow. Fascinating link. Are you sure it will be accessible to everyone? My university proxy server kicked in and I had to log in when I tried to access it.

Still, pretty amazing. I'm in a little blue patch, which I expected; the most interesting thing I guess is the predominance of purple. We run around saying the nation is divided, but the graphic shows this in painful detail. Thanks for the link *forwards*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Are you sure it will be accessible to everyone?

Eep, I don't know - I just linked to the site after seeing the link somewhere else.


We run around saying the nation is divided, but the graphic shows this in painful detail.

I had a much more optimistic reading: that the US is not so geographically divided as a blue-state/red-state map suggests. All that purple focused me on just how local this makes the issues. That it genuinely is worth being politically involved and debating right down at the grass roots level. Because that might just persuade some people your way, and that might tip the balance of a county, then a state, then an election.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

That it genuinely is worth being politically involved and debating right down at the grass roots level. Because that might just persuade some people your way, and that might tip the balance of a county, then a state, then an election.

Absolutely! Too many people have a bad habit of turning out to vote during the Presidential race, and then entirely forgetting about politics for the next 4 years. In fact, given the federal nature of the US government, many of the most important isues in an American's day-to-day life are actually decided at the state and local levels. (Such as, for instance, what type of setup to use for recording votes.) And at those levels, a single individual's efforts can make an enormous difference. And activities at the state and local levels eventually exert an influence at the federal level.

REAL change begins from the bottom and works its way up, not the other way around.

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

All that purple focused me on just how local this makes the issues. That it genuinely is worth being politically involved and debating right down at the grass roots level.

This is very true. In Minnesota, for instance, the Democrats (DFL - Democratic-Farmer-Labor) won back 13 state house seats, so the Republicans have a majority of only two. Suddenly possible anti-gay marriage initiatives, and the like, were removed from center stage, since there is no way they could go through.

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

I'm in a blue country, too, in a state that went blue (Minnesota). This is an interesting map - for one thing, it really does show the US isn't monolithic. As a liberal American, I find I can't repeat that often enough, heh.

Blue in the UK is consevative, right? It must be odd to see the colo(u)rs switched.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Blue in the UK is consevative, right? It must be odd to see the colo(u)rs switched.

Very odd. I have to do a translation, every time I look at the colours. Just like when I'm in the US and trying to cross the road. My instinct keeps on trying to turn my head one way, and my intellect has to keep yelling, "No, that way lies death!"

[fictualities.livejournal.com]

My instinct keeps on trying to turn my head one way, and my intellect has to keep yelling, "No, that way lies death!"

Hee! As you may know, the colors are purely an artefact of American TV news: on election night Democratic states appear in blue and Republican states in red. It makes for a very patriotic picture, because those are the colors of the flag, but the question naturally arises of how the networks decided which color to use for whom, and why they all made the same decision. I have a theory about that: in the US "red" for a very long time has been a nasty slur for "communist," and the Democratic party has been accused by its most vociferous opponents of leaning in that direction. If the TV networks designated Democratic states as red, that would inevitably be taken as political commentary. Calling Republicans "red" just wouldn't get processed in that same polemical way.

So: I'm blue, my state is blue, my city is blue, and my country -- oh, dear. Well, multi-colored at the local level, as you've pointed out. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

As you may know, the colors are purely an artefact of American TV news

Ah! No, I didn't know that. Here the parties are identified with colours, of course. Your theory is interesting and plausible, I think.


So: I'm blue, my state is blue, my city is blue, and my country -- oh, dear.

I have not yet voted in an election in which the party I've voted for has formed the government.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I've set that as my desktop wallpaper to remind me that things are never as simple as they seem.

My state, New York, went to the Democrats and was never in doubt, but even the areas of high population density are purple. And I expected that. There are no patches of intense blue. A blue state we are, but with a Republican governor and a Republican-dominated state senate. My home town's government is entirely Republican. The parties mean different things on the local levels. And even NY City has a Republican mayor.

I would find it inspiring if I weren't so heavily emotionally invested in it.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It does give a very different picture, I think.


I would find it inspiring if I weren't so heavily emotionally invested in it.

It's still very early days.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Well, the fact that the political culture is so vibrant, immediate, and important to so many people is definitely a cue to hope. For most of my life, nobody has cared about the election, beyond a cynical sigh now and then. The broad spectrum of colors on that map suggest that at least this is something that extends through much of the U.S., and is much less geographically bounded than dismissive pundits would have us believe.

But the fact that so many people cannot engage in debate, only fights; cannot imagine another point of view, cannot accept other viewpoints; are convinced that the opposition is invalid; will not apply reason to the issue?

Not so hopeful.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree with your analysis. I really hope that all this political fire can turn into genuine debate.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

It's also worth considering this geopolitical realignment:

[altariel.livejournal.com]

"God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee..."

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Or, if you prefer the French version,

"Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights..."

(http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_e.cfm#a8)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Further down that page, I liked this note on etiquette:

"It is traditional for civilian men to take off their hats during the playing of the national anthem. Women as well as children do not remove their hats on such occasions."

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this - fascinating.

While showing how a state-vs-state view is too simplistic, it does seem to point up the perceived division between the cities and the breadbaskets - or perhaps that's just my lousy geography.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

it does seem to point up the perceived division between the cities and the breadbaskets

Like those maps of the UK with a blue East Anglia with red dots at Norwich and Cambridge.

I was surprised to see the purple, for example, in the area around New York. Although I think that might be an effect of so many counties crowded up together.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

You might also be interested in these maps, which show the remarkable coincidence between states that voted for Bush this year, and the slave states of pre-Civil-War America.

To go along with that...

[(Anonymous)]

I refer you to this whimsical little opinion piece (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-25.htm").

There is indeed a specter haunting America: the old Civil War ghost that shall never be exorcised until the history of racism is read with as much fervor as the Gospel of John. W. Rivers Pitt also put Bush in the category of crazy presidents, in the select company of Jefferson Davis.

Re: To go along with that...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

That link isn't working - do you have the piece anywhere else?

Re: To go along with that...

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Ah, a stray quote mark messed it up:
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-25.htm

Re: To go along with that...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Got it now - thank you.

Another distribution map

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already seen this one, it shows (separately) blue state/red state, blue county/red county, and the degrees of purple, skewed relative to population density:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

Re: Another distribution map

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for those.