Red vs. Blue
Red vs. Blue is a humorous animated series created using the Xbox and Halo multiplayer engine to act out the scripts. (They have some fun Halo 2 promos, too, to stay consistent with recent hype around here).
Unfortunately these days, most people associate "Red vs. Blue" with the recent election and the infamous maps going around the internet (or internets, if you're the President).
I am completely with Ted on this one. Despite the rhetoric of a nation divided, we are all Americans, and we all need to live together. Although I think several on the left have acted like moonbats (anyone who takes Michael Moore seriously goes down several notches in my opinion), I presume that the vast majority of Kerry voters are people of good faith who thought they were doing the right thing with their vote. I also assume that the most obnoxiously vocal folks bemoaning the stupidity or backwardness of Bush voters is a small minority akin to the Falwell Republicans.
(More in the extended entry).
This kind of map does nothing to help us come together as a nation:
It really is an inaccurate representation of the real story, too. It does not account for population or for percentages of support for each candidate in each region. It reflects an unhealthy "winner take all" mentality that is dangerous to our republic in the long run.
I saw this map today (here), and it really provides a nice dose of perspective:
While I think the election counts as a landslide in comparison to recent elections, we need to remember the golden rule and treat the opposition as the loyal opposition, hoping they live up to our high expectations. It is a certainty that if we don't, then they will live down to our low expectations.
Except, our republic is basically a winner take all kind of system, not just for President. So, the second map gives you information about population centers, but it seems to me the first gives you information also - counties going one way or the other are not randomly scattered.
So, this seems to me to be a "Why can't we just get along?" plea. Maybe we can. But it seems to me in popular culture the rabid moonbat left has a much louder voice than the rabid moonbat right. My hope is the far left will lose influence in the Democratic party; my fear is the far right will gain influence in the Republican party.
Posted by: owllish at November 10, 2004 11:25 PMOwllish makes a good point about the far fringes on each side. I believe the Republicans faced their moment with the Moral Majority. It scared a lot of moderate conservatives but did move the party farther to the right. I hope the Democrats will do the same with their current batch of crazies: minimize their influence, but move to the left a bit and create a real difference between the parties again.
Big difference though, the Moral Majority, despite all their press, was just a sideshow. The extreme left has lots and lots and lots of money, plus Hollywood influence (for whatever that's worth).
Posted by: Ted at November 11, 2004 07:30 AMGood points, both of you. Thanks for the comments.
Posted by: JohnL at November 11, 2004 08:07 AM