Posts from — February 2008

Holly Zadra writes about the LGBT community in February’s Tributary:

“If we don’t pay attention and focus on the right discussions and the right issues, America will create an expiration date for itself,” [Hemsath] continued. “This democratic experiment will come to an unfortunate conclusion. And the hypothesis for liberty and peace and freedom will be nullified because we failed to set that example for ourselves, and we failed to set that example for the rest of the world… The time to change the tone has come. As a society and as a culture, we’ve come to an impasse. We’re 21st Century. We’ve gotten past the Industrial Revolution, Women’s Votes, Civil Rights. Now we’re again trying to find out what it means to be a nation.”
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Michael Bierut, partner at Pentagram, finally jumps on to the Obama branding bandwagon.

“Obama is marketing like Apple, Nike or Starbucks. He’s selling an experience. It’s all done with such skill and finesse that as a professional, I am in absolute awe,” says Bierut.

• Obama Wins | New at Pentagram | Pentagram

Armin Vit, a former Pentagram partner, and a bit more adept at the blogging when the subject matter is still timely and people still give a shit about what you have to say, covered this topic in response to a New York Times editorial on the subject.

For each segment of people, the logo changes accordingly, tip-toeing a fine line between cliché and clever, and never crossing to the former’s dark side. The iterations are quickly identifiable and feel genuinely concerned with connecting to the people they are talking to, without pandering. The executions are rather flawless and work perfectly on screen with the detailed gradients and subtle background illustrations. Even the typography is lovingly handled…

• Speak Up › The Hardest Working Presidential Candidate Logo

American national political campaigns prey on the ignorance of the masses to achieve their objectives. In such a geographically diverse, and spread-out nation, cultural experiences are more variant than those of our European counterparts.

Thus when a photo of a trip to Kenya that Obama kept from the public surfaces, one has to wonder how the generally ignorant American would react to such a photo.

Hillary’s campaign had this to say about the photo:

If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.

Eli Sanders of Seattle’s The Stranger weekly had some extremely insightful commentary on this “blunder.”

First he says about Clinton’s response:

“Her release wasn’t helped by the fact that Obama was in Kenya, not Somalia, at the time the turban photo was taken.”

Then Sanders reprints an excerpt from “Turbans: Don’t Link Them to Terrorism” an op-ed he wrote for the Seattle Times immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers:

In SeaTac last week, a man was charged with attacking a turban-wearing Sikh cab driver, calling him a “butcher terrorist.” In Seattle, a man was arrested after he allegedly tried to choke a Sikh, telling him, “You have no right to attack our country.” In Arizona, a man shot a Sikh gas-station owner to death, later explaining to authorities: “I’m a patriot.”

Hundreds of other assaults on Sikhs have been reported across the country, a trend that strikes many as bizarrely misguided.

Yes, Sikhs wear turbans. But they have no connection to the Islamic extremists now wanted by the U.S….

Those seem to be distinctions many are unaware of. John Cooksey, a Republican congressman from Louisiana, recently offered this suggestion for weeding out terrorists: “If I see someone come in and he’s got a diaper on his head and a fanbelt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked.”

Read the rest of Eli Sanders’ post:

• Obama’s Turban | Slog | The Stranger | Seattle’s Only Newspaper

I had promised that I would draft a memo with information on writing a letter of objection regarding Rep. Denny Rehberg’s recent “prank.” The only newspaper to cover this story has been The Hill, a congressional trade rag, and that story is appended at the end of this post.

Please email me your letters, with your first and last name, and a mailing address, so that I can forward these to newspapers and our congressional delegates.

Tips for writing letters:
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Friends don’t let friends kem.

A new typography term

(Via the Slog)

Amit Varma reposts Arthur Schopenhauer’s “38 Ways to Win an Argument.” However bold these strategies might seem, they are extremely reliant on rhetoric and pull with the audience, and less reliant on actual argumentation. Schopenhauer is most likely using this as a “what not to do.”

#38 Sums up the list best. Emphasis added.

38. Become personal, insulting and rude as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand.
In becoming personal you leave the subject altogether, and turn your attack on the person by remarks of an offensive and spiteful character.
This is a very popular technique, because it takes so little skill to put it into effect.