← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Sertorius
Thread ID: 12422 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2004-02-20
2004-02-20 12:29 | User Profile
Flag literacy at half-staff As referendum nears, confusion abounds
By BEN SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 02/18/04
A psychic couldn't figure it out.
With a display of nine flags in front of her like a deck of tarot cards, Underground Atlanta "psychic artist" Sheri Cash visualized that none of them was the current state flag.
But the flag was there, as were two others stamped with the seal of Georgia and another representing a former Soviet republic by the same name.
Cash shouldn't feel too bad, though. Most of the 58 people questioned in an unscientific street survey by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution got it wrong, too.
They also didn't know which two flags they will be voting on in the March 2 referendum. But they were partial to a blue and gold banner that briefly flew over Georgia and has been compared unfavorably to a Denny's place mat.
The latter sentiment has been verified by actual scientific polling on the issue.
A recent poll by the Schapiro Research Group, a Democratic consulting firm, showed that 48 percent of Georgians will vote for the blue and gold banner hoisted in 2001 by then-Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, compared with 39 percent for the red, white and blue banner that replaced it in 2003.
The reason, said researcher Beth Schapiro, is that the flag referendum is on the same ballot as the Democratic presidential primary, whose voters overwhelmingly favor Barnes' flag.
Republican pollster Whit Ayres has not polled on the flag issue recently, but he said that he agrees with that assessment.
If it happens, a victory by the Barnes flag could pose a significant embarrassment to current Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. As the challenger to Barnes in 2002, Perdue promised voters outraged at the incumbent that they could vote to bring back the Georgia flag dominated by the Confederate battle emblem. But that flag, which had flown over Georgia since 1956, was removed as an option in the upcoming referendum and does not appear on the ballot.
Just as significant for the Barnes flag, according to political observers, is the lack of any coordinated campaign, either to educate voters on the issue or to turn out supporters of the current flag.
That lack of information was evident in the AJC's street survey.
"They changed it again? What's up with that?" asked Georgia State University student Jane Dieb, 18.
The street poll, which took place at various locations in metro Atlanta, including Stone Mountain Park and historic downtown Norcross, asked voters to identify Georgia's current flag from the following banners: Iraq, Mississippi, Great Britain, the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Maryland and Scotland, along with the current and two most recent previous flags of Georgia.
The most, 19, chose the Barnes flag ââ¬â once dubbed by vexillologists as the ugliest state flag in America ââ¬â as their favorite. In fact, 24 people thought the banner yet waved over Georgia.
But a majority of the 58 could not identify which two flags will be on the March 2 ballot.
"I'm voting for this one," Charles Taylor, a 29-year-old Georgia World Congress Center worker, said, pointing to the state flag of Mississippi.
Taylor mistook the Mississippi banner for the Barnes flag, on which the once-dominant Confederate battle emblem was shrunk to the size of a postcard. The battle emblem on the Mississippi flag is also smaller than the one included in the 1956 flag.
When informed what the actual flag choices are, Taylor said he will vote for the current one because "it ain't got the Rebel flag on it."
Jackie Clark, 24, a medical assistant at Atlanta Medical Center, said, "I like all the colors and all the flags" in the Barnes banner from 2001.
Of the other flag, she shook her head and said: "Red, white and blue; red, white and blue; red, white and blue. Where have we seen that before?"
Jay Johnson, an Atlanta real estate specialist, said he probably will vote for the current flag as the lesser of two unsightly banners. The Barnes flag, Johnson said, is just plain ugly, while the current banner, actually modeled after versions of flags that flew during the Confederacy and after Reconstruction, carries an ugly symbol.
"The symbolism of the current flag is just as flawed" as the 1956 flag, Johnson said, as he was interviewed with his family in the snack bar atop Stone Mountain. "It should be a different design altogether."
"Is that our flag, Daddy?" asked Johnson's 5-year-old son, Will, pointing to the new Georgia flag. Will's father replied, "It is this week."
[url]http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204/19legflag.html[/url]
======================================
Which two flags are on the March 2 ballot in Georgia? And can you identify the other flags? Click on each flag for the answer
[IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/03/80/65/image_465803.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/06/80/65/image_465806.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/08/80/65/image_465808.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/00/81/65/image_465810.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/08/82/65/image_465828.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/03/83/65/image_465833.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/06/83/65/image_465836.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/07/83/65/image_465837.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/08/83/65/image_465838.jpg[/IMG]
[url]http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204a/11flagtest.html[/url]
=================================== Street poll
Published on: 02/18/04
1) What is the current flag of Georgia? (Select from among Iraq, Mississippi, Union Jack, the Barnes flag, nation of Georgia (former Soviet republic), 1956 flag, Maryland, current flag and Scotland. Respondents were not told the identity of the flags.)
Barnes 24
Current 16
1956 13
Mississippi 3
None of above 1
Don't know 1
2) Which two flags will be on the referendum?
Current and Barnes 26
Got answer wrong 32
Barnes and 1956 15
Current and 1956 8
1956 and Miss. 5
Barnes and Miss. 2
Current and Miss. 1
Scotland and Union Jack 1
3) How will you vote?
Barnes 20
Current 16
1956 3
Miss. 2
Don't know 2
Maryland 1
Won't or can't vote 14
4) What should be the flag of Georgia?
Barnes 20
Current 16
1956 9
Union Jack 3
Different design 3
Scotland 2
U.S. flag 1
Pre-1956 Ga. 1
"What original was" 1
Iraq 1
Don't know 1
5) Which of these is your favorite?
Barnes 19
Union Jack 12
Current 9
1956 7
Scotland 4
Nation of Georgia 2
Iraq 1
Mississippi 1
Maryland 1
Don't know 2
ââ¬â Survey of 58 respondents interviewed at Underground, outside World of Coca-Cola museum, Emory Student Academic and Activities Center, Taste of Britain shop and Norcross Antiques in Norcross, Stone Mountain Park, Target at North Druid Hills and I-85, a Decatur home.
[url]http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0204/19legflagchart.html#[/url]
é 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2004-02-20 13:32 | User Profile
What kind of a poll is this? This poll is indeed unscientific, conducted by a Democratic polling firm who went to the most liberal and dumbest sections of Georgia to skew the answer on this poll. I am willing to bet that the AJC went to black sections near Underground Atlanta and the MLK site to get dumb people for the results of their informal skewed poll.
Gov. Purdue is going to be kicked out of office as was Gov. Beasley of SC was when he broke his promise to keep the Confederate flag atop the dome of the SC Capital building. Both men I thought by breaking their promises, they would curry favor with the inner circle and be offered higher government offices and other perks. Gov. Beasley now is trying to run for the US senate, and is being "flagged" by the SCLOS and other Confederate flag supporters at his every stop. I expect him to give up his campaign soon.
I think that Purdue and his fellow traitors know that if the 1956 flag was on the ballot that it would win, or else they would put it on the ballot with the other flags. In another 10 years, though, with all the brainwashing, it would not win.
2004-02-20 13:57 | User Profile
S Kemper,
I believe the poll to be skewed as well. These folks of the AJC seem to think that Georgia is made up solely of Atlanta. It isn't. Atlanta is hardly the southern city I grew up in. Perdue's mistake here is putting this vote on the presidential preference vote coming on 2 March. It should be on the ballot for the general election. Like you, I was disgusted with the amount of ignorance displayed by the people questioned as to which flag was what. Folks outside of Atlanta wouldn't have any problem here.
2004-02-20 14:11 | User Profile
A "Democratic" polling firm named Schapiro.
2004-02-20 14:16 | User Profile
Ruffin,
The guy who designed the Barnes flag is a Jew. In a nutshell that sums up everything one needs to know about this.
2004-02-24 00:06 | User Profile
Sertorius,
Is there any candidate Republican or otherwise, who claims to support the 1956 flag? I have not heard of any. I was born in Atlanta and lived there the first 10 years of my life. I visit there periodically and imo, it is no longer a Southern city.
2004-02-24 02:03 | User Profile
S Kemper,
No, to my knowledge. Your opinion of Atlanta is the same as mine. I grew up here too, and it has lost all of its Southern charm.
2004-02-24 03:47 | User Profile
[QUOTE]I visit there periodically and imo, it is no longer a Southern city.[/QUOTE] Atlanta is a nightmare. I thought my hatred for the city might be idiosyncratic, but surprisingly almost everyone in Dallas who is familiar with Atlanta hates it as much as I do. And that includes black folks.
2004-02-24 08:22 | User Profile
I was born in Georgia and lived there as a child, so I've followed this circus from the beginning, due to that attachment. Frankly, I'm surprised the 56 flag lasted as long as it did, more than thirty years past the greatest generation's great Southern wimpout. After the "civil rights era" it should've been clear that Southern white men, as a group, will submit to anything.