Fun read. I think car design is probably a good indicator as well for Blue/Red/Purple America. The large SUVs and trucks from Ford, Chevy, and GMC have not appealed to me, both in interior and exterior esthetics, since I was a little boy. They’re too utilitarian and appear purposefully “cheap”. Contrast that with Korean, Japanese, or German SUVs and Trucks - they seem more modern, futuristic, or mid-century-modern (if that’s a thing). They may also try to highlight premium quality, premium design, or premium performance. I’m not progressive at all, but I prefer Lexus and Toyota over the American counterparts!
Let me tell ya: I want the interior from our 60's GMC 6500 back. There's not a single modern car on the (mainstream) market that has an interior or exterior I find remotely attractive. They're all too flashy, too plasticky (cheap), too curvy, and above all, too idiosyncratic. I can't even call any of it utilitarian because frankly it isn't (the interior of the 60's GMC is more utilitarian, and far more ornate, detailed, and charming than modern cars).
Truth be told *nobody* is making cars for Red America.
Your taste in automobile aesthetics seems hyper-specific, considering there have been over thousands of cars make/model/interior combinations since the 6500 in the US alone and thousands more across the global markets. The level of detail and precision from even cheap Russian-made vehicles now easily exceeds the quality of what was available in the 60s.
Tying back into the post, there is an inexplainable and maybe unreasonable nostalgia for the past that modern MAGA conservatives are exuding, and that plays out in their outward expression of their aesthetic tastes.
Because of technological acceleration, there's less time to carefully consider ideas and theories. Take AI safetyism, which got run around by PR wokism before it had a chance to finish theorizing enough to make any substantive changes. This means that symbolic workers become relatively less important relative to active ones. Software is a good example because even though it's considered a symbolic industry, it's fundamentally about creating products rather than theorizing. I expect that the graphic design on the right will lean heavily into AI, and unless the political winds change Democrats will focus on artisinal graphic design.
The Trump wordmarks and the MAGA hat are iconic. Not because they're clever. Not because they're tasteful. But because they are highly legible, highly recognizable, plain, cut, dry. There's no elitism in it. No trying to convey hidden meanings. And that's exactly why they're appealing: in a sea of fake, subtle, couched, clever, elitist gobbledygoo: brashness.
Fun read. I think car design is probably a good indicator as well for Blue/Red/Purple America. The large SUVs and trucks from Ford, Chevy, and GMC have not appealed to me, both in interior and exterior esthetics, since I was a little boy. They’re too utilitarian and appear purposefully “cheap”. Contrast that with Korean, Japanese, or German SUVs and Trucks - they seem more modern, futuristic, or mid-century-modern (if that’s a thing). They may also try to highlight premium quality, premium design, or premium performance. I’m not progressive at all, but I prefer Lexus and Toyota over the American counterparts!
Let me tell ya: I want the interior from our 60's GMC 6500 back. There's not a single modern car on the (mainstream) market that has an interior or exterior I find remotely attractive. They're all too flashy, too plasticky (cheap), too curvy, and above all, too idiosyncratic. I can't even call any of it utilitarian because frankly it isn't (the interior of the 60's GMC is more utilitarian, and far more ornate, detailed, and charming than modern cars).
Truth be told *nobody* is making cars for Red America.
Your taste in automobile aesthetics seems hyper-specific, considering there have been over thousands of cars make/model/interior combinations since the 6500 in the US alone and thousands more across the global markets. The level of detail and precision from even cheap Russian-made vehicles now easily exceeds the quality of what was available in the 60s.
Tying back into the post, there is an inexplainable and maybe unreasonable nostalgia for the past that modern MAGA conservatives are exuding, and that plays out in their outward expression of their aesthetic tastes.
Because of technological acceleration, there's less time to carefully consider ideas and theories. Take AI safetyism, which got run around by PR wokism before it had a chance to finish theorizing enough to make any substantive changes. This means that symbolic workers become relatively less important relative to active ones. Software is a good example because even though it's considered a symbolic industry, it's fundamentally about creating products rather than theorizing. I expect that the graphic design on the right will lean heavily into AI, and unless the political winds change Democrats will focus on artisinal graphic design.
The Trump wordmarks and the MAGA hat are iconic. Not because they're clever. Not because they're tasteful. But because they are highly legible, highly recognizable, plain, cut, dry. There's no elitism in it. No trying to convey hidden meanings. And that's exactly why they're appealing: in a sea of fake, subtle, couched, clever, elitist gobbledygoo: brashness.
There is merit to his larger point, but Josh is simply wrong about the left images being more visually striking. MAGA iconography is much stronger.