Category Archives: Poetry

History of American Political Blues: How Red Came to Represent Millions Dead

After liberating American troops firebombed the Nazis out of power in Berlin, Germany’s Bundestag reconstruction was very carefully curated in a serene color of profound philosophical heritage — one that traces the relationship between color and governance through centuries of Western thought. The lineage of blue was known for a political intention in rational deliberation, whereas bold reds marked a palette of mass death through extremist violence and hate groups.

“Reichstag blue is a well-chosen color. It can create a calm atmosphere in the Bundestag,” color expert Silvia Prehn told DW. “It is a calm color that conveys clarity and objectivity. Blue has a physically calming effect — one’s pulse and breath slow down as it relaxes and soothes.” […] The new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, would be more likely to be the heir to the “German Blue”: “Just yesterday she wore exactly the same color as the chairs in the Reichstag, that is, aquamarine with a bit of purple,” says the color expert. “She wants to be taken seriously.” Whether top German politicians in the new government take up the blue again or not, the chairs in the Bundestag will continue to be “Reichstag Blue.” “The blue stands for the thinkers, analysts, the people with the data, numbers and facts,” says Prehn. “Violet, on the other hand, represents the visionary and the foresighted.”

Some are more suited for power than others…

Though this relationship proves more complex across cultural contexts, the following analysis draws out patterns and meaning for national security discussion purposes rather than apologetically back away from useful predictors of threats.

A blue helmeted thinker tends to know:
The red brick thrown to destroy structural beams
Could instead shelter a children’s dreams.

The connection between blue and representative reasoned governance has roots in Western classical philosophy. Plato, in “The Republic,” speaks of a philosopher-king’s need for contemplation, where he associated vast blue depths (e.g. the sky, the ocean) with divine wisdom. While color theory wasn’t explicit in his writing, emphasis on forms of rational governance over fiery emotional appeals laid some groundwork for later analysis.

Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Judgment” (1790) developed a crucial color theory relationship to governance. Whereas Kant held color secondary to form, he provided an analysis of “cool” versus “warm” experiences in aesthetics. This has influenced how later theorists understood color’s active role for intentionally shaping human behavior and defining the outcomes from our spaces.

The elevation of blue in Western governance cannot be separated from its religious significance. The use of “Marian Blue” in Christian iconography, particularly expensive lapis lazuli pigments, associated the color with divine wisdom and contemplation, as Michel Pastoureau documents in “Blue: The History of a Color” (2001). Richard H. Wilkinson in “Symbolism & Magic in Egyptian Art” (1994) informs us how rituals since ancient times have used red to represent danger and death, while blue was for birth and sustainable life. Islamic architectural traditions similarly made extensive use of blue tiles in places of worship and governance, as detailed in Robert Hillenbrand’s “Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning” (1994). The Great Blue Mosque in Istanbul shows blue applied to represent expressions of divine wisdom and earthly authority. Meanwhile, Buddhist and Hindu traditions have used red to suggest a shedding of the past in transition to revolutionary insights, as David Fontana suggests in “The Secret Language of Symbols” (1994).

A very Blue Mosque of Istanbul

Both religious symbolism and secular governance aesthetics, despite the vast differences in other regards, apparently arrived at a universal recognition of color meaning. The Soviet and Chinese communist movements, for example, dramatically made use of red’s symbolism and rejected blue. Both flags deliberately combined red with yellow/gold stars, a combination that Michel Pastoureau identifies in “Red: The History of a Color” (2017) as historically associated with imperial power. The British “red coats” had such an influence over American colonies that to this day the more “militant” minded adorn themselves with “salmon” shirts and “pink” pants to express soft-skin hard-head conservatism. Their palette signifies underlying politics of harsh exclusion and white-washing race-based privilege.

Turkey Red and Madder dyes that colored uniforms, from railway coveralls to navy and military gear, originally were chosen as a low-cost dye to obscure stains. They were adopted by New England elites (“Nantucket Reds”) as a carefully cultivated symbol of power. What was a practical application of labor became an ironic subtle marker of racism and privilege caste.

The Swiss flag’s red, originating in the 13th century Holy Roman Empire, presents an especially revealing case study in how militant symbolism evolved into a facade of “neutrality” that enabled profound moral failure. While Switzerland inverted its red cross on white background to create the Red Cross symbol in 1863, supposedly representing humanitarian neutrality, this same “neutrality” would later serve as cover for Swiss complicity with Nazi Germany. During WWII, Swiss banks laundered Nazi gold, refused Jewish refugees at their borders, and maintained profitable trade relationships with the Third Reich while claiming moral distance through their red-branded neutrality. This transformation of militant red into “neutral” red ultimately served the same authoritarian ends through passive facilitation of genocide for profit rather than active revolution.

The history of red in governance thus presents fascinating insights beyond mere revolution. The American flag incorporated red from Britain and France, marking a sharp contrast with its application of blue for justice and vigilance. The founders of America observed the color red in French political conflicts, which carried particularly profound revolutionary, symbolic, and political meanings.

During the 1789 French Revolution, red was prominently associated with abrupt course change through bloodshed. It was incorporated into the National Guard’s cockades for a unifying symbol of Parisian revolutionaries, later appropriated into the French tricolor, where it represented the fight to end prior rule. Napoleon Bonaparte thus cynically marked his seizure of power with red, pressing the color further into a French symbol of abrupt grab of authority. His uniforms and depictions often featured red elements to express dominance and imperial violence. Under his rule, France transitioned rapidly from popular revolution to unjust dictatorship, showing how red’s use to foment widespread rebellion has been rooted in tragic centralization and control. A historian remarked in 1825 how the British planned to hoist a red “no quarter” flag upon invasion by France, in order to warn only mass death lay ahead.

Source: “Histoire de Boulogne-sur-Mer”, Pierre BARTHÉLEMY, 1825, page 230.

Later revolutions, such as those of 1830 and 1848, reaffirmed red as the emblem of rabid disruption and rejection of any compromise or concession in governance.

This is all important context for why Berlin’s “Reichstag Blue” represents a deliberate application of philosophical principles. When redesigning the Bundestag after reunification, architect Norman Foster collaborated with color psychologist Professor Max Lüscher, whose “The Lüscher Color Test” (1969) demonstrated blue’s calming, thought-promoting properties.

Michel Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish” (1975) suggests our institutional spaces and symbols measurably shape behavior, arguing that environmental designs — including color — promote either rational discourse or emotional manipulation.

Many other contemporary international organizations thus have largely embraced blue as a symbol of rationality and peace. The United Nations’ light blue represents peacekeeping missions, while the European Union’s blue flag with gold stars symbolizes unity and reason. NATO’s blue emblem similarly suggests stability and collective security rather than aggression.

The Republican Party’s adoption of red in 2000 during electoral coverage, however, marked a subtle but significant regression to authoritarian aspirations. What began as supposedly arbitrary choice revealed deeper intentions with the racist and anti-democratic MAGA movement’s gleeful promotion of bright red merchandise for overthrow of government. The color choice, whether broadly intentional or isolated, aligns with historical patterns of authoritarian movements. Color theorist Johannes Itten termed this use of red for maximum contrast in “The Art of Color” (1961) as an intentional technique to provoke emotional rather than rational responses — bold, high-contrast colors used to disrupt or blockade rational discourse by triggering emotions instead. Contemporary theorist Eva Heller notes in “Psicología del color” (2000) that while blue promotes “intellectual understanding and diplomatic communication,” red triggers “fight-or-flight responses” and emotional arousal useful for rapid power grabs.

Similarly the German party of Nazis today (“Alternative for Germany” or AfD) continues to use red very tactically in their propaganda filled hate campaigns.

The logo “Alternative for Germany” is visualized as a flashy red arrow resembling the commercial Nike logo. The color red acts as a signaling function and recalls the visual style of electoral propaganda campaigns by other far-right parties (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006; Doerr 2017a).

The German AfD logo signals Nazism breaking away from blue in a red return, invoking “just do it” Nike campaigns.

The known contrast between careful contemplative blue versus the emotional reactionary red in political movements reveals a fundamental pattern in human governance.

Whether deployed as the bright red of revolution, the calculated red of imperialism, or the sanitized red of profitable “neutrality,” this particular color consistently served to either provoke or enable authoritarian impulses. As we witness the rise of populist movements worldwide, especially the return of nativist xenophobic groups such as MAGA, the conscious color choices in governmental spaces and symbols serve as crucial indicators.

The Bundestag’s blue chairs stand as the architectural commitment to reasoned debate, backed by centuries of philosophical and psychological understanding. The persistent use of red by authoritarian movements — from the Nazis to their Swiss enablers to modern extremists — demonstrates how color serves as both a tool and warning sign in the human evolution towards thoughtful rational governance away from rushed extreme emotional manipulation.

The plenary session in the Bundestag in the former Reichstag building, the seat of the German Bundestag, taken on May 31, 2016 in Berlin. The motion to commemorate “the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian minorities” was one of the topics discussed in the Bundestag on June 2, 2016. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa +++(c) dpa – Bildfunk+++ | Use worldwide

Red revolutionary violence (French, Soviet, Chinese)

  • French Revolution (1789-1799)
    • Reign of Terror executions: ~17,000
    • Vendée massacre: ~170,000
    • Total French Revolution deaths: ~500,000-600,000
  • Soviet Red Terror (1917-1953)
    • Great Purge executions (1934-1939): ~1.5 million
    • Induced famine (1932-1933): ~3.9 million
    • Gulag system deaths: ~1.6 million documented
    • Total Stalin-era deaths: 20-25 million estimated
  • Chinese Communist Revolution (1949-1976)
    • Great Leap Forward deaths (1958-1962): 15-55 million
    • Cultural Revolution killings (1966-1976): 1.5-2 million
    • Total Mao-era deaths: 40-80 million estimated

Red imperial power (British Empire)

  • Atlantic slave trade (1500s-1800s): ~3.5 million deaths during transport
  • Indian famines under British rule (1769-1943):
    • Bengal Famine (1769-1773): ~10 million
    • Great Famine (1876-1878): ~5.5 million
    • Bengal Famine (1943): ~3 million
  • Irish Potato Famine (1845-1852): ~1 million deaths
  • Total estimated deaths under British Empire rule: 35-40 million

Red Nazism and false neutrality (German, Austrian, Swiss)

  • Holocaust Jewish victims: ~6 million
  • Total concentration camp deaths: ~11 million
  • Swiss border rejections of Jewish refugees: ~24,500
  • Total World War II deaths: 70-85 million

Red privilege and racist authoritarianism (New England Reds, Red Shirts, Red Summer… MAGA)

  • Colonial slave trade participation (1670s-1800s)
    • Connecticut ports trafficked ~12,000 enslaved people directly
    • New England merchants deeply embedded in triangle trade
    • Yale, Brown, and other universities built with slavery profits
    • Maritime trade routes connected to Caribbean plantations
    • Prestigious New England families’ fortunes tied to slave trade
  • Indigenous displacement (1630s-1770s)
    • 90% population decline of native peoples
    • Pequot War massacres and enslavement (1636-1638)
    • King Philip’s War devastation (1675-1678)
    • Systematic land seizures through “legal” mechanisms
    • Cultural destruction via forced assimilation
    • Disease and starvation from destroyed food systems
  • Industrial militarization (1800s-present)
    • Major arms manufacturers established:
      • Colt (Hartford, CT)
      • Winchester (New Haven, CT)
      • Smith & Wesson (Springfield, MA)
    • Weapons supplied to:
      • Both sides of Civil War
      • American westward expansion
      • International conflicts
      • Domestic civilian market
    • Created massive wealth while enabling violence
    • Established political influence through arms manufacturing
    • Modern defense contractors continue this legacy

Related: MAGA narratives such as “Waving the Red” in large crowds to symbolize “going back” have a specific American history.

2024 white youth display their red hats for the American Republican party campaign to turn back time
2023 Nazis in Orlando, Florida seek attention by wearing red in a political rally to promote the Republican party.
1939 Nazi red banners symbolized the repeal of democracy by a violent race-based dictatorship.

It is a calculated mockery of horrible and deadly tragedy as MAGA-reds loudly signal where and when they want to “go back”…

Red Shirts were often worn by local chapters of what were socially known as “rifle clubs” but were in fact paramilitary groups across the South who worked to intimidate local freedmen and White sympathizers. Red Shirts often gathered at political rallies for candidates like Wade Hampton, or stood at polling places during elections, using intimidation and the threat of violence to prevent local Black residents from voting.

Surely you know this American national “rifle club” reference? Think about who was commandeered into running American guns into 1980s South Africa to prop up apartheid, and then setup domestic chapters to intimidate voters. Perhaps you’ve even seen their merchandise?

The Weight of Knowledge in Times of Strife: Revisiting Virgil’s Famous Line

After thirty years of prowling the data centers of Silicon Valley and watching countless digital conflicts unfold across our bleeding world, I find myself returning, time and again, to that damned line from Virgil: “Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.” Blessed is the one who can know the causes of things.

Hah! If only it were that simple, eh?

You see, what most of us who studied at the London School of Economics miss — as we scurry around with this motto emblazoned on our umbrellas, shirts or scarves — is an exquisite irony of it all. Virgil penned this phrase in his “Georgics” around 29 BC, when the dust of civil war barely had settled on Roman soil. The suffering was still raw, so to speak.

Let’s dissect Book II, lines 490-492 properly:

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas
Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari

Happy is the one able to understand the causes of things, and who casts beneath their feet all fear, inexorable fate, and the roaring depths of river Acheron

The full passage speaks not just of understanding, but of overcoming fear, of putting one foot in front of the other despite an inexorable fate. Having spent decades studying the poetry of civil wars — from Spain to Syria, from the American South to the killing fields of Cambodia — I can tell you this: such knowledge rarely brings forth Virgil’s promised serenity.

Dryden’s attempt in 1697 at a translation — “Happy the Man, who, studying Nature’s Laws, / Thro’ known Effects can trace the secret Cause” — tones it down somewhat, doesn’t it? Makes it all sound rather scientific, almost cheerful. But there’s a cruelty still there, lurking beneath the surface.

When I think of our school’s motto, I can’t help but remember the poets I’ve studied — men and women who wrote amidst their own civil conflicts. They knew the causes all too well, didn’t they? And yet did that knowledge bring anyone any peace? Consider that Virgil himself was writing in the aftermath of Rome’s own devastating civil wars. He knew, perhaps better than most, that understanding the causes of things doesn’t necessarily make us “felix” — fortunate or happy.

The later adaptation — “Felix, qui potest rerum cognoscere causas” — shifts our view to the present tense, making it more immediate, more urgent. But I prefer the original’s past tense. It carries the weight of history, the burden of hindsight that I studied at LSE. It reminds us that true knowledge comes late, always too late.

And what of that final line about the “roaring depths of river Acheron“? The river of those who suffer the most, lost souls hungry to corrupt or disappear ever more to be like them. How many civil war poets have stood at its metaphorical banks, documenting the endless appetite of conflict?

Some of my fellow graduates of LSE might disagree, but I’ve always found it somewhat amusing that we have this as our motto. In my more cynical moments (of which there are many, I assure you), I wonder if it was chosen precisely because of an inherent contradiction to navigate — an impossible promise that gaining understanding will bring the world happiness.

After all these years of study and work in the guts of Big Tech, of parsing through verses written in blood and desperation, I’ve come to believe that Virgil wasn’t making a statement of fact, but rather expressing a desperate hope. A hope that somewhere, somehow, someone might truly understand and find peace in that understanding.

But then again, what do I know? I’m just an old cybersecurity executive who’s spent too many years reading poetry written by those who saw their worlds tear themselves apart.

LSE is Named University of the Year 2025

“Rerum cognoscere causas” – to know the causes of things, taken from Book 2 of Virgil’s Georgics poetry. The full quotation is “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas”.

Big news news from my alma mater. Sources say the award ceremony was delayed by three hours of LSE professors arguing about the best algorithm to determine the most efficient way to accept the trophy:

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide has ranked LSE as the top university in the UK and named the School as its ‘University of the Year 2025’. This is the first time the Good University Guide has awarded LSE the prestigious ‘University of the Year’ title, and the first time we have been ranked number one in the country. […] This fantastic result follows other high rankings in university league tables over the last year. In September 2024, The Guardian placed LSE as the top university in London, and as the best place to study Accounting and Finance. Likewise, the Complete University Guide 2025 named the School as the number one university in the capital.

LSE students are reportedly “cautiously optimistic” about the news, as they’re still trying to calculate the long-term societal and economic impact of celebrating rankings. LSE’s Director, beaming with indignation, announced, “This recognition validates our long-standing belief that if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t matter. And if you can measure it… why? We look forward to quantifying this award in terms of social good. We’re thrilled, of course, but we need to consider the opportunity cost of joy.”

In a final stroke of genius, the LSE administration has decided to commemorate this achievement by commissioning a statue of a giant invisible hand.

Meanwhile, well-appointed representatives from Oxford and Cambridge were spotted in a corner, drowning their sorrows in spiked lukewarm tea. Overheard mutterings included phrases like “patronage failure” and “maybe unresolved bad legacy is bad,” suggesting a dawning realization that rowing prowess and ancient stone blocks carved to resemble elephantine profits from colonialism might not be the best metrics for educational excellence in the 21st century. An anonymous don was heard lamenting, “Perhaps we should have focused more on direct and honest economic models and less on which tie to wear for dinner.”

Another Tesla “Civil War” Cybertruck Destroyed Itself by Crashing Into a Toyota Corolla

Before I get to the Toyota crash, let’s recognize that all the news lately about Cybertruck design failure has centered on a very high profile towing incident, from a social media personality’s durability test.

Allegedly the Cybertruck attempt to pull unstuck another truck, instead completely ripped the back of the Tesla frame off.

Big oops. That’s not going to buff out.

I probably don’t need to say more here about the video because it generated like 5 million views in 2 days.

Yet, I just want to say this hints at how any cheap tow line quietly strapped anywhere to a Cybertruck’s frame… might instantly damage it catastrophically. Who already knew the “apocalypse-ready” road warrior could be defeated by a $50 tow strap and a gentle tug? It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight, except the knife is made of Elon Musk white supremacist Technocracy-grade tinfoil and the gun is… well, just about anything else on wheels.

But hey, maybe the “WankPanzer” is actually a revolutionary self-disassembling vehicle. No need for a junkyard when your truck helpfully falls apart at the slightest provocation. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature that the thing can’t really be used without failure!

Remember everyone, in the race between “extreme survival” and “extreme embarrassment,” this stainless steel folly is breaking land speed records. At this rate, the only thing it has been towing is Tesla’s reputation – straight into the dumpster. But don’t worry, I’m sure there’s a software update coming to fix pesky laws of physics that break everything, even the lowly wiper, when the real world shows up.

A truck that can’t even wipe itself?

This chromed colossus is the ultimate accessory for the discerning dictator-in-training: a $100K bulletproof binky for budding Benitos.

Hear them wail: “Waaaah! The world’s so scary! Quick, Elon, swaddle me in stainless steel! I need my angular armor to fend off the diverse hordes!”

But wait, there’s more! Act now and we’ll throw in a free copy of “Mein Kampf-y Chair” – perfect for those long drives to Cyberstormtroopers rallies setup with xTwitter. Who did Nazi this coming?

Meanwhile, for the second time in just a few months, an inexpensive, simple and efficient Toyota Corolla just permanently wiped another Cybertruck off the road.

Notably I found the crash reported mainly through TikTok. Shocker, right? Turns out, folks prefer their vehicle fails without a side of racist rants and “Civil War 2.0” battle plans. While Elon’s digital hellscape echoes with calls for insurrection, TikTok’s busy showcasing his real-world engineering flop. It’s almost poetic – the “future-proof” truck crumbling on a platform he doesn’t control, while his own social media empire tumbleweeds into irrelevance. Once again proving that not all publicity is good publicity, especially when it comes with a garnish of sedition.

Why is he so weird?

Inevitable? No. Orchestrated.

Far-right American militias pose the greatest threat, and they are predominantly built from the bottom up, by mundane, practical drivers — for instance, as anti-vaccine activists become anti-government activists. There do not appear to be strong links between them and foreign organizations except among white supremacist groups, and even that is mainly online, through propaganda mechanisms…

Online propaganda mechanisms link foriegn funds to American white supremacists? No wonder Musk bought Twitter claiming he had a new “extreme speech” funding model.

Musk’s digital megaphone has been blaring civil war rhetoric for months, echoing suspiciously pro-Kremlin talking points.

They tried so HARD!

Former Russian President Medvedev Predicts U.S. Civil War & Elon Musk Becoming President In 2023

Musk’s Twitter posts seem tailor-made to sow anti-Western, anti-democratic sentiment and potentially incite domestic extremism. In April 2024, Russian military website topwar.ru eagerly amplified Musk’s ominous prediction:

[Dumb stuff Russia says will] cause large-scale civil wars in Western countries. American entrepreneur Elon Musk made such a rather gloomy forecast on his social network account.

The dire forecasts keep missing the mark, but Musk remains undeterred, relentlessly doubling down on his doomsday predictions while undermining public safety.

His track record with predictions is about as reliable as a Cybertruck about to tow something. Remember when he confidently promised Mars walks by 2018 or a million robotaxis by 2020? These weren’t just the musings of a man on a bender; they were projects he claimed were easily achievable under his direct control — yet they disappeared faster than tweets Musk censors when they don’t align with his views.

Musk’s continual prophecies of civil war might turn out to be as accurate as his many promises about the Cybertruck’s durability. False, yet extremely dangerous to prove for many of his followers willing to throw their lives away.

If he can’t even deliver on basic vehicle manufacturing — his supposed area of expertise — how trustworthy are his wild forecasts in fields he knows little about?

Musk’s dog whistle tries to reference 1929 as the rise of Hitler in order to incite racist violence today.

It seems the only thing Musk reliably produces is a deluge of hate speech, violent incitement, dead followers, broken promises and unfulfilled predictions… whether they involve “Mars Technocracy” (read: creating a white ethno-state like apartheid-era South Africa) or trying to inflame societal collapse (read: creating a white ethno-state like apartheid-era South Africa).

Maybe there’s a pattern here… apartheid guy is still trying to apartheid.