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Julius Caesar was assassinated for wearing red boots. Barrack Obama was lambasted for wearing a tan suit. Purple is associated with royalty, white is associated with clergy, and gold is associated with superiority. Red and Blue have powerful meanings in America, and so does Green. Which colour is the most political in your opinion?

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[–] 24_at_the_withers@lemmy.world 36 points 2 months ago (3 children)

77% of national flags contain red.

...Which is a bit disturbing because it is generally used to refer to bloodshed or might in battle - partially in a "let's honor the past" sort of way, but mostly in a "don't fuck with us" sort of way.

[–] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Fun fact: the flag of Jamaica is the only country flag which has neither red, white or blue.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago

The old flag of Lybia fit that category as well.

[–] BackOnMyBS@lemmy.autism.place 10 points 2 months ago

During the Golden Age of Piracy, pirates would fly a red flag to communicate no quarter. That meant that if anyone decided to fight back would be killed because they were not taking prisoners.

Imagine being a miserable English sailor months from home, broke af, and hungry, when you're out in the ocean about to head back and you see this pulling up:

☠️ TIME TO MOTHERFUCKIN DIE ☠️

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 4 points 2 months ago

On the flip side, red is also commonly used to represent love and passion.

[–] ambitious_bones@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago

Red. It is used and associated with countless movements, flags, banners, all across the political spectrum.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Red is associated with social democracy, socialism, communism in most countries; almost only in the US is it the color of the conservative party.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago

Just like most common standards, the US decided to go full ham and use their own.

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Which was basically a coincidence of one close election night and the TV networks trying to act objective. Parties don’t have official colors in the U.S. and every network was using red, white, and blue for their maps. To use red for Democrats would have implied a connection to communism and white was obviously for states without results yet. So, they all, independently, chose blue for Democrats, red for Republicans, and white for states whose polls hadn’t closed.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago (36 children)

Purple is probably the only one that I’m aware of on your list where there’s a legit logic behind it, since dyes used to be harder to come by

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[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Black has the most universal meaning of solidarity, seriousness, mourning, and formality across cultures and peoples.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 6 points 2 months ago

Japanese budhist monks use black for their clothes as it simbolizes purity, or as black being the most pure color. In very few instances, they may wear purple or gold, but that's due status and a latter addition.

In a funeral, only the deceased would wear white, I don't remember why though, but for a while wearing white was in bad taste.

Wearing all black is also common for the Catholic clergy, and for a long time most brides used black for their wedding dress: https://kentuckykindredgenealogy.com/2014/12/13/history-of-the-black-wedding-dress/

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 months ago

Probably purple because of how historically inaccessible it was

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Not a single color, but in Chinese tradition there were five colors of equal political significance corresponding to the Wuxing cycle of changes—black, red, cyan, white, and yellow. Each dynasty was associated with a color (with other associated traits), and was expected to be followed by one of two other colors (depending on whether the succession would be orderly or revolutionary).