Well, North Carolina has a new $1.5 million logo. It’s all part of the rebranding effort that Pat McCrory promised when he came into office. It’s also part of running government like a business.
Logos are subjective but this one’s not that impressive. As the News & Observer points out, it tries to do too much. I couldn’t figure out what the smudge between the letters was at first. Once I saw it was a tree I thought it was ok, but the letters have a cartoony quality that reminds me of a kid’s program like School House Rock. Finally, “Nothing Compares” is a slogan that might be used, but should have been left off the logo.
A logo is not a brand. A brand, in the way McCrory talked about it, is less tangible. It’s more the perception people have of a product or place or public persona. The logo McCrory introduced doesn’t say much. What he and the GOP have done to North Carolina speak volumes.
Before the Republicans took over, North Carolina had a brand. The rest of the country perceived North Carolina as the most enlightened Southern state. It was a place that valued education, welcomed new ideas, discouraged discrimination, had forward thinking business and political leaders, and welcomed industries like banking and technology. Even if, as the Republicans claimed, the state wasn’t really living up to those perceptions, the brand should have been protected and updated.
Instead, the GOP destroyed it. They replaced it with the perception that North Carolina is the leader of a mean-spirited conservative revolution. It’s a state hostile to so-called alternative lifestyles, the creative class, and minorities. They introduced an amendment to discriminate against gay families. They passed laws designed to make voting more difficult for African-Americans and poor people. They enacted the most egregious gerrymander in the nation, limiting democracy while protecting GOP power. They slashed teacher pay, per pupil spending, and began the resegregation of our schools. They cut funding to our vaunted university system and fired a highly competent and well-respected UNC president in a public debacle that caught the attention of the nation. They almost killed the film industry and sent jobs to other Southern states. Instead of touting an educated and well-trained workforce, they’ve focused on cheap labor and low taxes.
And that’s our brand, regardless what the logo looks like. The best designed logo in the world couldn’t change that perception of North Carolina. Where we once were seen as enlightened and welcoming, we’re now viewed as narrow-minded and discriminatory. What’s even more disturbing is that GOP leaders are either in denial about that perception or they think it’s a positive development. I don’t know which is worse, but the damage they’ve done is more long term than short. It’s our children who will pay the price more than us.
The point of this diatribe-Conservatives have no talking points, unless it is name calling or whining and crying. They value nothing but discord, so they can only spread hate and lies. Once they realize they have no argument to make, we watch grown men cry like kindergarteners.
Once again, D.g., you ignore the principles of effective communication. Many of your comments are way too long winded. You seem to be in love with your own prose and just can’t resist the need to lecture others on whatever the issue. And those personal insults you throw in after you’ve finished spouting off don’t enhance your credibility either.
PolySci with a Public Administration Major. But if I “disgust” you, I see no need to continue our conversation. Personal insults do not engender a productive dialogue.
Glad to see you’re back in the fray, D/g. And I understand where your coming from. It’s ok for you and other liberals to hurl slurs and personal insults, but those who disagree with you should bite their tongues and grin and bare it. I just chalk that up to more hypocrisy on your part. Once again, no surprise, just par for the course.
Nothing but vitriolic, mean-spirited slurs aimed at our Governor from the Left. And then liberal pundits bemoan the loss of civility in our politics.
Left wings groups plotted from the outset of his administration to undertake a secret campaign to discredit McCrory and the GOP-led General Assembly. Google Blueprint NC to see excerpts from a memo circulated to liberal nonprofits in NC that described efforts to “weaken our opponents ability to govern by crippling their leaders (McCrory, Tillis and Berger).” This memo was circulated to left wing nonprofits in NC in February, 2013, only one month after McCrory took office.
The memo advocates “crippling” the Governor and legislative leaders with bad press and pressure tactics (such as the Moral Mondays demonstrations). This strategy is obviously still being pursued today through the state’s metropolitan newspapers like the News and Observer and through left wing bloggers like Thomas Mills and liberal commenters on this blog.
It wasn’t my idea to cripple any politician, D.g. The plot apparently started with a liberal consultant who provided a plan to cripple McCrory and the GOP to Progress NC, a radical left wing advocacy group. This occurred less than a month after the Governor took office. Progress NC then gave the plan, in the form of a memorandum, to Blueprint NC, an umbrella nonprofit for other radical left groups in NC.
Blueprint NC then circulated the memo to all of the liberal advocacy nonprofits in the state. But they apparently were a little too ambitious in trying to support the plot. Somebody leaked the memo to the press. Blueprint NC then tried to deny culpability as some of it’s funding sources didn’t approve of this kind of down and dirty politics.
Just Google Blueprint NC and you can read all about. This nasty scheme was so blatant than even the main stream liberal press couldn’t cover it up.
I’ll wait to see if any indictments come down before I express an opinion on your allegations. But, D.g, you’ve determined that Republicans must be guilty before they are ever even indicted, much less found guilty. What a perverse sense of justice you have. The courts shouldn’t let you or any other dogmatic leftists like you serve on a trial jury of those who don’t share your biased opinions.
Sorry, D.g., but I just don’t have the patience to read another one of your long, dogmatic lectures. It you can’t present your comments in a succinct and concise manner, you should assume that I won’t wade through your post.
Hey D.g, the lefties who post here made up their minds long before they read any of my posts. My purpose here is not to change their closed minds (or yours), but to expose liberal hypocrisy and challenge progressive’s tendency to post misinformation and vitriolic personal attacks.
Guess you didn’t fully understand my last post, D.g. I post here to emphasize liberals’ hypocrisy and to point out their resort to personal insults when at a loss for a rational response to a different point of view. And, BTW, you should look up the definition of “sophistry.” Understanding the term could improve your critical thinking skills.
“Lipstick on a pig” does not make it not a pig. McCrory can waste our tax money on new logos, even good ones, which this is not. Won’t change his record, nor that of his cronies and appointees.
Nothing compares to #McCronyism. #PityPat
Nothing Compares to an industry shill governing a state. Pat McCrory is an embarrassment.
The new logo is quite appropriate to express my sentiments. “Nothing compares” to the contempt I feel for the NC General Assembly and Gov. McCrory for what they’ve done to my beautiful state. I am not a North Carolinian by birth but made a deliberate decision to move here 13 years ago because it was the most progressive state in the south. Many times during the past 4 years I’ve wondered if that was a wise decision. “Nothing compares” to the sorrow I feel for the damage that has been done to our public schools (PreK-12), our public university system, our environment, our middle class, our senior citizens, and our working poor. It will take generations to undo the damage they’ve done. My hope is that citizens across this state will be awakened from their sleep and rise up against these extremists in 2016.
Thank you for expressing my feelings so well. We intentionally moved the family (2 retirees and 2 adult children with their families) here in 1995. We loved it here for years, but it is rapidly being destroyed. So Sad. I thought it was heaven on earth.
Proof of global warming: North Carolina is turning into South Carolina.
no need to insult South Carolina….try Mississippi