NationStates Jolt Archive

An interesting fact about modern day Israel's politics.

We're going through what many call a "color war". The main issue is the coming disengagement from Gaza, and both the supporters and the opponents of the plan adopted certain colors as symbols of their cause. The anti-disengagement camp uses the color orange, the disengagement supporters are using the color blue. It's gotten to a rather ridiculous point when anyone wearing one of these colors is automatically identified as having the respective political views; merely walking around in an orange T-shirt or with a blue backpack on your back can draw you into political arguments with totally random people. (I am in a double trouble with it: my security guard uniform is white with orange linings, and blue is one of my preferred colors in my "civilian" clothes.)

Some businesses deliberately draped their stores in orange or blue to attract customers. Others, on the contrary, would love to stay away from political games but they can't. For example, one of the biggest cell phone networks in Israel is called Orange, and naturally they use orange for all their adverts. Their main competitor, Pelephone, uses...yep, you guessed it, the color blue. Workers of both companies have quite a trouble distributing their advertising leaflets in the streets because of getting confused with those distributing political propaganda.

Moreover, orange has been the color of the Arab party BALAD for years, and they are now threatening to sue the anti-disengagement protestors for infringing on their "freedom of speech and assembly". Blue, being the color of the blue-and-white Israeli flag, was traditionally used by the two leading political parties- the right-wing Likud and the left-wing Labor.

Seriously, when I think about it, what colors are still safe to wear?

Orange and blue are pro-and anti-disengagement.

Green is the color of the extreme left wing MERETZ party AND of the extreme right wing movement "Women in Green".

Black is the color of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Red is the color of the Communists.

Brown is associated with fascism (the brownshirts and all).



Do I have to wear yellow and purple? :eek:

I knew a guy who did. Purple suit and Yellow shirt and tie.

Really.

I saw it.

True as I sit here.

An interesting fact about modern day Israel's politics.

We're going through what many call a "color war". The main issue is the coming disengagement from Gaza, and both the supporters and the opponents of the plan adopted certain colors as symbols of their cause. The anti-disengagement camp uses the color orange, the disengagement supporters are using the color blue. It's gotten to a rather ridiculous point when anyone wearing one of these colors is automatically identified as having the respective political views; merely walking around in an orange T-shirt or with a blue backpack on your back can draw you into political arguments with totally random people. (I am in a double trouble with it: my security guard uniform is white with orange linings, and blue is one of my preferred colors in my "civilian" clothes.)

Some businesses deliberately draped their stores in orange or blue to attract customers. Others, on the contrary, would love to stay away from political games but they can't. For example, one of the biggest cell phone networks in Israel is called Orange, and naturally they use orange for all their adverts. Their main competitor, Pelephone, uses...yep, you guessed it, the color blue. Workers of both companies have quite a trouble distributing their advertising leaflets in the streets because of getting confused with those distributing political propaganda.

Moreover, orange has been the color of the Arab party BALAD for years, and they are now threatening to sue the anti-disengagement protestors for infringing on their "freedom of speech and assembly". Blue, being the color of the blue-and-white Israeli flag, was traditionally used by the two leading political parties- the right-wing Likud and the left-wing Labor.

Seriously, when I think about it, what colors are still safe to wear?

Orange and blue are pro-and anti-disengagement.

Green is the color of the extreme left wing MERETZ party AND of the extreme right wing movement "Women in Green".

Black is the color of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Red is the color of the Communists.

Brown is associated with fascism (the brownshirts and all).



Do I have to wear yellow and purple? :eek:

Okay, so you're dealing with 'colors' being used by Political groups, at least you aren't dealing with street-gangs. Black goes with everything, so it's probably 'safe' in most areas, you could try wearing white, or just mix-and pick and tell people bringing up politics that "I don't care, I'm wearing the damn colour because I LIKE IT, take your gawdawful politics and find someone else to play with."

If you say it loudly enough, it should be sufficient to clear the room.

It gets worse. Not only do the anti-disengagement have orange as their colour, but when the pro-disengagement chose blue and white (the colours of Israel) the anti-disengagements said that it was as much their country as the pro group. So now you have people with orange, people with blue and white, and people with orange, blue and white. :p

It's gotten to a rather ridiculous point when anyone wearing one of these colors is automatically identified as having the respective political views; merely walking around in an orange T-shirt or with a blue backpack on your back can draw you into political arguments with totally random people.

Very very true. My track marshall shirt, the one I wear to my karting competitions is orange. Whilst walking down the train stations platform in said shirt.... well lets just say that if looks could kill, I wouldn't be here writing this right now.

I'd wear orange and blue together, mixed in with a bit of white. I have an awful taste in color, but orange and blue don't clash that horribly. It should at least shut up anyone bringing up politics.

Incidentally, around here there were two companies, Mannesmann and Vodafone, the latter of which was attempting a takeover of the former. For weeks and weeks, whole pages in the newspaper were covered with Blue (the Vodafone logo) or Orange (the Mannesmann logo) ads asking the reader respectively to "sell their Mannesmann stocks" and "Do nothing". Ironically, most of these ads were printed right next to each other on opposing pages of the newspaper.

Needless to say, the takeover happened and was announced by a large ad in orange-blue! :D

Aeruillin, as stated in my above post, that too would be a bad call, as you'd be seen as an anti-disengagement person;)

I'd wear orange and blue together, mixed in with a bit of white.
And get the flak from both sides? No thanks ;)

just wear one of those hippy oil painting T-shirts.
All the colours of the rainbow, (should confuse the fuckers :p )

-snip-
- Pink
- Rainbows
- Green with White Writing
- Camouflage
the list goes on... :D

- Pink
- Rainbows
- Green with White Writing
- Camouflage
the list goes on... :D

Pink is NOT a manly color and I won't wear it even at gunpoint.

Green is a political color here as I've explained above.

Rainbow- are you kidding? It is the symbol of the gay pride movement, how can it NOT be political?

Camouflage- you want me to be confused for a Palestinian policeman???

go out only wearing a :D

Wear khaki. And beige. Has to have a German flag on at least one shoulder to be cool.

-snip-
I was joking, my friend...but at least if you wear pink or a rainbow, and get beaten up, you can claim Homophobia...

White, maybe?

Wear khaki. And beige. Has to have a German flag on at least one shoulder to be cool.
You'll probably get a few weird looks in Israel...

DAMNIT!

...someone already mentioned the Rainbow... ;_;

Blue and white is the pro-disengagement people.

You'll probably get a few weird looks in Israel...
Be a rebel. Actually, my combat jacket has a Dutch flag on the shoulder, but I used to have a German one.

As always, Nudism is the answer then!

How about going Naked?

As always, Nudism is the answer then!

NO! Black! Black is the new black!

Yellow and white seem not to be taken yet. So does cyan, unless that looks too close to blue of course.

Also, I admit that when I suggested orange-blue, I was assuming basic common sense to tell people that if one is wearing both colors, one obviously does not show affinity for either of them. Never assume common sense, especially not where political partisans are concerned.

Edit: Or you could go with the American flag. Mmmh... will that make people think you're anti-disengagement (Bush doesn't seem so fond of disengagement) or a pro-disengagement communist? :p

How about going Naked?
And strolling through a religious neighborhood? Yes, that is a guaranteed way to not offend anyone :D

-snip-
Why don't you go to Palestine? There you know what to wear and what not to.
And you could make good money if you have an education. They'll have a lot of cleaning up and developing to do in the next few years (if this whole business goes ahead as planned)

Why don't you go to Palestine? There you know what to wear and what not to.
And wearing the wrong thing might get you shot. No thanks. I like that star of David on a silver chain hanging from my neck.


And you could make good money if you have an education. They'll have a lot of cleaning up and developing to do in the next few years (if this whole business goes ahead as planned)
Why should I contribute to their unemployment by taking jobs away, pray tell?

Meh, you are a picky one too, aren't you? ;)
What about Silver or Gold?

Meh, you are a picky one too, aren't you? ;)
What about Silver or Gold?

That'd be a bit hard to walk in.

Wheat coloured all natural fibres without colouring maybe?

An interesting fact about modern day Israel's politics.

We're going through what many call a "color war". .....It's gotten to a rather ridiculous point when anyone wearing one of these colors is automatically identified as having the respective political views; merely walking around in an orange T-shirt or with a blue backpack on your back can draw you into political arguments with totally random people.

We went (and are still going through) something similar in Zimbabwe, The Ruling Party uses the symbol of the closed fist as one their logos, implying revolution and anti colonialism, while the opposition took as their symbols the open hand for transparency and a red card - foot ball style - indicating that the government should be ejected for playing rough, people now no longer way goodbye, in case the regeme's hardline followers see it and beat you up, and for a while wearing red was a no-no, it is considered bad manners now by most people to thrust you fist in the air - say when your football team wins.

I suppose the most exteme case of symbolism being hijacked is the swastica, which is unusable in Europe now, dispite being a perfectly ligitimate sign of faith and religous feeling in Christianity, hinduism and budhism.

I suppose the most exteme case of symbolism being hijacked is the swastica, which is unusable in Europe now, dispite being a perfectly ligitimate sign of faith and religous feeling in Christianity, hinduism and budhism.
The Nazis had also distorted the swastika by rotating it 45 degrees, I believe, and by changing the color. I think the Indian swastika is usually painted as golden.

They also hijacked the word "Aryan", which, if anthropologically correct, would actually be more applicable to the Gypsies than to the Germans.

The Nazis had also distorted the swastika by rotating it 45 degrees, I believe, and by changing the color.

And reversing it, I think.

But the closed fist/open hand thing in Zimbabwe is even worse. I guess you could avoid partisanship in Israel by wearing a color not claimed by any group. But how do you walk around having your hand neither closed nor opened?

It takes a real man to wear pink. Well, and not end up a bloody mess, there were those stabbings at the pride parade in Isreal. Nutjobs. I did see a guy wearing a pink shirt here in town, I'm from a small town in Indiana so to see a man wearing pink is a bit odd. It had written on there "Go ahead, keep laughing, it's your girlfriend's shirt." Which I thought quite clever.

-snip-
The rotation thing is true, but it doesn't have to be any colour. It's often used as just a decoration in fences and carvings in China for example.

And the Aryan thing has to do with the Indogermanic peoples. There was a real Aryan people (and still is), but those live in India and have no idea about Jews...
I guess it was mainly to differentiate themselves as "indogermanic" from the "semitic" peoples. Not that there would be a difference after about 5000 years of living together...

And reversing it, I think.

But the closed fist/open hand thing in Zimbabwe is even worse. I guess you could avoid partisanship in Israel by wearing a color not claimed by any group. But how do you walk around having your hand neither closed nor opened?

Walk around flipping everyone off? Though that may not be the best way to avoid fights.

It takes a real man to wear pink. Well, and not end up a bloody mess, there were those stabbings at the pride parade in Isreal. Nutjobs. I did see a guy wearing a pink shirt here in town, I'm from a small town in Indiana so to see a man wearing pink is a bit odd. It had written on there "Go ahead, keep laughing, it's your girlfriend's shirt." Which I thought quite clever.
Heh, clever indeed.

Walk around flipping everyone off? Though that may not be the best way to avoid fights.

I always carried a bag or books - looked nerdy - to avoid those situations

I have just been struck by Genius!!!

Wrap yourself in the Israeli flag! Who's gonna be able to hate you then?