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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 31, 2005 Downtown Typical editorial jabber Andrew Scot Bolsinger The emotional power of symbols should never be underestimated. No matter how rational we are, our emotional responses to stimuli in a basic animal nature is powerfully motivated by symbols. For example, in "The E-Myth Revisited," author Michael Gerber explains buying habits of customers. He points to years of research with thousands of consumers and confidently asserts that a salesman in a blue suit will have 20 percent more success that a salesman in a brown suit. Plain and simple. Want to improve your sales? Buy all blue suits. Humans are that powerfully connected to symbols. The American flag is the granddaddy of symbols. Wherever it flies, Old Glory evokes a wellspring of emotion. A distant memory is immediately recalled with startling clarity - like the time in 1984 when I sang the national anthem in front of maybe a thousand or more people in a gymnasium in China - often with the same emotional reaction you experienced back then. But since I moved to Ashland, the symbol of the flag has evolved in new ways for me. As the flags were flown along the boulevard Wednesday, I was reminded of my red, white and blue welcome to what is likely the greenest town in America. I still refer to this incident as the Great Flag Flap of 2003 when I talk to my friends. The truth about the flap has never really been told - until now. Old Glory It's ironic then that my first introduction to Ashland was at the center of the flag flap. I know better. Picking on someone's symbol is like calling them a bad mama. Then again, I didn't have much choice. In July 2003, I had been the editor of this paper for no more than 20 days when I was given the weekend off. After training with a departing editor, this weekend was my last break before I was on my own. Before I left, I heard a little banter about a possible editorial topic dealing with a budding controversy over a teen's desire to have a flag flown on the Willow Wind Learning Center campus. I didn't even know what Willow Wind was at the time. I didn't have strong feelings about the topic. I did however have strong feelings about leaving for my weekend away. While I was out of town, the Ashland Daily Tidings printed an editorial about the merit of the student's desire to fly the flag. The editorial was well written and made a solid case that the flag is first and foremost a symbol of free speech. Those who protest the government can do so because of the freedoms symbolized in Old Glory and therefore shouldn't balk at a flying flag. Three words in the editorial became the fuse of a explosive issue that lingered for months. The author referred to arguments against the flying of the flag as "typical liberal jabber." The ironic thing is that this line was written by one of three of the most liberal people (none of whom, to this day, has taken credit) on the staff. I returned to a firestorm of controversy on Monday, with letters pouring in, demanding my immediate resignation. Several people canceled subscriptions. "Typical liberal jabber" was painted on the sides of newspaper boxes. Coin slots were stuffed full of debris. And the calls. I will never forget the calls. One after another blasting away at me like a pressure washer against old paint. I was stripped clean. Rarely did I have to say a word. Just pick up the receiver and listen in. My response was simple: We stand by our editorial. What else could I do? An editorial represents the opinion of the newspaper, written by one or many people. It does not, or should not, reflect the changing whims of one editor or another, or even one owner or another. It's like a legal decision, a guidepost of thought that the paper adheres to. Whether I wrote it or even agreed with it was not important. Defending the newspaper's right to its opinion was very important. I was interviewed by Sneak Preview, who butchered my comments to make me fit the profile many built for me. When I confronted the author on the inaccuracies he told me he was doing, "gonzo" journalism - effectively deciding what you will write, then "reporting" to get the stuff you need to make your point. I was interviewed live by Lars Larson, who cut me off after about three minutes when I failed to live up to the stereotype he built for the "author" of the editorial. And I was interviewed, or grilled, by readers who wondered who in the hell had come to Ashland to run this newspaper. Most were more angry when I wouldn't tell them if I had written the editorial or not. Finally, at last, the issue faded, or so I thought. A year later I never fully grasped how much public opinion, for at least one segment of readers, was crafted by the Great Flag Flap of 2003. It was more than a year later when the fuzzy lens I had viewed it through became a bit more clear. In a store downtown, I bumped into a delightful woman. She didn't recognize me and we talked about a variety of topics. A couple of days later we spoke some more. And again, a couple of days later. Then one time I met her and she looked at me differently. "You are the editor of the paper," she asked? My secret was out. I said yes. "You aren't what I expected," she said in a response I had come to expect. A few awkward moments of conversation I could see the confusion in her eyes. I saw the elephant in the room and decided to mention it. "The 'typical liberal jabber' thing," I said. "YES!" she said with great enthusiasm. "Why would you write that?" "I didn't," I said simply. "What?!" I explained briefly that I had been out of town. "Why would you let people think what they did about you," she asked. "They thought what they wanted to think," I said. "I decided to show people who I am, rather than tell them." That wasn't good enough for her, bless her heart. She said she would tell "everyone" what I really was like (though I am still not sure from our limited conversation she had much more to tell). Flags flying Almost another year has past. The powerful symbol of Old Glory continues to stir among the people of Ashland. Because it had been awhile between official flag-flying days, the Kiwanis busted out the Stars and Stripes on Wednesday. The red, white and blue flapped colorfully over the green meridian grass for no apparent reason other than Kiwanis members wanted to show support. The last time Kiwanis tried to fly them - Memorial Day - vandals had attempted to fill the slots with cement. Kiwanis volunteer Don Paul said Wednesday presented no problems. "We've been trying to do it for awhile," Paul said, "and the weather's been bad, so we thought, 'hey, we've got a chance to put them up.'" Paul says the flags are an important fundraiser for the Kiwanis but the negative reaction by some has not hurt the group at all. After the Memorial Day vandalism, one person joined the group because of its flag efforts, Paul said. That's what the symbols do to us. Though the Great Flag Flap of 2003 is now little more than a good party story about my introduction to Ashland, the power of the symbol is not lost. To some it is freedom. To some it is the very embodiment of America. To others, its something far less to be proud of. To me the flag is a comforting constant - a reminder of singing in communist China in the 80s, a reminder of Ashland turmoil and a reminder of my growing appreciation for America as I taught high school civics for four years. But beyond the symbol the flag represents freedom to be individuals, to express a wide disparity of opinion and to tolerate the very different people who live and have lived under those stars and stripes. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms Homeschooling Tatoos student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Fasa Student Loans Tatoo Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams