by Dr. Eowyn
This why “Progressives”, including “woke” corporations like the NFL, are allergic to the American flag and the national anthem.
A study found that just seeing even a small American flag one time shifted both Democrats and Republicans toward the Republican end of the ideological spectrum in beliefs, attitudes, as well as voting intentions and behavior.
The study, “A Single Exposure to the American Flag Shifts Support Toward Republicanism up to 8 Months Later,” by Travis J. Carter (University of Chicago), Melissa J. Ferguson (Cornell University) and Ran R. Hassin (Hebrew University) was published in Psychological Science on July 8, 2011.
Here is the Abstract:
We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.
Ed Yong of Discover magazine has more details on the study.
Experiment #1:
- In the run-up to the 2008 US presidential election, a group of around 200 volunteers were asked them about their political views.
- A month or so later, the volunteers were divided into two groups that were comparable in their political beliefs, voting intentions and other variables.
- Both groups rated how likely they were to vote for either the Democrat Barack Obama or the Republican John McCain on an online questionnaire.
- The questionnaires were identical except for one small detail – in the top left corner of the screen, one group saw a small American flag and the other saw nothing.
- That tiny difference was enough to swing their voting preferences. Those who saw the tiny flag became more likely to vote for McCain than Obama (relative to their answers at the start of the experiment); felt more positive towards Republicans; and showed a small Republican bias in their unconscious atittudes.
- After the election, the volunteers were asked whom they actually voted for. Those who saw the flag were less likely to have voted for Obama than those who didn’t (73% versus 84%). They were also more likely to think that the media were unduly harsh in their treatment of McCain.
- The flag effect lasted for at least 8 months. In July 2009, eight months after the experiment, participants who saw the tiny flag on-screen still showed some Republican bias. They were less happy about Obama’s job performance than their peers, less warm about other Democrat leaders, and even held slightly more conservative views.
Experiment #2:
- In spring of 2010, with Obama a year in power, a new group of 70 volunteers were asked to look at four photographs. Half the people saw buildings with flags in front of them; the others saw photos where the flags had been digitally removed.
- Even though the two groups had the same spectrum of political beliefs beforehand, the flag group shifted towards a Republican worldview after seeing the photos.
Now you know why the Left — Democrats, Progressives, woke capitalists, the media — are allergic and downright hostile to the American flag, national anthem, statues of the Founding Fathers, and patriotism in general.
~Eowyn