Andy Rutledge, an A-Blogger who just lost my respect
Filed under: Politics
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For a very long time I have been a great fan of Andy Rutledge. His design articles are highly inspiring and extremely well written. I particularly enjoy his 'reduxes' where he redesigns an existing site in order to improve the user interface and overall experience. His latest 'redux' however has completely put me off and made me want to respond. Since Andy has chosen to not allow any commenting on his articles I have no choice but to write my response here on my blog.
Andy's latest 'redux' is a 'redesign' of the United States government portal. I believe Mr. Rutledge has just done something both ignorant as well as flat out career damaging. In his latest redux he has redesigned the US goverment portal in true soviet style following a possible victory of Senator Barack Obama in the race for the next US presidency. While I actually quite like the design he created (I'm a big fan of Soviet propaganda artwork style even though I don't agree with the idealism) I am pretty much disgusted by the political message he's trying to convey.
Mister Rutledge is comparing Senatar Obama's political views to both communism and fascism. Two ideologies that are about 180 degrees different from eachother! Not hindered by ANY kind of knowledge of what communism or fascist ideologies actually MEAN in practice, Andy has abused his high profile blogger reputation to broadcast a message of zealotism, ignorance and slander addressed to Senator Barack Obama who happens to be the first US presidential candidate ever whom I find inspiring and who gives me a bit of hope for the United States and the staggering amount of citizens there that aren't part of the upper class. Doing something for the slightly less fortunate isn't the same as being a communist Andy and it certainly isn't the same as being a fascist.
Andy's mockup is a zealotism packed piece of work, stating that pro-choice would be a bad thing, that wasting truckloads of money on arms is a good things, that global warming is a hoax (!!!!!) and that it's a bad thing to have the rich pay a bit more tax than the poor. I'm moving to the USA myself soon and I guess I can be classified as 'among the rich' but I really don't care if I'm gonna pay a bit more tax than a person who is busting his/her ass 12 hours a day for a couple of bucks an hour trying to make enough money to support their family. Honestly, I really, REALLY don't care. Mister Rutledge apparently does. While I am hovering between agnosticism and atheism myself I suppose for mister Rutledge I kind of hope I'm dead wrong and the Christian God actually exist. If he does I'm sure he'll pay the bill then in the afterlife for supporting raping our planet and benefiting the rich over the poor. Did you know Jesus completely and utterly despised the attitude you're displaying in your article?
Andy, I suggest you spend some time reading on what communist and fascist ideologies actually mean before you make a fool out of yourself on your blog. You may actually gain some valuable insights in the process!
At 22 September '08 - 15:11 Pam wrote:
At 23 September '08 - 06:05 Daniel Marino wrote:
I know you said you liked his redesign, but I would just leave it at that. Appreciate the artwork and put politics aside.
On another note, and I’m not saying what side I’m on politically, but both liberals and conservatives are guilty at taking pot shots at the other side.
At 23 September '08 - 06:40 Marco wrote:
In fact to be honest I kinda wrote this as a ‘comment’, since the original posting doesn’t allow any comments. As you’ll be able to see when visiting Andy’s page again, some others were a lot less ‘civil’ in their response than I was.
I didn’t want to just say I like the redesign. In that case I wouldn’t have posted. It would even possibly be interpreted as me approving with it’s message if I would have done that.
I stand firmly behind this post really even though I realize it’s fairly emotional. I do feel quite strongly about the future of humanity, that’s why really. I don’t think I crossed any lines in terms of common decency like I’ve seen happening in other people’s reactions to his post.
If someone writes a strongly colored article it’s to be expected that there will be reactions, even if you disallow commenting on it.
At 23 September '08 - 06:54 Pam wrote:
Did I miss a part of this article that was over emotional or over excited? I think not.
I think Daniel what Marco was trying to say is that an A List Blogger such as the person mentioned should not use his status or his massive RSS to throw political views around the web.
Also if the A List Blogger does decide to do that he should at least fact check and try to remember or even research the words he is using such as socialist, fascist, or communist.
At 23 September '08 - 17:32 Daniel Marino wrote:
I’m not saying we should all sit around a camp fire and start singing “Kumbaya” – all I was implying is that as designers, we should should just appreciate the design for what it is and not get worked up over politics.
At 24 September '08 - 00:26 Marco wrote:
At 24 September '08 - 04:39 lup4lz wrote:
We are probably not getting the joke.
He cannot possibly be serious, I will just ignore the guy this time and keep his blog in my feeds. If it then turns out to be his real world view, I wouldn’t want more of this crap littering my inbox. Unsubscribe is just a click away and there are plenty of very talented design bloggers out there thanks.
At 24 September '08 - 04:55 Daniel Marino wrote:
At 24 September '08 - 14:50 Marco wrote:
Then you say it’s justified because there are millions of others who share his views… How does that make it justified to use a design exercise for political propaganda purposes? Please explain because I do not understand. If he would have wrote a plain and simple manifest about what he thinks about Obama I wouldn’t have written this post probably.
Finally: I’m sorry but this is not a valid argument in any way either. It’s just like saying ok let’s look past the holocaust and appreciate the fact that the nazi’s introduced highways and helped the US fly to the moon. If you re-read the article you’ll see it’s more about bashing senator Obama than it is about design. It’s for that reason that I think it’s rubbish and the quality of the design doesn’t really matter anymore after that realization.
At 24 September '08 - 14:50 Pam wrote:
Why should you have to look past anything if you do not agree? Looking past things does not solve a problem, even if it is just you who feels it is a problem.
@lup4lz
Sorry dear not a joke, Republican mentality
At 25 September '08 - 23:52 Matthijs wrote:
Everybody is entitled his political opinion. But I just can’t believe an intelligent person like him wrote down what he posted. That’s just frightening.
Really, it’s OK if a republican ideology suits him better. But if what he wrote down is really something he believes, it displays a frightening lack of understanding on common ideologies and politics.
At 29 September '08 - 07:50 Tom wrote:
While many of us blog about things that are related to our work on our personal blogs, I feel like Andy hasn’t created enough separation between his personal and professional aspects here. I find that disappointing.
At 13 October '08 - 18:52 Chris wrote:
I enjoyed some of his writings, but i don’t think i will read it the same way again.
At 05 November '08 - 14:25 Adam wrote:
If you’ve checked his site today, he is apparently not only an extremist, but is a ‘fair weather american’ as well: http://www.andyrutledge.com/
I’m sad that I had to sift through all of his preachy writings to learn something about design when I should have been learning from someone like Jason Beaird or Khoi Vinh in the first place.
At 05 November '08 - 21:23 Colin wrote:
That’s pathetic. That’s divisive. We don’t need that crap anymore.
At 13 November '08 - 14:09 Clayton wrote:
Andy’s political views are of no concern to me: it is of course his Democratic and First Amendment right (a word he should probably look-up) to speak freely and place his beliefs, wherever he so chooses. Perhaps, if his posts were rational – and not in the Randian, I just stepped off a boat from post-communist Russia, bullshit way, a stink that seems to permeate his overly arrogant articles – people would actually listen.
At 15 January '09 - 07:48 Chris Lamb wrote:
I think history has proven that intelligent and creative people can sometimes have ideologies we find disturbing. It upsets us when we have admired their talents.
With reference to the Andy “redux” – If you choose to use words and iconography – you have to accept the consequences. Unfortunately, as a non US citizen but familiar with the country, a lot of US citizens interpret “Communism” and “Fascism” in a way we – in Europe – find both naive and rather simplistic. (I know I may be criticised for saying that). I believe you are based in America – please allow my use of “we” not to imply “you” too!
I think that what you are trying to do in highlighting the corruption, as you see it, of branding Obama a Communist simply for being more social in his ideology – is fair. Especially since I agree with you! I am a European, however, and have found that even trying to point out the errors in such arguments as Andy uses results in you being called a Commie, too! You frequently just can’t win against a closed mind.
Obama clearly is not a Communist in any sensible interpretation of the term. And he most certainly is no fascist – that is quite bizarre! Just remember a lot of people with this mindset will have to stand by their oddball, mud-slinging jingoism. Look at what happened to George W – and how righteous and vicious many of his supporters originally were. Where are they all now? Only the loony fringes now believe the nonsense which was spouted and facts which we were all bombarded with.
But “we” certainly ain’t perfect in Europe either!!! Which is why so many of our ancestors went to America in the first place
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