Jesusland map
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The Jesusland map is an Internet meme satirizing the red state vs. blue state divide, created very shortly following the 2004 United States Presidential election. It has been cited throughout American and global media since its creation.
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[edit] Origin
The original image was created on November 3, 2004 by G. Webb, a poster on yakyak.org, an Internet message board for fans of the work of Jeff Minter (see the original discussion). Its creation has been incorrectly attributed to many different individuals, most notably Michael Moore.
[edit] Geography
The meme is in the form of a map of North America which depicts a new hypothetical national border between the United States and Canada. The "blue states" from the 2004 election have been merged with Canada to form a single nation, which is labeled the "United States of Canada". The remaining "red states" are labeled as "Jesusland". Some view the map as a humorous, cynical, or even bigoted commentary on the cultural and political divide within the United States; others have labeled themselves proud to be from one "nation" or the other.
The map's appearance highlights the fact that the "red states" in the lower 48 are all contiguous with one another, whilst the "blue states" are also contiguous when combined with Canada. Adding the Canadian province of Alberta, which usually leans the most conservative among the provinces, to "Jesusland" does not break the contiguity of either "country" (see below).
[edit] Variations
Similar maps give different labels to the geographically separated blue states. The northeastern states are referred to as "Eastern Realitania", "Northeastistan", "Western France", or "New America"[1]; the central blue states near the Great Lakes are labeled "Central Realitania" or "Minniwillinois"; and the blue states along the Pacific Coast are called "Western Realitania", "Pacificstan", "Southern Canada" or "Baja Canada" (with Hawaii being separately labeled "The Tropic of Canada"). Another has chosen the overall name "Realistan". The red states in these variant maps are called "Jesusistan", "Redstateistan", "Redneckistan"[2], the "United States of Evangelicals,"[3] "the United State of Texas", or in the most extreme case, "Dumbfuckistan" (referenced by a December 18, 2004 TV Funhouse cartoon on Saturday Night Live [4]). Some maps purport to show a capital city of Crawford, Texas, the home of U.S. President George W. Bush. One map shows Alaska as having been returned to Russia. A popular variation of the map pokes fun at the political divide in Canada by including Alberta, which tends to vote conservative in Canadian elections, in "Jesusland". Some conservative versions replace "Jesusland" with "God's Country" or the "United States of Bad Asses"[5], or refer to the "United States of Canada" as "Godless Communists," "Douchebagistan," or the "People's Republic of West France."
Also the divide between the Mexican northern and southern states is shown by expanding Jesusland to Mexico, and stressing the strong political left in the southern Mexican states. Some people could even stress the overwhelmingly leftist population in Mexico City, calling it "People's Republic of Mexico City".
[edit] Analysis
Critics of the Jesusland map, and of the concept of the red state vs. blue state divide in general, have pointed out that the actual electoral map is in fact mostly "purple", containing a mixture of support for both parties (and therefore by comparison, both cultural outlooks) which rarely exceeds 65% towards either side in any given location, and that some exit polls exaggerated the depth of adherence to the issues, creating a mistaken impression of the public's motivations. In addition, in most states (especially in most of the swing states, but also even in some solidly "red" or "blue" states), a large urban rural split or geographic split exists in which one side tilts one way and another part the other way.
They also point out that it generally ignores political and cultural divides in Canada, which is not a monolithic bloc of opinion, and in fact actually has many political regions. (Although the Liberal Party of Canada dominated the parliaments elected between 1993 and 2004, Alberta and other parts of Western Canada continue to share many cultural similarities with the "red states", namely by voting for conservative parties that support Republican-style values.) In addition, Quebec is often seen as a place in itself or "distinct society", with few similarities to either the red or blue states. This is because the struggle over the "National Question" (Sovereignty vs. Federalism), dominates the political discourse. (Curiously enough, Quebec, unlike the American blue states, has not yet been satirically called "Western France", despite its very liberal voting patterns and other more obvious reasons.)
The map may have become somewhat less relevant after the 2006 Canadian federal election which elected the Conservative Party of Canada to power, a center-right party that could be considered by some to be more ideologically similar to the "Jesusland" Republicans than the "Blue State" Democrats.
Furthermore, the Jesusland map is a combination of three areas of the United States which actually are highly divergent in terms of religious support: the Midwest (which has a high degree of religious diversity), the Rocky Mountain states (which has a high percentage of non-churchgoers), and the traditional "Bible Belt" states of the American South.
[edit] See also
- Red state vs. blue state divide
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities
- Canada and the 2004 U.S. presidential election
- Reality-based community
- Soviet Canuckistan
- Nine Nations of North America
- The Day America Told the Truth
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