CPAC Stage Designer ‘Fesses Up

CPAC Stage Designer ‘Fesses Up

CPAC Stage Designer ‘Fesses Up

During CPAC in Orlando last week, the Twitter mob flew into a frenzy about the “Nazi” stage design that the group was using. Supposedly the stage took the shape of the “Odal rune,” a Norse symbol that some members of the Nazi party used on their uniforms.

The Anti-Defamation League has also classified the rune as a “Neo-Nazi” or “hate” symbol.

Hyatt Hotels, which hosted the event, went into typical corporate cower mode, and issued this statement:

“We take the concern raised about the prospect of symbols of hate being included in the stage design at CPAC 2021 very seriously as all such symbols are abhorrent and unequivocally counter to our values as a company.”

Translation: We’ll say anything you want! It wasn’t our fault! Just don’t hate us! Pleeeease! 

Actress Alyssa Milano — who at this point has said nothing about Andrew Cuomo — accused the Hyatt of “hosting Nazis.”

Well, well, well. Turns out that all that hysteria went to waste. That’s because Design Foundry, the Maryland company that CPAC hired to design the stage, took responsibility:

“ . . .had no idea that the design resembled any symbol, nor was there any intention to create something that did.”

The American Conservative Union, which sponsored CPAC, approved the design. And, according to Design Foundry, it was “intended to provide the best use of space, given the constraints of the ballroom and social distancing requirements.” Plus, according to contract, CPAC had no right to change or dismantle the stage since the firm owned all rights.

What’s more, Design Foundry has worked with CPAC for several years. However, Ian Walters, director of ACU communications, said that they would no longer be working with the company.

“ACU and CPAC have no interest in promoting antisemitism from our stage, whether it’s what happens on the stage or the design of the stage itself. It’s clear that the company we retained designed a stage that has become an unwelcome distraction. As a result, we will not be using that company’s services going forward at future events.”

Plus, ACU general counsel David Savafian fired back at Hyatt’s cowardly response:

“Contrary to Hyatt’s own mission statement of inclusivity, your company just attacked its own customer by caving into the pressures of the politically motivated social media agitators who seek to destroy CPAC, our attendees and speakers from across the country, and the millions of Americans who support our work.”

But there’s more to the story. There’s always more when it comes to politics, isn’t there?

Yashar Ali, who writes for New York Magazine and HuffPost, knows the owner of Design Foundry. She’s quite liberal, he tweeted:

1. I know Design Foundry because they handle design for many events in DC for companies like MSNBC & Target. They oversaw the design for the Biden Cancer Summit in 2018. The owner, Annie, is very liberal and was so excited for Biden’s victory. Great work conspiracy theorists.

He continued in a thread:

2. Also worth noting that many of her employees are liberal So many of you decided to go after something without any reporting or knowledge about who was responsible for the design And before you ding her for working for CPAC, you try having an events business during a pandemic.

3. An event design company thats coming up with a stage design does nothing to help CPAC or elevate its status in any way. What it does do is keep people in the event business employed during a pandemic which has destroyed businesses and jobs.

4. And none of you will admit you got it wrong or apologize because in your minds it means you’re caving into Trump. Now an event company, which is a liberal owned and run small business, is associated with a horrific allegation that is based on conspiracies and no evidence.

Finally this liberal Jewish man:

Can progressives just stop with their Nazi fantasies? After all, if you look hard enough, you can find Nazi symbols in the strangest places. Some conspiracy theorists point out that the runways at Denver International Airport are arranged in a swastika shape.

Even clothing racks in department stores look like they belonged in the Third Reich, according to some people.

CPAC/Nazi symbols

Screenshot: Accidentally Racist/reddit.

But just because something looks Nazi! doesn’t mean that it is.

So progressives on Twitter beclowned themselves in their hysteria to paint CPAC attendees as Nazis. Then again, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The old adage from the late Charles Krauthammer explains it all:

“To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.”

But everything is stupid these days. Who had “Nazi stage design” on their Bingo card last weekend, anyway?

 

Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Featured image: Hans-Michael Tappen/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. 

Written by

Kim is a pint-sized patriot who packs some big contradictions. She is a Baby Boomer who never became a hippie, an active Republican who first registered as a Democrat (okay, it was to help a sorority sister's father in his run for sheriff), and a devout Lutheran who practices yoga. Growing up in small-town Indiana, now living in the Kansas City metro, Kim is a conservative Midwestern gal whose heart is also in the Seattle area, where her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live. Kim is a working speech pathologist who left school system employment behind to subcontract to an agency, and has never looked back. She describes her conservatism as falling in the mold of Russell Kirk's Ten Conservative Principles. Don't know what they are? Google them!

15 Comments
  • i thought liberals hated jews, if thats the case whats the problem with nazi’s then? asking for a friend…

  • Hate_me says:

    Isn’t that the shape of one of the toasted oat pieces in Lucky Charms?

    I never really cared for the marshmallows.

  • GWB says:

    The thing is that probably every single shape/symbol has been co-opted by someone in the past. “You must give up circles and squares and triangles FOREVER! Yeeeaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!” I mean, the swastika isn’t even original with the NAZIs – it’s originally a Hindu symbol (and not an evil one). The Roman Catholics have to deal with voodoo/santeria co-opting their saints. Christians have to deal with Progs co-opting … just about everything, including Jesus. (The Muslims co-opted Jesus, too.)

    If we had to abandon everything that had ever been co-opted by evil, we’d all have to die. After all, I’m sure evil has co-opted eating and living in caves at some point.

    Our answer to cancellers must echo the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn, “Go away, boy, you bother me.

  • John C. says:

    If you look for ANYthing, you will find it. That does not mean that the reason it is there is the reason you THINK it is there. Try googling for “satanic symbols on Oreo cookies,” for instance.

  • I think it improbable that anyone at Design Foundry knew, or thought of, the resemblance to the Odal Rune. However, if the designer did happen to be familiar with it – the meaning of it is “inheritance, tradition and persistence. It also symbolizes unity and the connection to family.” (Per symbolsage.com). Quite appropriate, in my opinion.

    Now, the one thing that I find distasteful in this affair is the ACU asserting that they will never use the company again. THAT is succumbing to the cancel culture, which is what they should be completely against as a basic principle.

  • Single Entendre says:

    When I look at the history of technological development in the realm of communication from the printing press on down to social media, it seems that the faster the content of the communication arrives, the worse the overall results of people using that particular medium. It’s almost as if it would be preferable for some thinking to take place before the recipient of that communication responded with the first thought that popped into their head.

  • Herp McDerp says:

    > Now, the one thing that I find distasteful in this affair is the ACU asserting that they will never use the company again. THAT is succumbing to the cancel culture, which is what they should be completely against as a basic principle.

    I disagree, for three reasons:

    * Can you be absolutely sure that nobody at Design Foundry decided to play a little prank on CPAC? Would you bet your house, or car, or job on that?

    * When this controversy hit the news, apparently Design Foundry DID NOT voluntarily step forward and announce “This is crap. We designed that stage, and we did not intend for anyone to view it as a Nazi symbol.” So much for your integrity, liberals.

    * Why not give the business to a company that likes conservatives? Why give aid and comfort and money to their opponents? The Democrats *refuse* to allow Fox News to host a presidential candidate debate, so this is not a new idea.

  • Mike says:

    The sad thing is that the Left is learning nothing from this and other situations. Because they are incapable of learning. Mental blocks do that to people.

  • zenman says:

    For people who hate Nazi’s, neo-nazis, and white supremacy, they sure do know an awful lot about them.

  • Tatterdemalian says:

    “Also worth noting that many of her employees are liberal So many of you decided to go after something without any reporting or knowledge about who was responsible for the design”

    And so the trend toward social justice continues, as every form of communication, from hand signs to stage design, becomes racist when deplorable untermensch do it, and anti-racist when noble übermensch do it.

  • David Longfellow says:

    The left thrives on pure projection. The see Nazis everywhere because they are goosesteppers themselves.

  • Sam L. says:

    Maybe it’s me, or maybe my eyes and my brain don’t get along, but I’m NOT SEEING IT.

  • Ben says:

    There’s no doubt it was a Nazi symbol. Whether it was innocently or intentionally used for the design is another question. But CPAC pretending it wasn’t what it clearly was and blaming those for asking is disgusting.

  • […] CPAC Stage Designer ‘Fesses Up During CPAC in Orlando last week, the Twitter mob flew into a frenzy about the “Nazi” stage design that the group was using. Supposedly the stage took the shape of the “Odal rune,” a Norse symbol that some members of the Nazi party used on their uniforms. […]

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