pointed it out to debbie saying "Look! Sheep!" It was only later when
reflecting more on what I saw that I realized it had been three white
sheep standing on a swiss flag, kicking a black sheep off of it. I did
a little research and was saddened to discover it was a political ad
by a right leaning political party,
Not just right leaning, but the furthest right[0] of any of the major
parties. As a follow up to that campaign, which had proved offensive
(and not just for that particular poster) to many swiss, the chief
rabblerouser of the party, having expected to rotate into the
presidency[1] found himself instead kicked out of the government[2].
-Dave
(visitors to switzerland have very little excuse to not appreciate
the real, and perhaps even cuter, sheep that pop up even in
relatively urban areas, wherever there's a patch of grass that needs
nibbling. You know you've been here too long when you can
distinguish between flocks of sheep and herds of goats[3] before
running across them, by the bells alone)
:: :: ::
[0] their claim to be the "largest" party might be alarming, until
one realizes that with the plurality of parties, the popular support
that the authors of this campaign had in CH is actually lower than
the popular support of Bush in the US.
[1] CH is far more decentralized than dirigiste states like the US.
As far as I can tell, the swiss have a president because *someone*
has to be available to take visiting dignitaries to dinner.
[2] you all can imagine the resulting political cartoons.
[3] for what it's worth, my local sheep are black with white wool,
while the goats are black in front and white in back. As usual the
politicians (even these, nominally from a farmers' party) haven't let
little things like reality prevent them from presenting a simplistic
image.
