I just hate it when common sense gets into the way of a political movement, don’t you? And so, I need help, because there is one thing I don’t understand about the modern Tea Party Movement.
Why do they use teabags?
Now I know that two of their leaders, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are both a little iffy about their history. By now everybody knows about Sarah’s contorted description of Paul Revere’s midnight ride, and that little oopsie Michele Bachmann made when she forgot that the first shots in the American Revolution were fired in liberal Massachusetts rather than in conservative New Hampshire as poor old Michele announced at a stump speech.
But how can those little Lipton Tea Bags be the symbol of the Tea Party Movement? Wikipedia tells me that there were no tea bags at the original Boston Tea Party back in December of 1773. The Patriots, dressed as Indians, threw crates of loose tea into Boston Harbor. No tea bags were dunked. And certainly, no tea bags were hung from hats, tri-corner or round.
How do I know? Because tea bags were not invented until 1903, 130 years later. Oops.
When the symbol of a “movement” is wrong, what does that say about the movement itself? I’d speculate that maybe this whole Tea Party Movement is not all that well thought out.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
HA HA! You knocked that one out of the park (rather, off the dock). Thank you.
LikeLike
I have to admit that I pay as little attention to nonsense as possible, which means I certainly had not noticed that the driving symbol for the so-called Tea Party is the result of ignorance on the part of its so-called leaders. I am not surprised. Thanks, Lease, for pointing this out in a most amusing way. Well done. But, of course, there’s a downside to having this pointed out to me. This teabag thing is going to drive me nuts until someone manages to dunk the Tea Partiers in the sea, but hopefully NOT dressed as Indians. I have too much respect for Native Americans to drag them, even symbolically, into this mess!
LikeLike
this is very interesting. i am no history buff but i am sensitive to details. so if i were looking for a logo or a symbol for my movement, i certainly would have done my research. having said that, maybe the choice of the lipton tea bag is calculated to be more in line with the times…. it is the modern way people consume tea, well for the most part, at least in america, or maybe just in my house and the diners in NJ…..funny observation mommala!
LikeLike