What Is It with red ties?

I never used to notice what color tie the people who were speaking to me wore. One thing I do remember is that speakers never wore red ties. I grew up in a generation when subdued was the order of the day and was synonymous with moderation and sanity.

One day, King George, the president, wore a red tie. Red was never to be used in the fraternity I joined. It was related to the red capes used to taunt bulls during the ritual slaughter of the bulls in Mexico. Waving a red color was used to incite the rage of the bull and to raise the temperature of the audience to a feverish degree.

Red was never worn by politicians, whose last ambition was to raise the temperature of the voting public. But all of a sudden, everyone is wearing red ties. It doesn’t seem to matter what side of the fence they are on. They are now even popular with members of the press.

I guess the only difference is what breed of sheep they are.