In one of those bizarre statements where a person tries to sound humble yet makes an incredibly megalomaniac statement, the young woman has said that she considers herself a mere “vessel” for God’s work. Yeah, Charlie Manson felt that way too.
The thing is, the idea that this photo has meaning is being manufactured by the left. It’s not organic. And it won’t last.
Indeed, the only reason this image is being spoken of at all is that the usual delicates at the tech whiner companies, like Yahoo and Buzzfeed, are posting it over and over and telling us how “everyone is talking about it!” They are also automatically labeling it “iconic” etc. etc. Time wrote an article comparing it to famous protest photos from Vietnam. No doubt, this pointless woman will make their person of the year like whoever those other protestors were a few years back... you remember them, they failed.
Well, I hate to crap on this smug little parade of self-relevance-love, but let me ask some questions. Let me start with this: what exactly does this photo represent?
Most iconic photos are iconic because they represent an outrage. The guy in Vietnam got shot in the head. The Buddhist Monk set himself on fire. The students at Kent State were killed by the National Guard. The photo of the dogs being used by police against blacks who were protesting peacefully for equal rights. The tanks in Tiananmen Square. These were visceral photos that brought home ideas that had been ephemeral and now seemed concrete because we could see them. They were people risking their lives for what the believed to be right. What’s more, each of these represented a moment of violence by an abusive state that seemed to be teetering on the edge of collapse. And they became iconic because they contributed to a massive shift in public opinion, which spurred on that collapse.
None of that is true here.
This woman risked no danger. She wasn’t beaten, nor was there any chance that she would be. There was no risk that she might disappear either. Nor is Baton Rouge an abusive state. Protesting is legal. All she risked was a night’s inconvenience in jail for a charge that would be dropped in the morning... like a drunk. A guy who flips off a traffic cop is in more danger and is making a bolder statement.
And what exactly is she challenging? The idea that the police are hunting black men is patently absurd. Only an idiot or someone who wanted to believe it could believe it. What’s more, the state she’s protesting against wants to stop it.
So what does this photo stand for except that it gives a loser generation looking for a cause a moment they can feel like they saw something.
Bet me this photos vanishes from history. Sure, this little group of leftists will push hard to make this “a thing,” just as they pushed us to believe that OWS was a force for change or that another dozen other idiotic manufactured “things” were genuine “things.” They do this every other week, and it never lasts. In a week, they’ll all be back to body shaming fat/thin women while decrying body shaming and writing snarky articles parent shaming people they saw online or writing snarky “articles” attacking other people’s snark as hate.
You can't manufacture significance.
Thoughts?
The photo is inconsequential for the reasons you have given. It is just a bullet in the war to define Black Lives Matter. Liberals are trying to frame the photo as reasonable, non-violent protestor vs heavy handed, overarmored cops but that is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAt the protest the photo was taken at one cop was seriously injured and several guns were seized so the cops had good reason to be armored up and the woman in question was blocking a road, which the cops had repeatedly warned protesters not to do.
Generally speaking, I think the protests are pointless and harmful. They are just people venting without thinking. Both of the deaths were partially videotaped, are well publicized and are being investigated (though I doubt anyone will go to jail, careers might be cut short).
Video is a beautiful thing because it means less having to take things on faith. It will benefit most cops because most are honest, fair minded and competent. There are exceptions to the rule and video is going to hurt those exceptions.
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/12/police_brutality_in_nyc_cop_investigated_in_shooting_of_unarmed_dad_delrawn_small/
In a road rage incident on the early morning of July 4, off-duty police officer Wayne Isaacs shot and killed Small, who was unarmed, in Brooklyn.
Authorities justified the attack by claiming Small had punched Isaacs in the face. But surveillance footage later released showed that the police had lied about the incident.
The video, which was obtained by The New York Post, clearly show Small was shot and killed within just one second after walking up to Isaacs’ car.
Is it wrong my first thought, due to knowing it was a manufactured moment, was from how far away this SJW was bussed?
ReplyDeleteSounds accurate to me. I wasn't even aware of it until I saw it as a trending topic on Facebook (which compared it to Tianmen Square) but hadn't even seen the picture itself until this article. To me it's playing out the way these shootings always do: initial burst of outrage and protests that quickly waste any goodwill the parties involved might have had with extremism (like the violence Anthony mentioned). Those of us here can't be the only ones tired of this garbage, can we? And Eric, it wasn't my first thought but it's not an unreasonable one.
ReplyDelete- Daniel
If anything, the police in the photo appear to be afraid of the black woman. Not the sense that race-hucksters promote, afraid of what they don't understand, ready to kill what they fear. Rather, seem afraid in the sense that they know exactly what they are dealing with and how risky it is.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that doesn't quite get it. Look, in the photo, the woman is clearly working the situation. She's the stereotype of the defiant "African queen." I see a dozen of these every time I go to the supermarket, blocking the frosted flakes and acting like "pardon me" is a racial epithet.
The worst thing anyone could've done is release her name. Anonymously, she could've been a symbol. Now, everyone is going to learn everything about her and no one is 100% pretty. Just google her picture. I used to be married to a woman who took that many selfies. USED to be.
Eric, I had the same thought. I also thought, "This woman is hoping for publicity."
ReplyDeleteAnd then I thought, I wonder if these delicates would love this photo so much if she was fat? I doubt it somehow.
Furthermore, as pointed out, they spilled the beans on exactly what treatment she received: one night in jail. That's about what anyone would expect for something like blocking the street. It doesn't demonstrate any disparity between the way blacks and whites are treated. If anything, it demonstrates black entitlement in that so many are calling it an injustice. And it's deeply racist in sentiment, as it forwards the idea that blacks simply can't be held to an equal standard.
ReplyDeleteBack soon...
ReplyDeleteAnthony,
ReplyDeleteAt the protest the photo was taken at one cop was seriously injured and several guns were seized so the cops had good reason to be armored up and the woman in question was blocking a road, which the cops had repeatedly warned protesters not to do.
Good point. Another feature of the iconic images is that they are unfair because the person harmed typically has done nothing wrong (or is believed to have done nothing wrong). The injuring of a cop, when the cops weren't there to stop anyone is not consistent with that... even if she didn't do it personally.
I agree about protests. They are just venting and they typically result in nothing unless the state overreacts. That's why Western Democracies allow protests happily. It's a great way to let steam out of people who might otherwise turn to violence.
I think all cops should be wired with GoPros. That will defuse about 99% of the claims of "he was so innocent and the cop just attacked him." It will also help the departments get rid of the bad guys.
Daniel, I think this issue died the moment that guy shot the cops in Dallas. Until that point, I think the public was willing to listen -- especially after the Minnesota incident. But then "they" killed a bunch of cops and after that, no one except a true activist is going to be positive about their cause.
ReplyDeletetryanmax, Excellent points.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I agree that the cops look worried. That too flies in the face of this joining the ranks of iconic images. Those images speak to abusive governments that crush defenseless people and refuse to listen. This one speaks to cops who are worried about real danger and whose role is to protect people, not rough people up. And given the shootings and the chance of a bomb, it's obvious why they are scared. This has nothing to do with fear of being immoral either.
Secondly, interesting point on her pose. It's interesting to me that there are things that leftist blacks do, like the black power salute, that they think is somehow a "powerful gesture of defiance." But speaking as whitey, those things have been so associated with whining, racism and assholism that I (and I think most white people) see them and roll their eyes. It's similar to seeing white trash flash a Hitler salute. You don't see it as defiance, you see it as hateful.
I don't personally see her stance as reaching that level, but it reeks of being well-practiced and posed... staged.
Third, I agree about releasing her name. Just wait until it turns out that God's vessel is from New York, works for a public interest group, and has two arrests for domestic violence or a bad check charge. That's the problem with real people, especially people who have time to turn out for protests.
tryanmax, "If anything, it demonstrates black entitlement in that so many are calling it an injustice."
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem in a nutshell and why the racism industry is dying.
I get that sometimes innocent people are killed. And that is wrong. I get that sometimes racists exist. And that is wrong. BUT...
These people (the race industry and their followers) don't distinguish between the innocents and the thugs who pushed their luck. They try to turn accident and misfortune into intent. They try to find racial bias where none exists. They whine about "white's hunting blacks" when a hundred times more black people (and white people) are killed by blacks. They whine about "the talk" even though whites say the same thing to their kids. They turn everything they don't like into a race issue... every failure, every fake sleight.
You get really tired of dealing with people like that very quickly. And then even when they stumble upon a legitimate grievance, you don't care.
The two most telling instances about Black Lives Matters are these:
1. They whine and claim its racism to point out that ALL lives matter. So this isn't about right and wrong, it's about race.
2. They protested a rally in Cincinnati where the police met with gay activists and promised to be more sensitive to gay issues. BLM was upset that the gays were saying something positive about the police. So the point isn't to reform the police, it's to ostracize them.
That's all bad.
Well said, Andrew!
ReplyDeleteAnd a very nice eviscerattion of the left's bogus claims.
If cops were really hunting down and shooting black people for being black, they certainly couldn't keep that a secret.
But the left always uses hyperbole, deceit and lies to advance their causes,
And there cause here is what? Anarchy? No more police? Extra rights and privileges for black folks who commit crimes?
We won't ever hear from the left about who murders most black people, which is black criminals, and thugs. Or why they do it, or how best to stop it.
Getting rid of the police will only result in more black murders.
Especially in places like Chicago, where it's illegal for most people to defend themselves with guns, and where democrats have always been in power.
These despicable scumbags only want immunity to do whatever they like, even when that means that others will suffer and die because of their selfish desires and lack of compassion for anyone whi doesn't agree with their ludicrous agenda.
That was my take on it, too, Andrew. Immediately after the police shootings all sorts of horror stories about cops were going around from people with activist tendencies and they did seem to be making progress until the Dallas shooting. Then came the disruptive protests blocking traffic and the shooting of the Tennessee cop and all support for them pretty much vanished outside of liberals deeply involved in grievance politics and a significant portion of the black community (who, even if they disapprove of the Dallas killings, still insist BLM's base claims of racist cops being out to get blacks are true), or at least that was my social media observation before I decided to get off the damn thing for a while. It was causing me far too many headaches for my own good.
ReplyDeleteTryanmax, I also agree that the cops look more afraid than anything for the reasons you stated. I also agree with Andrew about the staged quality of it all. And to think the first mention of this I saw compared it to Tiananmen Square... Not even close.
Also, Allena, good point on the conspiratorial thinking involved here. Not only do the statistics not back up their claims, but in the Internet/Social Media Age the only way one can keep a secret is to keep it completely to oneself. If there was some hard evidence on this somewhere it would have been leaked by now instead of just insinuations. Yet the circus goes on...
- Daniel
As I read when the BLM started and just again today...if the BLM movement really cared about black lives, they'd be out in front of every abortion clinic in the country decrying the wanton slaughter of black lives everyday...the double standard is so obvious they don't see it...it's sickening.
ReplyDeleteAllena, Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI don't think BLM knows what they want except power. And they seem to think that tearing down the cops will win them that power.
But the image of the 5,000 black people at the mega-church in Dallas holding a ceremony for the dead police officers tells us all we need to know. Those people don't hate the cops. They don't want them gone.
I think what all the rational people want is an assurance that the cops are fair and that they aren't getting away with killing people. I don't think anyone reasonable, black or white or even cop, can disagree with that. All the rest is a pure power play.
Daniel, That's my take too. Even on the NFL today, they were talking about Tom Brady appealing his suspension and they asked, "Give what happened in Dallas, is this a time to do something that frivolous or do just let it go right now." IN other words, the shooting of police officers was a national tragedy that should end all debates. I don't really agree with that, as life goes on, but it shows the power of what happened in Dallas to change the focus of the country.
ReplyDeleteAnd BLM, rightly or wrongly, saw their issue imploded by this assassin.
On Tienanmen Square, think about the power of that image. An unknown person with no thought there was a camera or that they would ever be known, who knew they would die (either by being run over or killed later by the secret police), decided "enough!" and stood before a column of tanks and stopped them with his/her body. Damn that's an inspired human being!!
Now ask yourself if you can even pretend to see anything like this in this photo above. Not even close. This is some protestor chick who wants a photo-op.
Voz, That's just it. Black lives are a tool for demanding power, not something they truly want to save.
ReplyDeleteI don't think BLM is going anywhere. We've seen this movie before. The last major bout of outrage over a couple deaths at the hands of cops was similarly short circuited by cops being murdered (in NY in 2014). There will be more squirrely killings and more outrage down the line.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, I don't think they'll go away, but I think they've peaked in terms of their ability to make change. I also think they automatically poison whatever debate they enter from now on.
ReplyDelete