The new right-wing icon that represents their fear and animosity towards President Obama is a poster of the president wearing the clown makeup of the Joker character in the last Batman film. The vicious, sadistic character unleashes public disorder by undermining the government and overturning the basic mores of society. For right-wingers, that is socialism.
The analogy is a flawed one since they also accuse him of centralizing government, of creating a big order. This is something the Joker had no interest in. He preferred the dystopian vision of anarchy, the one that has protesters at town hall meetings armed with hand guns, and using them.
Far from espousing values of egalitarianism, the Joker was clearly anti-Socialist and non-idealist. The juxtaposition makes the iconic poster internally inconsistent, espousing two contradictory messages. To the thinking person, it makes no sense. To the emotionally-driven, it is simply two scary symbols: a word and an evocative face paint.
Thus, right-wing radio DJ’s are promoting contests to see who can post the most copies of this up. The revolution will not be broadcast over the radio. This demonstrates to a tee what the American historian Richard J. Hofstadter termed “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.”
That said, there is a more interesting angle. The photo’s artist is a student of Palestinian descent. Reports are coming out about the originator of the Obama photo remix. Firas Alkhateeb, a 20-year-old college student from Chicago took the famous Time cover photo of Obama and subverted it with a great photoshop paint job.
Firas at what appears to be Arabfest in Milwaukee. Am I right?
He personifies our current masthead, and indicated he was leaning towards Kucinich. We applaud the artist. Though, to be consistent, I would argue that the Joker was not devoid of substance, he was sinister and fond of violence, and saw society as something to be disassembled.
I see Obama as a liberal technocrat of power who seeks only to tinker with a deeply flawed status quo. What is bothersome is his willingness to trade conducting the regular evils of American policies in exchange for the hope of improving things slightly elsewhere, for others. He does not upturn the domestic political tides on Iraq and Afghanistan — Bush’s wars — so as not to detract from health care reform. This is not Joker-like, but rather a hopeless, self-rationalizing conundrum driven by mildly good intentions and a basic moral naivete.
Some have decried his poster as racist. That, I do not see. Perhaps if he were meant to be in ‘white face,’ it would be racially-motivated, but it still wouldn’t be racist. I understand the minstrelization symbolism of blacks dressed as clowns, but this is not clown makeup in the minstrel sense, the ‘happy-go-lucky-for-white-entertainment’ sense — this is more scary and brooding, as if a comment on ideology. It may be more so than Alkhateeb even intended.
It was some pilferer of creativity that took Alkhateeb’s work from his Flickr page and added the word “socialism,” which the artist calls “immature.” “It really doesn’t make any sense to me at all,” he said. “To accuse him of being a socialist is really … immature. First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?”
The artist was right to create this picture, even if it has been adopted by scum. Great art can provoke thought, and we need more of that in this country.
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- The Nakba 59 Years On: The Winning Poster
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great article will
Posted by matt | August 18, 2009, 6:56 pmMinstrelization symbolism? Really? Blacks dressed as clowns? No, no, no, no. Minstrels as in the Black and White Minstrel Show were white performers in black make-up imitating black people. Making up words to making up what a minstrel is. See Judy and Mickey, Al Jolson for example.
Posted by Julia | August 19, 2009, 6:28 amJulia,
I’m not sure you got my point. I dismissed the view that the picture is racist.
Also, minstrel shows also featured black entertainers in blackface acting the likable buffoon.
Also, I did not make up minstrelization. It is an academic word. A google search would show you that.
Will
Posted by will | August 19, 2009, 4:56 amThe real jokers are anybody who believes Obama is a socialist or even a liberal.
Posted by Sean2009 | August 19, 2009, 8:04 pmSean, as you should know by now as even a C student, liberalism is a belief in individual rights and freedoms. Obama is certainly NOT a liberal, and nobody in their right mind could justify calling him that.
He is, however, a "socialist" in a loose sense of the term.
What I find interesting is that so many people who think of themselves as leftists (not liberals, sean, leftists are not liberal) are guilty of some of the most savage attacks on Obama. What's that all about? Are you fuckers just incapable of being decent human beings or what? Do you spend all your time berating your friends and family for their shortcomings too? Pretty sad.
Posted by programmer craig | August 19, 2009, 9:35 pmWhat i find interesting is how many wingnuts use the term "socialism" without having a clue what it means. Obama is firmly in favor of a system in which the rich and powerful own and monopolize the means of production. This makes him a capitalist, not a socialist. Like most conservatives, Obama believes in "socialism" for the rich, free market for the poor.
The reason leftists attack Obama is because he is a sell out. Pure and simple. His policies are scarcely distinguishable from those of Bush, who no one would accuse of being either a liberal, leftist or a "socialist." Liberals claim to believe in individual rights and freedoms, but far too many liberals are heavily conditioned by the media and American university system to support the right-wing Democratic party and its policies.
Posted by Sean2009 | August 20, 2009, 12:22 amIt's more interesting when a C student lectures somebody who really does have a pretty complete understanding of socialism about what it REALLY is, according to his own leftist self and the equally idiotic leftists he hangs out with.
And really, Sean, somebody who said Libertarians are fascists should not be commenting on liberalism. I'm embarrassed for you on that one.
Posted by programmer craig | August 20, 2009, 1:48 amI agree. A lot of comment you see about Obummer is so vitriolic (surely he can't be worse than Carter?) that racism does seem to be a motive but I don't really see it with that one either. It is a character from a recent well known film, so likely to be used whatever colour he was. Some people find racism in everything.
Posted by xoggoth | August 19, 2009, 9:12 pmObama Goes Postal, Lands in Dead-Letter Office
Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day. For all the president’s touted intelligence, his un-teleprompted comments reveal a basic misunderstanding of capitalist principles.
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 20, 2009, 5:50 amObama Goes Postal, Lands in Dead-Letter Office
Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day. For all the president’s touted intelligence, his un-teleprompted comments reveal a basic misunderstanding of capitalist principles.
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 20, 2009, 5:50 amObama Goes Postal, Lands in Dead-Letter Office
Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day. For all the president’s touted intelligence, his un-teleprompted comments reveal a basic misunderstanding of capitalist principles.
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 20, 2009, 5:50 amObama is also a follower of Saul Alinsky. Two of his most notable modern-day disciples are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton wrote her college thesis about Alinsky in 1969. She titled the paper, written to fulfill her Bachelor of Arts degree at Wellesley College, “There is Only the Fight.”
If you want to understand Obama and all that stuff about "change" read up on Saul Alinsky. That poster becomes more and more fitting.
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 20, 2009, 6:11 amThis poster is art. It's actually pretty incredible. And there are clearly some similarities between the Joker's unleashing public disorder and undermining law and order, and Obama trying to foist his socialist policies on America.
Obama really is a socialist. Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist Hello? A communist! In his books, Obama admits attending "socialist conferences" and coming into contact with Marxist literature. In 1996 he received the endorsement of the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for an Illinois state senate seat. DSA describes itself as the largest socialist organization in the United States and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International
Obama campaigned for openly socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Campaign workers for Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama displayed a flag featuring communist hero Che Guevara.
Obama went to college surrounded by leftists, and then to Chicago to be a community organizer and get involved in politics. He is out of touch with most Americans, which would cause him to say something like this, "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 20, 2009, 5:48 amObama Goes Postal, Lands in Dead-Letter Office
Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day. For all the president’s touted intelligence, his un-teleprompted comments reveal a basic misunderstanding of capitalist principles.
Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08
Firms with Obama ties profit from health push
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's push for a national health care overhaul is providing a financial windfall in the election offseason to Democratic consulting firms that are closely connected to the president and two top advisers.
Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval
Obama Job Approval plummets
Approval of Obama, Democrats Declines, Pew Poll Says (Update1)
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 20, 2009, 5:56 amNot heard of Alinsky before. Not always accurate I know but Wipipedia quotes one of his rules.
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)"
Sounds very familiar.
Posted by xoggoth | August 20, 2009, 3:51 pmSocialism resulted in chaos and disorder when socialist regimes collapsed. Just like the Joker character was the product of decaying capitalism. This might justify the comparison between the Joker and socialism as if Obama combines the worst of both. Amusing!
Posted by Big B | August 20, 2009, 8:43 pmOr imagine a wacky Obama, with no real world experience, just liberal training at college and in Chicago… coddled and pruned by the Democrats to be their chosen one… running around the White House with his unrealistic leftist ideals trying to foist his socialist policies upon the American people because he (thinks) knows better than they do. After all they are just bitter people clinging to guns and religion, but he in enlightened in the ways of socialism.
Imagine his buffoonery as his imaginary ideals clash with reality… the chaos, the confusion… he is convinced he is right even as the evidence proves him wrong… he plods ahead with his chaos… he knows best, he will bring change…. even if people don't want it… he is Obama, the SOCIALIST! The JOKER!
Posted by eagle007blogger | August 21, 2009, 9:33 pm…Lucky for Obama anyone would look good compared to Bush!
Posted by Big B | August 27, 2009, 9:32 amSocialism resulted in chaos and disorder when socialist regimes collapsed. Just like the Joker character was the product of decaying capitalism. This might justify the comparison between the Joker and socialism as if Obama combines the worst of both. Amusing!
Posted by Big B | August 20, 2009, 8:43 pmObama climate czar has socialist ties
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