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News & ArtsMonday, August 3, 2009
Media Jump!
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 4:21 PM
For this story:
The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.
The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion.
HuffPo is using this image:
Black men pushing a white woman off a cliff. Let's think about this for a minute. If the white woman represents tax revenues, what do the black men represent? Certainly not the rich; blacks never represent the rich. They are forever the poor. But why are the poor pushing tax revenue of the cliff? The poor are the problem? Is that what image is saying? The poor are pushing American off the cliff?
Also, is this jumping business happening in Africa? It sure looks like it. If so, what does that mean? Africans pushing a European woman into the void of some dreadful rift valley. This must mean something. This image is not an accident. It's the product of a processing that is done in the light of consciousness.
3
Yes. Thats right. The Huffington Post. One of the most liberal leaning sites out there. The same news source that brought us a bevy of blog posts speaking to the truth of racial profiling in this country and the horrible racism that persists and is finally being uncovered in our country. Very astute observation.
4
but it's a black guy and a white woman. that's RACIST! she's obviously white because she hates black people.
5
How can you be sure this image wasn't just thrown up there like so many of the things on HuffPo? Have you contacted them to inquire about the image? I usually agree with most of the things you blog about but I sincerely doubt that there is an underlying racist subtext.
7
Also, how do we know she's not a lesbian? I am completely outraged that this man (of any race) is pushing a lesbian off a cliff! How deeply rooted our homophobia is in this country/world!
11
Maybe it's not black vs. white, maybe it's man vs. woman. Maybe the woman is really a man with long hair and it's short hair vs. long hair.
Maybe it's just the first image that came up when someone at huffpo did an image search using "fall off cliff"
Maybe it's just the first image that came up when someone at huffpo did an image search using "fall off cliff"
13
Perhaps the Staff Marxist is simply responding to market forces and stepping up the intensity of his race-baiting now that the supply has become more abundant.
14
Until you mentioned it, I didn't notice the men were black. Or did I? Hmmm.
What do the cable and harness represent in this scenario?
What do the cable and harness represent in this scenario?
15
Have gone to Huff Po several times today and never noticed it. Charles is the Al Sharpton of Slog. Savage is the Perez Hilton and that hosebag who ganked bottles of wine from QFC was the Ann Coulter.
19
Africa does not need another picture of a white woman being pushed/held off of/on to a cliff, so fuck you all.
20
This whole blog-thing kind of eludes you doesn't it Charles, I like your movie reviews often enough, but you suck at blogging.
Must be a racist thing or something.....
Must be a racist thing or something.....
21
charles your articles in the paper are almost always thoughtful and interesting, your slog posts are the opposite. more articles please
22
Charles,
I often wonder why you tend to use the rhetorical question "what does this (or that) mean?" regarding a photo? I know you want to provoke a discussion (or stir a tempest). But, why not a different question on something more contemporaneous like this:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/…
and this comment:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/obama-g…
Why was VP Biden in the photo?
I often wonder why you tend to use the rhetorical question "what does this (or that) mean?" regarding a photo? I know you want to provoke a discussion (or stir a tempest). But, why not a different question on something more contemporaneous like this:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/…
and this comment:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/obama-g…
Why was VP Biden in the photo?
23
From the angle, it also looks like the black men are holding the cable and, therefore, single-handedly saving the white woman from plunging to her death.
But all is not well. I think I see a swarm of bees in the background. Africanized killer bees.
But all is not well. I think I see a swarm of bees in the background. Africanized killer bees.
24
I think the image is one of the ones used in the old miscegenation scare tactics.
Sometimes a picture is not worth 1000 words.
Sometimes a picture is not worth 1000 words.
25
Seriously? That's your first thought when you saw this image? I didn't even realise the guys were black until you mentioned it! You're looking for something that's not there. I think it speaks more about you, than HuffPo.
And she's clearly participating in some touristy 'extreme' sport, which undoubtedly brings money to the local economy.
And she's clearly participating in some touristy 'extreme' sport, which undoubtedly brings money to the local economy.
26
Charles you grossly underestimate the laziness and desperation of the typical art director under deadline.
27
Yeah, You are overthinking this. My first impression was the vast space she was about to fall into.
It would have been jarring to be aware of the race aspects in light of the fact they were all scared (exhilarated) at the edge of a grand precipice.
Good choice for a post, though. That's some scary data.
It would have been jarring to be aware of the race aspects in light of the fact they were all scared (exhilarated) at the edge of a grand precipice.
Good choice for a post, though. That's some scary data.
28
Why is her mouth open so wide and why are the black men smiling? Is this a sex thing like that Sprite ad? What's with the shorts? Why the pony tail? Blah, blah, blah. Sometimes a picture is not worth a thousand words.......
29
Say Charles, isn't this when you change the point and say "fuck you all"?
I just want to mark my calendar appropriately.
I just want to mark my calendar appropriately.
30
John Galt @ 13, if Dagny Taggart and I promise to both peg you, will you agree to STFU?
We'll even get it on lezzy style, if it will seal the deal....
We'll even get it on lezzy style, if it will seal the deal....
31
If only you weren't kidding. But no, I don't see the profit in it.
Is your point that you object to the suggestion that Mudede is race-baiting?
Is your point that you object to the suggestion that Mudede is race-baiting?
32
White chicks are being evaluated for "hangtime".
This chick had like 10 seconds, so she got airlifted off the island.
See this:
http://www.bullz-eye.com/Models/200908An…
Yeah, no way those guys would "send her down the cable". Like Sir Mix A Lot would do a "Classic Remake" and put her on the cover. Yeah.
This chick had like 10 seconds, so she got airlifted off the island.
See this:
http://www.bullz-eye.com/Models/200908An…
Yeah, no way those guys would "send her down the cable". Like Sir Mix A Lot would do a "Classic Remake" and put her on the cover. Yeah.
33
Could someone please replace Charles with someone who can at least be engaged on a serious level. Jesus.
36
Charles, What does it say that the black man is wearing a harness too, that he is next? I say the picture speaks louder if all three people are the poor and the chasm is tax revenue.
37
I want to know more about where this was taken and if I can do it, too. It looks like a blast. But then, what does it say about me that I'm only seeing the literal interpretation of this photo - about a tourist enjoying a foreign land? Colonialism? The politics of leisure? Class war?
38
I'm amazed that people seem so unwilling to confront this on a serious basis. The amount of evidence suggesting that people have unconscious race-preference biases is overwhelming; ditto people fitting facts into familiar narratives (did two black guys kill the white girl? or do we find out later that the mother did herself?). This isn't necessarily overt racism, but Charles's point is both valid and interesting. We have a black president, and people like Glen Beck enjoy saying that he "hates white people." Attacking the author for drawing attention to something like this, especially with such vehemence, is, to me, bizarre. He's not saying you're a racist; taking it personally is why black people often complain in private.
39
@38 Some of your points may be valid, but look at what Charles wrote and how he presented it. That is what is so irksome.....and in my opinion, that is what most people here are reacting to.
40
No no no she is an African woman (you do know that there are white folks whose families have lived in Africa for 100s of years, right?). He's actually her boyfriend and he's British. They met at a resort in Tel Aviv a few summers ago while they were both on vacation.
They have had a very hot love affair ever since, meeting several times a year in addition to having Skype sex.
They're at a resort in Ghana and bungie jumping.
No big deal.
They have had a very hot love affair ever since, meeting several times a year in addition to having Skype sex.
They're at a resort in Ghana and bungie jumping.
No big deal.
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