Image impact

[asterroc]

Having a very interesting conversation with Foxtrot comparing a couple of images. Rather than recreating the discussion here, I'll post the two images and see what y'all think of them.



Edit: Some people weren't seeing the proper image on the left before. I replaced it with a different version of the image, should work now.

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I don't get what's interesting about the first one. After close scrutiny I think it looks like an anus with something going into it, but that's probably me being perverted.

The second one is pretty offensive. It sort of looks like the guy in center is giving like some sort of white power salute (which is reinforced by the fact that the comic is called "American Power"), and is surrounded by evil threatening or dying Arabs. Egh.

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

um...is the first one supposed to be fortunecity.com's logo?

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what I think. I'm a bit offended by the zealous encouragement of foreigner-hating, but it's not unreasonable to be against Hitler or Osama Bin Laden, specifically.

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

i'm not sure who the guy in the second image is. American Power has an uncomfortable ring to it. it sounds like nationalist fascism. there are faceless people in the background with guns, presumably Arabs by their headgear. the implication is that any generic Arab is in league with bin Laden and has a gun pointed at the good guy...who is, as far as i can tell, wearing a black mask...are we sure he's the good guy? anyway, yeah, you should punch those gun-toting Arabs in the face...or something.

the difference between it and the first one? WWII was the last war where we knew we were on the right side. we were positive Hitler was evil, and the Nazis were evil, and maybe we didn't love our Jews but at least we didn't cook them alive, so yes, we should punch Hitler in the face, that is right and good. even a pacifist can support that because they started it by trying to take over the world and killing the Jews. with the Arabs, it's not so clear...we went after al-Qaeda in revenge for 9/11, and the Taleban were sheltering them so we took out the Taleban, and that was good because the Taleban was evil. and then we invaded Iraq, because...um...WMDs? we took out Saddam, and he was tried for his crimes against his own countrymen. he hadn't done anything to us. it feels very uncomfortable in a breaking-the-Prime-Directive sort of way. sure he was bad to his own people, but what gives us the right to say anything, do anything, step in and bomb his country? we went to war against the Nazis because they were a direct threat to us and we were joining other countries in doing so. but we started it with Iraq. they had no WMDs, they were no threat to us, or even probably to Israel. we fought them for contrived reasons and didn't win cleanly.

if al-Qaeda declared Arabs the master race and started exterminating everyone else, i think i'd be a lot less uncomfortable with the second image.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Some general comments:

* I suspect that most of those here have at least some idea who Captain America is and perhaps some vague notions about his character. That is, we have some context that probably predisposes us to view him positively (and Hitler negatively).
Contrariwise, I (at least) have no idea who that second guy is, and the mask doesn't help. Plus there's a lot of controversy about our actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. whereas there's very little (in the US) about our involvement in WWII.

* I'd be very interested to know how the second character is actually portrayed in the comic itself. Maybe it's intended as commentary on how American Power is viewed by those outside America.


Responding to the "is it possible to be 'racist' against Germans?" thread: it may depend on your definition. There's plenty of discrimination based on country of origin, or associated ethnicity, 'round the world. Still true in the US, for that matter, although the ethnicities and countries of origin are different. (Irish are pretty much assimilated/accepted at this point, and same for Italians, but that sure wasn't the case at the beginning of the 19th century.)