Is this poster racist?

[Professor S]

It's pretty dumb. The author obviously doesn't understand the difference between socialism and anarchy. Propoganda, at the very least, should to accurate to the point you're attempting to convey.

Now if they had spread around posters like these...



Because they look so much like this...



Then it would have been more accurate.

...

What? The Obama campaign made those posters? Really? And the media didn't pick up on it?
Wow.

(and for the record, I don't think the similarity proves anything about his stance on policy, only that his campaign used a LOT of old school propoganda techniques, including Nazi IMO, in their campaign)

[The Germanator]

Back on topic as much as possible....Some quotes from the artist himself. Interesting to note that he claims he didn't add the "socialism" part.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...ml?sc=fb&cc=fp

[Teuthida]

Just skimmed thread. The Hope picture was made independently by the artist Shepard Fairy (a lot of his paintings have the sort of imagery), not by or for the Obama campaign team.

Because the Hope poster had been "perpetuated illegally" and independently by the street artist, the Obama campaign could not risk any direct affiliation with it.

http://obeygiant.com/fine-art


What really bothers me about that Joker pic is it's not centered.

[The Germanator]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Just skimmed thread. The Hope picture was made independently by the artist Shepard Fairy (a lot of his paintings have the sort of imagery), not by or for the Obama campaign team.



http://obeygiant.com/fine-art

I have some video of him doing one of those pieces in Austin, TX on a huge mural wall when we were at SXSW. It was very cool watching him do his work knowing he did the Obama picture.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Just skimmed thread. The Hope picture was made independently by the artist Shepard Fairy (a lot of his paintings have the sort of imagery), not by or for the Obama campaign team.



http://obeygiant.com/fine-art

Interesting. Maybe I am confusing some pop art with official campaign posters. I still believe the two posters share striking resemblances and the HOPE poster in question was inspired by propaganda, but I'll remove my claim that the Obama campaign itself used communist and Nazi-style propaganda techniques because at this point I can't confidently determine what is official and what was an artist's tribute.

I still stand by my belief that they did, in fact, use Bauhaus inspiration for the German poster, as evil/racist/biased as that may make me

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Just skimmed thread. The Hope picture was made independently by the artist Shepard Fairy (a lot of his paintings have the sort of imagery), not by or for the Obama campaign team.



http://obeygiant.com/fine-art


What really bothers me about that Joker pic is it's not centered.

An interesting letter from someone that I found on that website:

Subject: On the topic of U.S. Socialism

The city and area where I live has a socialized police department, a socialized fire department (that uses our socialized fire hydrants), socialized water treatment facilities, a socialized public works department that cares for the socialized trees planted in our socialized roadway medians, a socialized zoo, a socialized convention hotel, socialized sports arenas, socialized hiking trails, biking trails, soccer fields, tennis courts, football fields and basketball courts for those who want to do more than just watch socialized sporting events, a socialized pound for the animals who overuse our socialized dog parks, a socialized streets system with socialized traffic lights and socialized stop signs, a socialized public transportation system, a socialized sanitation department that delivers garbage to our socialized trash dump and socialized recycling sorting facility, several socialized airports, a smattering of socialized water reservoirs (we call them socialized lakes, stocked with socialized fish), a socialized homeless center, socialized housing, a socialized public school system, socialized children’s meals programs, a socialized library system, more than five socialized campuses for higher education, a socialized jobs training center, a socialized civil courts system, a socialized criminal courts system that sentences people to one of several socialized jails, a socialized arts program, a socialized parks department that maintains more than a dozen socialized swimming pools, a socialized CNG filling station for the benefit of our socialized fleet of cars, and it provides socialized loans to small businesses while socialized electrical lines help keep the lights on for those working inside.

We even have a socialized yearly Fourth of July fireworks display.

Thank God we’ve held the line on not giving 50 million uninsured people a public health insurance option just for the sake of staying as far away from the socialist boogeyman as possible.

Chin up on the Obama illustration hate mail; the fight’s a good one and completely worth it. –M.

EDIT: I guess I should give the context. This was a apparently an email sent to the artist at the website for moral support. Fairey, the artist, did an Obama image for a Rolling Stone cover and got tons of admittedly typical (for the internet) hate responses, along the lines of he and Obama are socialist/Nazi/the Antichrist and he must have sucked Obama's cock, etc., which made Fairey a sad bear. He posted about 20 of said hate comments, and then I suppose got that letter (above) as moral support, and then posted it as well below the hate comments. So it's more a respone to the hateful wing-nuts than the legitimate arguments against a public healthcare option.

I'm trying to retrace my steps but for some reason I don't remember how I got to that page. It appeared to be his blog.

EDIT2: Oh, duh, it's right there at the bottom of his main page.

[manasecret]

McCain version with HERO instead of HOPE.

http://djsoundwav.deviantart.com/art...ster-100878175

Whatever you may think of him and who you may have voted for, I agree that McCain is an American Hero.

--

On topic, no I don't think it's racist. Good to hear the story from the artist's point of view, especially that he thinks the addition of "socialist" is pretty stupid.

[Bond]

Speaking of propaganda...

[Professor S]

Mana, the author forgot to mention the crippling socialized debt...

[thatmariolover]

I just think associating Obama with Socialism is almost as inaccurate as associating The Joker with it.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by thatmariolover

I just think associating Obama with Socialism is almost as inaccurate as associating The Joker with it.

This assertion intrigues me, since I think it's pretty clear that Pres. Obama has shown to lean more towards socialist/fascist solutions to problems and not capitalist. Once again, thats not to say he's a socialist or a fascist, but when problems arise he seems to default to government control rather than economic freedom, and that tendency certainly doesn't fall into the realm of capitalism. Also, I think we can at least make more of a connection between Obama and socialism than Obama and anarchism if we were forced to make the association (I can't think of one policy that you could remotely compare to anarchy).

To Everyone:

Looking at the definitions of the following "isms", which do you think President Obama's economic policies resemble most considering his administration's reaction to the recession, the investment banks and car industry in particular? He must have more in common with one area than the others, in your opinion. I'd encourage you to keep to the economic portions of the debate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

Also, there is no pejorative associated with any of these answers. I'd prefer to have clarity in this case than agreement.

EDIT: If I missed any "isms" please feel free to post them.

[TheGame]

Prof I'm curious. What's your opinion of Bush and Clinton? What has Barrack Obama pushed for that neither of them would have?

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by TheGame

Prof I'm curious. What's your opinion of Bush and Clinton? What has Barrack Obama pushed for that neither of them would have?

Please don't change the subject. I've asked a fair question and I'd like you to answer it. If you like, we can address your topic after mine is addressed.

[TheGame]

Well, my answer that we've been dealing with both conservative socialists, and liberal socialists. They go about things different ways, but in the end everyone is pushing us towards socialism. Which is why I posed the question.

However, that's just my opinion, I'm curious what yours is.

[Bond]

Originally Posted by Professor S

EDIT: If I missed any "isms" please feel free to post them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronyism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)

Not exactly primary "isms," but important none-the-less.