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xiphiasObama's argument is that releasing the photos of bin Laden would incite our enemies. I heard a Republican response that most of our enemies are already incited, so what's the difference.
Obama's right and the other folks are wrong.
We are in the middle of an ideological shift in the Middle East -- a wonderful one. The ideas of fundamentalism are somewhat waning, the ideas of democratic rule are somewhat waxing. This is a very delicate process. At a point of balance like this, there is a relatively small but absolutely critical population of people who could go either way. And what will make all the difference? Narrative, and imagery.
And there are few images as powerful and lasting as that of a religious leader violently killed by the enemies of that religion.
The stories themselves are powerful, and lasting. We Jews STILL haven't forgiven the Romans for killing Rabbi Akiva, for instance, and have ceremonies in which we recite the stories of how he and other rabbis -- who were executed for leading violent revolts against the Romans. Got that? The Roman Empire has been gone for fifteen centuries, and we STILL hold a grudge and would fight against them. Same with the Christians, who still revere THEIR Christian martyrs. Fifteen centuries, and the empire is GONE, but the image of these religious leaders violently killed still persists and influences our actions.
And visual depictions are even more powerful. What percentage of lasting Medieval art consists of images of the martyrdom of saints? I don't know who the heck Saint Sebastian was at ALL -- except that he apparently was the patron saint of pincushions. And that I'm supposed to be pissed off at whatever archery club he crossed.
But anybody who's a Christian should be aware of the epitome of the power of the visual representation of the enemies of a religious movement violently killing their leader. Many of you probably wear one.
Let's not give that to the fundamentalist Islamic-Dominionists right now, okay? The image WILL get out eventually, and it should at some point. But if it gets out NOW, it has the ability to transform into an icon of vast destructive power. The longer we wait, the less powerful the image becomes.
ESPECIALLY if the pro-democratic forces through the Middle East, and throughout the world, gain momentum.
Obama's right and the other folks are wrong.
We are in the middle of an ideological shift in the Middle East -- a wonderful one. The ideas of fundamentalism are somewhat waning, the ideas of democratic rule are somewhat waxing. This is a very delicate process. At a point of balance like this, there is a relatively small but absolutely critical population of people who could go either way. And what will make all the difference? Narrative, and imagery.
And there are few images as powerful and lasting as that of a religious leader violently killed by the enemies of that religion.
The stories themselves are powerful, and lasting. We Jews STILL haven't forgiven the Romans for killing Rabbi Akiva, for instance, and have ceremonies in which we recite the stories of how he and other rabbis -- who were executed for leading violent revolts against the Romans. Got that? The Roman Empire has been gone for fifteen centuries, and we STILL hold a grudge and would fight against them. Same with the Christians, who still revere THEIR Christian martyrs. Fifteen centuries, and the empire is GONE, but the image of these religious leaders violently killed still persists and influences our actions.
And visual depictions are even more powerful. What percentage of lasting Medieval art consists of images of the martyrdom of saints? I don't know who the heck Saint Sebastian was at ALL -- except that he apparently was the patron saint of pincushions. And that I'm supposed to be pissed off at whatever archery club he crossed.
But anybody who's a Christian should be aware of the epitome of the power of the visual representation of the enemies of a religious movement violently killing their leader. Many of you probably wear one.
Let's not give that to the fundamentalist Islamic-Dominionists right now, okay? The image WILL get out eventually, and it should at some point. But if it gets out NOW, it has the ability to transform into an icon of vast destructive power. The longer we wait, the less powerful the image becomes.
ESPECIALLY if the pro-democratic forces through the Middle East, and throughout the world, gain momentum.
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yes, but no
Date: 2011-05-07 12:12 pm (UTC)Re: yes, but no
Date: 2011-05-07 12:24 pm (UTC)Re: yes, but no
Date: 2011-05-07 12:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 01:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 02:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 02:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 07:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 03:01 pm (UTC)So true, and well said. Honestly, it amazes and infuriates me sometimes the way many people refuse to think "What would I think if I were in this person's position? What in my experience is analogous to their experience?" It's as if they don't realize that they are dealing with fellow human beings who share comprehensible thought patterns.
But then from my experience of many of these people, they don't realize that people of color, or LGBT people, or people who aren't Christian, and so on, are fellow human beings who share comprehensible thought patterns, so I suppose this is that same lack of perception once again, and I would do better to try to understand that lack of understanding.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 03:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 03:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-07 05:37 pm (UTC)The first time I heard that piece of the story, about pics and videos and such, I said that what they really should do it just arrange for wikileaks to get a copy, anonymously, and then decry the cowardly thief that stole and posted it. Because while I do think that the world deserves to *have* those pictures, I want them to exist with as little spectacle as possible, and to be released to no fanfare at all. And wikileaks is the closest thing we've got to that right now.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-08 04:05 am (UTC)My ideal solution would be that a. first, nothing happens for a while. Egypt gets a robust, free democratic government, in which extremist parties play only a marginal role -- say, a few seats in the government, from which they can make lots of speeches but have very limited power to actually create policy. The rest of the Middle East starts to do the same. And, as average people start having genuine ability to affect their country through peaceful democratic means, centralized government starts to become more stable throughout, and banditry and warlordism starts diminishing as people have other choices.
Then someone submits a Freedom of Information Act, and the government drags its feet in bureaucratic red tape for a month, and then hands over the photo. And the person releases it quietly, and it's put on the Internet, where everyone on Reddit declares that it's a total fake, and they can tell by the pixels, and that it's Photoshopped, and that it's a still from a movie that they saw, so it's clearly fake, and the picture goes all around the Internet, with people not really taking it seriously, and, eventually, it becomes clear that, okay, yeah, that's the real photo, by which point everyone who's interested in gory pictures has already seen it, and nobody really cares.
There will still be some people who are radicalized by the photo. But it is to be hoped that a critical mass of the people who MIGHT be radicalized by the photo will be too busy in attempting to sway their fellow citizens through the political process to have TIME to care much about the photo.
OK to link?
Date: 2011-05-11 05:31 pm (UTC)Re: OK to link?
Date: 2011-05-11 07:18 pm (UTC)