Ready – Aim, Debate

There is more troubling anti-Obama, anti-health care reform imagery in the visual media this week.

According to the caption, this photo is from a rally at the Capitol on Tuesday organized by The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. The event drew about 150 people in lab coats and surgical scrubs.

If the image, conjuring the Target logo, inadvertently makes reference to the merchandizing and corporate control of health care, the obvious message is that doctors are walking targets when it comes to Obama’s health care reform. With the level of hate and fear-mongering over the past month, combined with the presence of hand guns at various rallies, however, the use of this symbolism is ultimately little more than another ugly and thoughtless connotation to violence — one projected onto the Democrats, the Administration, and Obama as thugs.

(image: hip Somodevilla/Getty Images. U.S. Capitol. September 10, 2009)