In the post-Katrina world, in which America seems (at least, temporarily) to have discovered racial and class disparity, it is instructive to recall the unending lectures (some would say, harassment) about "values" we’ve endured from the right wing. (Yes, I’m referring to superior folks like inside trader and Schiavo...
Continue ReadingIf you’ve been following the BAG, you know I’m interested in the way race relates to visual politics. At the same time, however, I’m even more interested in the way politics relates to visual politics. With Katrina suddenly inviting inspection of the “two Americas” (whether defined by rich/poor, white/non-white,...
Continue ReadingDubya is back! (And the graphics couldn’t be more loaded.) With Bush’s third visit to the Gulf Coast, Rove has retooled the visual vocabulary. In a reprise of “the glory days,” Bush posed yesterday with New York firefighters in New Orleans. The gratuitous caption states that the firemen “also...
Continue ReadingSo, Laura didn’t know the name of the hurricane? So Laura thinks the idea that race played a role in George’s foot dragging is “disgusting?” (…Somehow, Florida voters seem to get pretty good Federal response when the winds start to blow.) I’ve been tracking the Bush’s patronization of blacks...
Continue ReadingYesterday, Condi was on the ground in Alabama kicking off the Bush/Rove PR blitz to counterspin the Katrina meltdown (and pin it on local Democrats). Lending an assist, the caption of the AFP photo above (taken in July, but featured on YahooNews yesterday), stated that Condi "dismissed claims...
Continue ReadingPerhaps photojournalists in New Orleans sense the fundamental racial challenge this disaster presents to the nation right now. In going through the photo sites and galleries last night, some of the most striking images I found were those in which New Orlean’s whites (whether rescue workers or citizens) had...
Continue ReadingThis is the lead image and headline at DR this morning. Is this what we can expect from the right wing at the height of humanitarian crisis? Of course, the wide angle and the viewers low vantage only makes this more imposing — and that’s without the drawn guns....
Continue ReadingFor a "one man" site with the self-avowed mission of parsing the political visuals, today represented a complete overload. Besides the reverberations of Katrina, there was Bush spending Tuesday completely off-topic (comparing Iraq to WWII; framing himself in front of naval vessels that might otherwise have been hastened to...
Continue ReadingIn the face of the horrendous tragedy in New Orleans, the news images carry with them a countless number of fateful themes. Beginning with the weekend evacuation, one unstated subtext running through much of the reporting involved the disparate prospects between rich and poor. In many accounts, for example,...
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