Obamas' disturbing campaign posters
I visited American Thinker this morning and read an article that explained why certain Obama campaign posters seem unsettling.
This is the poster I am talking about.
Peggy Shapiro of American Thinker says, "The posters depict the same graphic closeup of the candidate with one block word either "Hope," "Change" or "Progress" at the bottom. I knew that I had seen this before, and then it came to me that this image appropriates the graphic style of totalitarian Soviet propaganda. It recalls the idealized portraits and personality cult of the "Beloved Leader" such as Stalin and Lenin. The leader, face illuminated by a "holy" light, looks off to the horizon and sees the truth that is not available to his mere mortal followers, who must look up to his image.
The one-word message offers a simple (simple-minded) promise of a utopian existence. These stenciled words bring to mind They Live, a 1988 film,
in which secret alien gods take over Los Angeles and control the
inhabitants by subliminal billboard messages which display the word
"Obey." Coincidentally or not, the website for the artist, Shepard
Fairey, who designed Obama's posters is called Obey and
boasts on its homepage, "Manufacturing quality dissent since 1989," and
the artist bills himself as an agent of "worldwide propaganda delivery."
You can check out more of Fairys' work at Worldwide Propaganda Delivery.
She continues, "Perhaps the common ground between Obama and Fairy is not only technique, but message. Fairy's other work romanticizes revolutionary/terrorist figures. Obama's association with figures such William Ayers, who boasted of a dozen bombings between 1970 and 1974, has been reported often. Obama was among only 22 Senators who opposed an amendment designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization. (Unlike the other 21,however, Obama missed the vote.) Fairy's art also reflects a common theme of the Obama campaign: America is a nation that oppresses. It is the America in which Obama's wife Michelle can take no pride and that Obama's spiritual ad visor damns. It is the vision of America and its place in the world by one who is unfamiliar with history and who has the luxury of American freedom to express his disdain for the country."
"What is then unsettling about the Obama poster campaign is that it may be perfectly suited for a man whose candidacy is based on a personality cult, who promises overly simplistic remedies for complex issues, and who seems to have more respect for America's critics than for the nation he hopes to lead."
It is somewhat disturbing - and revealing, that Sen Obamas campaign staff would select this
particular artist and organization to depict Obamas message to the voters.
Here are some historical posters using the same style of artwork:
You can check out more of Fairys' work at Worldwide Propaganda Delivery.
She continues, "Perhaps the common ground between Obama and Fairy is not only technique, but message. Fairy's other work romanticizes revolutionary/terrorist figures. Obama's association with figures such William Ayers, who boasted of a dozen bombings between 1970 and 1974, has been reported often. Obama was among only 22 Senators who opposed an amendment designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization. (Unlike the other 21,however, Obama missed the vote.) Fairy's art also reflects a common theme of the Obama campaign: America is a nation that oppresses. It is the America in which Obama's wife Michelle can take no pride and that Obama's spiritual ad visor damns. It is the vision of America and its place in the world by one who is unfamiliar with history and who has the luxury of American freedom to express his disdain for the country."
"What is then unsettling about the Obama poster campaign is that it may be perfectly suited for a man whose candidacy is based on a personality cult, who promises overly simplistic remedies for complex issues, and who seems to have more respect for America's critics than for the nation he hopes to lead."
It is somewhat disturbing - and revealing, that Sen Obamas campaign staff would select this
particular artist and organization to depict Obamas message to the voters.
Here are some historical posters using the same style of artwork:
Comments