Sascha April 12, 2006 politics

Image of the day

Wonderfully surreal propaganda at a parade in Mashhad, Iran. The containers they are lifting were said to hold enriched uranium.

I don’t mean mix up things here, but don’t we sometimes just love most regimes’ sense of drama? Anyone remember the Iraqi information minister?
Via The NYTimes

5Comments

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1

tombo on April 13, 2006 at 1:15 pm

I’m thankful for pictures like this, because they teach me that I live in a bubble, together with lots of people. It reminds that there are cultures out there that just don’t seem to be compatible to mine, at least not yet. Globalisation is faster than human evolution. It will either end us in chaos or not. We’ll see.
Having said that I might add that I get a similar feeling of alienation when I see pictures of hooligans, Michael Jackson Fans or girls with loooooooong fingernails. Cultures, not compatible with mine. ;)
2

Sascha on April 13, 2006 at 1:26 pm

Well, I don’t think that it’s different at all. It’s just a deliberate effort in creating iconic images while reaching back to some vague cultural reference, the traditional dresses in this case (Iranian), white dove (peace movement, international), flag in the background (looks like an Iranified version of the IAEA-logo). Being German, look at all the kitsch that the nazis pulled! It’s the same strategy over and over again. And with image(s) being so important, chances are that it’s getting even more powerful.
3

tombo on April 13, 2006 at 3:00 pm

Totally with you. Visually it’s very interesting to see that the same things work for centuries. It’s the same tools, the same elements. Being german I get just as alienated with pictures of nazi propaganda. Not my culture and that doesn’t refer to german, western or whatever. Just refers to me ;)
4

sum1 on April 13, 2006 at 10:06 pm

I think the reason why such stuff is spread in the west is to ridicule the enemy, to make them inhuman. it’s a very old tactic of war preparation.
why don’t you just check out some iranian art like
http://sum1.onreact.com/index.php?p=790
http://sum1.onreact.com/index.php?p=787
http://sum1.onreact.com/index.php?p=616
before they perish in an us led (nuclear?) attack.
face it: iran is a democracy. demonizing it will not be raeson enough to destroy a democratic souvereign country.
try not to be part of the propaganda machine. think about people not governments and power relations.
5

Sascha on April 13, 2006 at 10:29 pm

That’s interesting commentary, thanks. Well, of course it was published by the NYTimes but I guess that the point for propaganda in this case clearly goes to the Iranian side. Maybe it’s because I’m also German, but I’m *very* sensitive about this kind of images.
I admit that I used the word regime to easily here, but the road that this government has chosen is a very dangerous one – certainly not because of the US alone. Of course Iran is full of artists and reasonable people but it’s the people in charge that are the troubling ones. Calling Reuters to take bizarre pictures of events like this certainly won’t help to remedy this situation.

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