I run into a lot of the "Love It or Leave it" attitude with my political art and posts. Some of this backlash prompted me to throw together what is actually my first photographic meme. I feel we all must embrace our mistakes and downfalls along with the violent and often shameful history of our country if we wish to better the world. Not much has changed today as we've simply shifted slave labor to other countries through Big Business's outsourcing, which doesn't pay a living wage while we slaughter civilians in Middle Eastern countries under the guise of fighting terrorism. We must learn from the past to change the future...
I'm not nearly half the history nerd my brother is, but if he was here i believe he could easily rattle off a slew of nations (past and present) founded on genocide and slavery. Self loathing in America is so hip... memes make the most serious topics seem foolish
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Agreed, fully. To the person who created it: You clearly had the U.S. in mind. Also, while your meme is not incorrect, if you spent even a week in any country south of the American border, you'd realize that this is not an phenomenon limited to the U.S. In fact, I'll go so far to say that it demonstrates your ignorance of Caribbean, coastal Central American, and Brasilian history. Ever wonder why the U.S. is blacker than Canada or the southern U.S. blacker than the north? Why are nearly all Jamaicans and Haitians black? Why do Brasilians look like a country of Europeans and Africans mixed together? I'm in no way saying that what the U.S. did is correct - just open your eyes a little bit and realize that the U.S. is not the center of the world.
DeleteAbsolutely Byron. I never meant to imply that such atrocities are limited to the United States. By posing the question rather than making the statement on the meme perhaps has created good conversation about the global aspect of such things.
DeleteThis meme did in fact spark some wonderful conversations the past 24 hours about which countries (and there are indeed many) are guilty of such atrocities. My intention was to spark such conversation and realization, not loathing and belittlement.
ReplyDeleteSparking conversation----exactly, then comes knowledge; a dangerous thing. Free thinking, another danger, and just maybe we can stop the ignorance. thanks.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope all forms of ignorance (despite their apparent bliss) can be diluted. I don't think any of those things are dangerous though... we have nothing to lose from knowledge or free thinking other than our previous misconceptions.
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