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.
Deleteyup libtards gonna libtard
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.
DeleteI recognize Sitting Bull, what is the slave photo from? It is familiar too.
ReplyDeleteSadly enough, I'm really not certain of the source. I was looking at old b&w photographs of slaves and this one came up.
Deleteslavery and genocide have been beaten to death. I'm white and I've never owned a slave or killed a native American so leave me alone. infact you just keep the racism alive with this. a person is a person not a color. but people still hold on to it and make a big deal about it. my ancestors were irish and asian and they were treated like they werent people as well. but i dont hear them bitching about ir every fucking day. the thing is, every race has been guilty of genocide and slavery. but the evil americans are always the worst. no one really talks about how the native americans had plenty of tribes that murdered and pillaged eachother before the "white man" came along. two different creeds a language barrier anger and ignorance. thats what happened. settlers had guns and the natives didnt, so they lost. as for slavery, slaves were sold to early "americans" via AFRICANS (where thertr is still slavery today) for alcohol and gunpowder. so just read... or something jeeze. i mean hell we had a war with OURSELVES killing thousands of americans to END something youre all still bitching about and you didnt even have to live through it. no one who dealt with it is even alive. its here to learn from...not to dwell on.
ReplyDeleteTired Anonymous, not matter how worn out the rhetoric is, racism is alive and well and may always be for that matter. The image serves to remind us to not forget the sordid history behind this country's rise to power. Indeed, the United States is not alone in this by a long shot but this doesn't change the facts.
DeleteEvery European Country. lol This is fucked up and hypocritical. America is not the only country that has done this, or other messed up crap. Look up Unit 741, for example. Then go look in the mirror, and slap the dumb out of yourselves. Read up on your watered down history. Morons! I LOVE being an American. I promise you that wherever you live, it cost lives as well. Step off your high and mighty pedestals before you fall off.
ReplyDeleteDon't get it twisted, V- I love being an American as well for the most part. However there is nothing hypocritical about being critical of how we got here. America has exploited immigrant labor since the end of slavery and now exploits outsourced labor. It's densely ironic how the biggest complaint about this meme is how "other countries did it to." By that standard, the rest of the world is entitled to enact slavery and mass genocide based on our own sordid history.
DeleteI agree, I think it's important to bring these things up and reanalyse them and ultimately hold people to account if at all possible.
ReplyDeleteAccountability is a rare feat in our country. Acknowledgement by the general public will go a long way in facing our bloody and vicious history.
DeleteEasily...almost every nation on the planet has a history of genocide and slavery. Read a few history books dumbass...If you're so willing to hate on us for our history, you should hate almost every nation on the entire planet for having the same history...many are worse than ours...
ReplyDeleteDumbass Anonymous, pointing your finger and declaring "I learned it from you!" is a spoiled child's version of justifying such horrors.
DeleteSigns and signage – road signs, movie marquees, newspaper headlines real and imaginary, municipal signs, electronic message boards, storefronts, etc. – function as important indicators of the shifts, changes, and developments in Angstrom’s consciousness as he grows older throughout the decades chronicled in Updike’s ‘Rabbit’ series. Perhaps I should say Angstrom’s awareness of the signs, or, to be a bit more accurate, Updike’s descriptions of Angstrom’s awareness of the signs, rather than the signs themselves.
ReplyDeletehttp://postmoderndeconstructionmadhouse.blogspot.com/2013/12/signs-and-signage-in-updikes-rabbit.html#.UyN2cj9dXxA
Pretty much all of human civilization since before the time of recorded history. Even if you founded a nation state of nothing but progressive pure egalitarian socialist within 5 generations they would be enslaving or killing off someone else for the benefit of their own society. I'd put money on it.
ReplyDeleteHeres a Few.. United Kingdom of Great Britain, Yugoslavia, Russia, The Huns, Germany, shall I continue?
ReplyDeletePlease do... we love history!
DeleteEgypt, Asia, Africa, Mexico. .. The Pharaohs slew off many cultures, and enslaved the Jews and others. .. Jews in Egypt 400 years. Barbary coast (Black man enslaved White men) 1500 years.
ReplyDeleteAlexander wept, for he had no more worlds to concur.
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