What is the Controversy Surrounding the Obama-Joker Face Meme?

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In summary, a 20-year-old college student from Chicago named Firas Alkhateeb has created a controversial masterpiece featuring President Obama as the Joker, with the caption "Socialism" applied to the picture. The image has become widespread at healthcare protests and has been posted randomly throughout the country. Despite the various interpretations of the work, it has become an amusing social phenomenon. Some see it as a political message, while others view it as simply a tutorial on using Photoshop. Regardless, it has sparked debate and controversy among both supporters and opponents of Obama.
  • #1
Helios
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Artist Firas Alkhateeb, a 20-year-old college student from Chicago has created a controversial masterpiece: the Obama-Joker face. The caption "Socialism" was later applied to his picture. The image is becoming ubiquitous at healthcare protest as well as being posted randomly all over the country. Whatever the interpretation is of this work, it is an amusing social phenomenon.
 
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  • #2
Helios said:
Artist Firas Alkhateeb, a 20-year-old college student from Chicago has created a controversial masterpiece: the Obama-Joker face. The caption "Socialism" was later applied to his picture. The image is becoming ubiquitous at healthcare protest as well as being posted randomly all over the country. Whatever the interpretation is of this work, it is an amusing social phenomenon.

Uh..so no link?
 
  • #4
An interesting social phenomenon? There is nothing interesting about people who don't even know what they are opposing. Just more nonsense from the Limbaugh/Palin crowd.

Congress is writing the reform plans, not Obama.
 
  • #5
I've seen it posted all over Berkeley, near the University and down in the Gourmet Ghetto. I got a chuckle out of it, and it's a somewhat topical message. Socialism often goes awry in practice, and our government is closer than it has ever been to true socialism. We should never let our guard down, even during periods of relative trust.

- Warren
 
  • #6
The kid, Alkhateeb, that did the original says he did it as a tutorial on the use of photoshop and said the picture was stolen off of his flickr site.
 
  • #7
Ivan Seeking said:
Just more nonsense from the Limbaugh/Palin crowd.

Your knee-jerk judgments always amaze me, Ivan. The guy who created it is Palestinian, and actually supports and praises Obama.

His message is not right-wing, it is libertarian. I see his point, but I also hold mostly libertarian views.

- Warren
 
  • #8
And by "created it," I mean the message, by whomever put the word "Socialism" under it. I can accept that Alkhateeb had no political message in mind.

- Warren
 
  • #9
A Florida teenager could find himself in a sticky situation as a state attorney prepares to review possible felony vandalism charges in connection to the posters depicting President Obama as the Joker, FOXNews.com has learned.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/18/felony-vandalism-charges-mulled-obama-joker-poster-case/

I am not sure if the last posted link referred to this.
 
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  • #10
chroot said:
I've seen it posted all over Berkeley, near the University and down in the Gourmet Ghetto. I got a chuckle out of it, and it's a somewhat topical message. Socialism often goes awry in practice, and our government is closer than it has ever been to true socialism. We should never let our guard down, even during periods of relative trust.

- Warren
I'll give you that about socialism, but I don't see how it conveys such a message. I'm not a big fan of Obama or socialism, but I think it's kinda dumb.
 
  • #11
Evo said:
The kid, Alkhateeb, that did the original says he did it as a tutorial on the use of photoshop and said the picture was stolen off of his flickr site.
Now that's ironic!
 
  • #12
Ivan Seeking said:
Congress is writing the reform plans, not Obama.
Well that's just purposely obtuse, Ivan. Health care reform was a central part of his campaign platform and as President, if Congress is leading the reform plans, that's a failure by Obama to lead. I know you're not naive enough for that, so all I can conclude is you're trying to put some distance between Obama and the current failure of the plan to be popular and pass (so far).
 
  • #13
Evo said:
Apparently not viral. I never heard of it. Never in any mainstream news sources I read all day. Now that I've searched on it.. HOW STUPID.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/05/AR2009080503876.html
I heard about it on the radio a week or two ago when people first started noticing and have seen it several times online since. I don't think many news sources found it very interesting.


Ivan Seeking said:
An interesting social phenomenon? There is nothing interesting about people who don't even know what they are opposing. Just more nonsense from the Limbaugh/Palin crowd.

Congress is writing the reform plans, not Obama.
I'm not sure that it was orginally a political message at all, I think it was just a picture that someone was posting up for fun. Someone had already done a Bush Joker around the time the movie came out.
 
  • #14
chroot said:
I've seen it posted all over Berkeley, near the University and down in the Gourmet Ghetto. I got a chuckle out of it, and it's a somewhat topical message. Socialism often goes awry in practice, and our government is closer than it has ever been to true socialism. We should never let our guard down, even during periods of relative trust.

- Warren

Your government is still a million miles from true socialism. Perhaps moving left and coming a little closer to the centre would do your nation more good than harm?
 
  • #15
This is politics.

Get this crap off of GD. Even mentors here who show great intelligence in matters of science and have shown the capability of understanding nuances of complicated and difficult situations in other matters, are reduced to spouting oversimplified explanations and condemnations fed from opposing wing "opinion sources." It is embarrassing to read.
 
  • #16
Hmmm... I wonder which of us should feel embarrassed about being different from Chi Meson.

- Warren
 
  • #17
chroot said:
Your knee-jerk judgments always amaze me, Ivan. The guy who created it is Palestinian, and actually supports and praises Obama.

His message is not right-wing, it is libertarian. I see his point, but I also hold mostly libertarian views.

- Warren

I'm talking about the way it is used; talking about knee-jerk reactions. This was even referenced specifically in the op. Who made it or why really doesn't matter. Watch any anti-Obama gig and you'll see this and Hitler-Obama. If feeds right into the Palin/Limbaugh crowd.

I also don't appreciate his defacing of our President. No matter his intentions, it is disrespecful and probably a cheap ploy for attention.
 
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  • #18
Chi Meson said:
This is politics.

Get this crap off of GD. Even mentors here who show great intelligence in matters of science and have shown the capability of understanding nuances of complicated and difficult situations in other matters, are reduced to spouting oversimplified explanations and condemnations fed from opposing wing "opinion sources." It is embarrassing to read.

If you read the posting guidelines, which was written by the staff, you would see that this thread really does not meet the requirements for a thread in politics. Also, personal opinions are allowed in GD. I'm sorry if you don't approve of that.
 
  • #19
I saw the picture but I just didn't get it. Maybe because I didn't see the Batman movie.
 
  • #20
Ivan Seeking said:
If you read the posting guidelines, which was written by the staff, you would see that this thread really does not meet the requirements for a thread in politics. Also, personal opinions are allowed in GD. I'm sorry if you don't approve of that.
Actually, the political comments after the OP does make it more suitable for discussion in P&WA.
 
  • #21
Math Is Hard said:
I saw the picture but I just didn't get it. Maybe because I didn't see the Batman movie.

I've seen it and still don't really get it either. The only thing I can conjure is that maybe they are trying to use to depict him as the bogey man.

Ivan said:
I also don't appreciate his defacing of our President. No matter his intentions, it is disrespecful and probably a cheap ploy for attention.
Did you care when it was Bush?
 
  • #22
What's the difference between this nonsense and the Obama sneakers and basketballs being sold on 30 second cable spots? It's all disgraceful.
 
  • #24
TheStatutoryApe said:
Did you care when it was Bush?

No so much because he betrayed the country by trashing the Constitution; or at least he did implicitly by allowing others to do so. He earned and deserved disrespect. But I would still never support something like this directed at any President.
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
I also don't appreciate his defacing of our President. No matter his intentions, it is disrespecful and probably a cheap ploy for attention.

Since when did it become socially unacceptable to "deface" the president? His face was not disfigured, it was just painted to look like the Joker's face; It is and has always been an american tradition to draw exaggerated caricatures of politicians and this tradition will continued with obama in office;
 
  • #26
Ivan Seeking said:
No so much because he betrayed the country by trashing the Constitution; or at least he did implicitly by allowing others to do so. He earned and deserved disrespect. But I would still never support something like this directed at any President.
So basically, when you (Ivan) have a negative opinion about someone, it is ok if anyone insults them but when you (Ivan) have a positive opinion about someone it is not ok for people to insult them?

Do you see any logical or constitutional problems with that position, Ivan...? :rolleyes:

1. Unless you're God (or even a judge), you're not the arbiter of good or bad.
2. That doesn't jive with the concept of free speech.

In any case, I'm glad you acknowledged the double standard - saves me the trouble of digging up year-old quotes from you insulting Bush!

Also, just so we're clear:
I also don't appreciate his defacing of our President.
"our President" is generic, but really what you mean is 'a president I like', right? Or can this just be covered by saying things like that Bush wasn't your president?
But I would still never support something like this directed at any President.
Now I'm confused - you wouldn't support it against any president, but it was ok against Bush...?
 
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  • #27
...Now might also be a good time to point out that politicians (president, mayor, whatever) are not covered by slander/libel law. That's a pretty critical part of freedom of speech.
 
  • #28
Ivan Seeking said:
No so much because he betrayed the country by trashing the Constitution; or at least he did implicitly by allowing others to do so. He earned and deserved disrespect. But I would still never support something like this directed at any President.

In the context of the Constitution, does the creation of SO MANY additional CZARs concern you. People who answer only to Obama, and not approved/reviewed by Congress. Please don't name Bush CZARs, Obama has taken it to a whole new level.

Do you think the "Shadow Government" label is fair?
 
  • #29
It could have been worse:

i-like-turtles_188.jpg
 
  • #30
chroot said:
The guy who created it is Palestinian, and actually supports and praises Obama.
In regard to the latter part of your statement, I've seen http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/obama-joker-artist.html" :
"After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ," Alkhateeb said. "From my perspective, there wasn't much substance to him."
"I abstained from voting in November," he wrote in an e-mail. "Living in Illinois, my vote means close to nothing as there was no chance Obama would not win the state." If he had to choose a politician to support, Alkhateeb said, it would be Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
So I am curious, how did you come to your conclusion?
russ_watters said:
So basically, when you (Ivan) have a negative opinion about someone, it is ok if anyone insults them but when you (Ivan) have a positive opinion about someone it is not ok for people to insult them?
No. Basically; Ivan considers defacing the image of any President "disrespecful and probably a cheap ploy for attention", though it doesn't consern him as much in the case of one who "betrayed the country by trashing the Constitution".
 
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  • #31
OmCheeto said:
It could have been worse:

i-like-turtles_188.jpg

Yessssssss. I like turtles!
 
  • #32
kyleb said:
In regard to the latter part of your statement, I've seen http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/obama-joker-artist.html" :

Interesting story.

Regardless, Alkhateeb does agree with the Obama "Hope" artist about "socialism" being the wrong caption for the Joker image. "It really doesn't make any sense to me at all," he said. "To accuse him of being a socialist is really ... immature.

Alkhateeb claims that the artist, Shepard Fairey, who "socialized" his image, to have done a caricature of Bush also.

I think this is it:

prezfang.jpg


Cyrus said:
Yessssssss. I like turtles!

I really think that kid needs a lawyer and should start suing everyone for royalties...

pfOTurtleyes.jpg
 
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  • #33
OmCheeto said:
The artist claims to have done a caricature of Bush also.
I get the impression you are confused here. To clarify; Shepard Fairey made the Bush-vampire caricature, and commented on the Obama-Joker-socialism caricature of which Firas Alkhateeb made the Obama-Joker image but had no part in the "socialism" branding.
 
  • #34
I don't understand why he is drawn like the joker from the dark knight; Joker wanted anarchy;
 
  • #35
noblegas said:
I don't understand why he is drawn like the joker from the dark knight; Joker wanted anarchy;

So here's the deal. The collective "Anonymous" has been making silly pics of Joker ("why so serious") for quite a while now. Also since they like to troll people by emulating stormfront racists they have been making a lot of fun of Obama with altered pics of him and his campaign slogans and logos, mostly referencing socialism. Since anon mostly hang out on image boards they are often looking for new funny/interesting/offensive pics to share. The artist of this image says it was taken off his flickr account. So what I am figuring, and others have been figuring, is that some anon found the pic and posted copies all over the place as a joke. Most likely after it first hit and got so much attention other anon decided to make their own copies and post them all over.

"Anonymous" is known for trolling and raiding with the ultimate success being that it gets in the news. They are responsible for the Rick Roll, Rick Astley being voted Mtv's Best Act Ever, at least one major protest of the church of scientology involving several persons showing up wearing Guy Fawkes masks, one or two major floods of pornography on YouTube, and many other random events involving several individuals that don't really know each other banding together to **** with people's heads. The most current raid I am aware of is an attempt to get some strange fake event reported on Fox News.

So it it very likely "Anonymous" that started this just for fun though no one can really know for sure.

Edit: Also, considering the original artists inclination to depict Obama in this fashion I am thinking he is likely anon himself.
 

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