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

[Helios]

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.

 

[binzing]

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?

 

[Evo]

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.

Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face
'Political' Poster Turns On Violent Symbolism

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/05/AR2009080503876.html

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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.

 

[chroot]

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

 

[Evo]

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.

 

[chroot]

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

 

[chroot]

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

 

[rootX]

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.

 

[russ_watters]

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.

 

[russ_watters]

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!

 

[russ_watters]

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).

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

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.

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.

 

[billiards]

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?

 

[Chi Meson]

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.

 

[chroot]

Hmmm... I wonder which of us should feel embarrassed about being different from Chi Meson.

- Warren

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I saw the picture but I just didn't get it. Maybe because I didn't see the Batman movie.

 

[Evo]

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.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

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.

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?

 

[WhoWee]

What's the difference between this nonsense and the Obama sneakers and basketballs being sold on 30 second cable spots? It's all disgraceful.

 

[WhoWee]

Obama sneakers
http://images.google.com/images?q=o...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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.

 

[noblegas]

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;

 

[russ_watters]

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...?

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...?

 

[russ_watters]

...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.

 

[WhoWee]

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?

 

[OmCheeto]

It could have been worse:

 

[kyleb]

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?

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".