A Georgia paper has hit the bullseye of controversy. This photo is the cover of the Roswell Beacon, teasing a piece about the rising activity level of white supremacist groups surrounding the possible nomination of Barack Obama. The story itself is a little tangly — it's hard to determine whether the criticisms that the story doesn't warrant such an inflammatory image are justified.
The editor says of the cover choice, "we knew we were on the provocative edge. But it's a very fair piece, a smart piece." The article was written by a freelance journalist who was curious how law enforcement agencies were handling the increased number of threats lodged against Obama by white supremacist groups, some of whom were local. Some of the details in the piece are surprising, like this from one of the interviews:
Some idiot out there’s going to put a bullet in that silver-tongued devil, and then there’ll be a race war. There are some in our movement who are preparing for war, [even] praying for it.
The paper might have had good intentions behind the cover. The editor is pleased that the controversy has "projected the story. We're hoping federal law enforcement takes notice." He calls it a valuable public service. It might be? Georgia has 42 active white power cells, ranking fourth in the country behind California, Texas, and South Carolina.
Did the story justify the cover? Is the image offensive regardless of the potential good intentions behind it? Would an Obama nomination incite white supremacists to violence?
Azzaro
Vanessa Bruno
Fly London
I don't like it, I don't it makes me uneasy! I think too many people are going to get some gratification of seeing this, regardless of what it says.
"silver-tongued devil" - nice!
Racism has got to be the stupidest, most irrational of all the "isms" - how does the fact that the pigment of someone's being darker/lighter mean so much? HOW! If you count cells the differences are trivial!
1A very tacky way to get attention. Maybe targeting supremacist groups would have been a better image.
2I don't really have a problem with the image, to be honest. But I'm also not one of those people who gets offended easily by advertisements, etc. If the image is getting them national attention and there's good information in the article, I don't see it as that big of a problem, any more than the TIME cover of the troops putting up a tree in place of a flag. *shrug* Fun with photoshop.
3But supremists groups are too easy to target. Aren't they mostly fat lazy men??
4That is a horrible grab for attention. I don't condone this at all.
5The thing is, this picture will probably be hung in the supremacist's meeting areas. They probably get a real kick out of it.
6Someone told me the other day that they don't want to vote for Obama because they think he will get shot. To tell you the truth it really never crossed my mind. All presidents are targets, I really do not think that Obama is going to be that much more of one.
7"The thing is, this picture will probably be hung in the supremacist's meeting areas. They probably get a real kick out of it."
That's the feeling I got from it, like so many are going to look at this and say, "hell ya"
8It's GROSS.
9Eh. It's just as easy for them to have made the picture themselves, zeze and jill. I feel like it's really not that different than one of them drawing the bullseye on with a permanant marker.
10Secondly, the title implies that white people are scared of a black man running for president, and I don't see that as being something a bunch of white supremacists are going to want posted in their meeting halls.
11C, I don't know, I disagree.
History shows that being president is a danger, being involved in race issues is a danger, and being black is a danger.
Lincoln was president involved in racial politics.
Malcolm X/MLK were black involved in racial politics.
Obama is all three; I think hate quantitative sometimes and all three things in one makes him a bigger target, not to mention the anger that some will feel over his title as the first black president - that would be seen as a HUGE defeat to supremacist, they are below a black man. A white man can't make unfavorable policy, a black man can't even talk about unfavorable policy, imagine a black man ruling and making unfavorable policy. I think there is definitely more danger for him.
...not voting for him b/c of it is stupid, if I may be so blunt.
12I do agree with you there, zeze. He is a bigger target because of his race, that much has been made clear by the fact that he's increased his security detail.
13I should rephrase. I think that he definitely has more of a hit on his head, although I think Bush had quite a price on his life as well. I just don't think he is in as much danger as people are making it sound.
I agree, not voting for him out of fear of assassination is just plain stupid. He is running for president I am pretty sure he understands and accepts the risks.
14I could be wrong, it has happened before. I do hope in this case I am correct in my assumptions.
15" feel like it's really not that different than one of them drawing the bullseye on with a permanant marker."
I feel like it legitimizes their sentiments. Just my opinion, though.
16The people who hate Bush are anti-guns - what are they going to do, run him over in their new hybrid? :hilarious:
I see your point, though
17"I feel like it legitimizes their sentiments. Just my opinion, though."
I agree Jill!
18
Z!
19I wasn't offended by it. I'm so dumb I didn't even realize the post was about us being offended until I got to the poll choices. Oops!
Is there an oops smily or whatever you call those things?
20Sweet! I guessed right.
21damn - that smiley is hysterical, not hilarious - now i know why it didn't work!
22Jill, I love the way you calmly disagree with people. It seems like you were away for a while!
23I am instantly reminded of the little "joke" Huckabee made in front of the NRA last week. However, I found that much more offensive than this.
24I think it's irresponsible, disrespectful, and in very poor taste. (I'd feel the same way if it were featuring ANY political candidate. Even Bush.) And as Jillness says, this image legitimizes hateful sentiments. C'mon, you know there are readers laughing and loving this cover.
25I don't find it very offensive; I think it's a visual summation of things that many people are speculating on. Unfortunately, there is still quite a bit of racism in this country and the illogical hatred of racism is different and more vitriolic than the hatred that many people feel towards Bush.
I find the headline more offensive than the picture.
26I feel so much better now that I'm not the only one who felt that way, MM!
27I agree Bella this surely wouldn't go over well if it were Hillary with a rifle pointed at her or McCain would it?
This is the magazine I was talking about yesterday when we were having that silly argument about racism vs sexism.
28Imagine if the Hillary sexism supporters saw a rifle pointed at her for wearing those pant suits......they would have a fit!
29Monday, I'm starting to think I don't get offended enough. I guess I just tend to ignore inconsequential things that I don't like.
30What a surprise. It's from Georgia.
31Hm. Maybe you're right. Time in the military tends to make it pretty difficult to offend me, though.
32they have newspapers in the south?
33Given that the article is about local white supremacist groups targeting Obama for violence and the need for stepped up law enforcement, I think the image makes sense. I don't find it offensive. But, I do think it's overly provocative.
34from what i can gather, the content of the story, the article headline and the image don't match. if shock value is what they were looking for i guess they accomplished it by peaking the public's interest.
as for the image putting any ideas is folks' heads - i doubt it - those thoughts were more than likely there from jump.
35I think it may have went a little too far.
... some people!
36But the little town where I grew up people are more freaked out about Obama being 'Muslim' rather than him being black.
You wouldn't believe how many people I have explained to that he isn't Muslim... and so what if he was? Being Muslim isn't a bad thing.
But where I am from it is. Much more so than being black.
My dad and I had a conversation about this in January after Iowa. It's a fact that he has a higher risk of being assasinated than the other canidates, but I admire him too much as a canidate not to vote for him.
I saw an interview with Michelle and Barack months ago where they were asked if they had considered this risk before they started the campaign. They said that they had but if they chose not to run out of fear for his safety, than the racists would have already won.
No matter who is the first black president or when, it will always be an issue. Most white surpremists are also very patriotic and wouldn't want to see the land they love being led by a race they hate so irrationally. At least the groups I see profiled on the History Channel wouldn't stand for it.
The image is obviously for shock value but it is an issue that deserves discussion.
37you know whats really funny about that, is that i have actually heard that the white supremacy groups are a little more supportive of obama because of his lack of vocal support of isareal. im not sure if its true, these are the same groups that kept ron pauls campaign afloat for so long...
38People are more concerned with political correctness than with facts. We may not like it but the fact is that there are racists out there who want to do harm. Instead of being concerned over a politically incorrect image, we should be concerned about educating people about tolerance. The truth is that there are still white supremacists in the United States, a country where everyone is supposed to have equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Instead of bashing the people who made the offending article, put your energy to educating the children of white supremacists on tolerance and equality so that we can eradicate hatred and promote peace.
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