Propaganda

Posted to facebook, but hey, why not put it on the blog. Also, I thought I would be excited for this superbowl, but I'm not. I really just don't care. I expect an overwhelming Colts victory, unless it rains. I'll be thrilled if the Bears win. Manning's a loser. All I care about is chewing gum and kicking ass at Pub Trivia...and I'm all out of bubble gum (name the film).




I was checking out CNN today and came across a story containing this photo and the headline "Church destroyed, but worship goes on after tornado." I haven't seen propaganda this blatant for a while and it made me wonder who the story was aimed at. Is it simply news-as-niche marketing? Or is it trying to connect us (especially through the photo) to a mythical average-yet-noble, church-going America as the repository of the nation's virtue. Either way, it's cynical. However sociologically interesting it may be, it's a shame that 9/11's New York "ground zero" is becoming the central symbol in the iconography of disaster; to be trivialized by every huckster (be they victim or photojournalist) who uses it to appeal to the national gaze.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/04/florida.storm/index.html