[Politics] A picture is worth a thousand words..

[SUBMAN1]

[TteFAboB]

Can anyone translate the caption?

[scandium]

Except that isn't a picture. Its a propaganda poster.

[Torplexed]

One guy crouching behind a skirt...the other guy out in front.

Caption probably sez..."Get it?"

[August]

Or "The difference"...

[August]

Originally Posted by scandium

Except that isn't a picture. Its a propaganda poster.

It might be but that doesn't make it any less true.

[Spoon 11th]

"If you hurt my family, I'm going to shoot down your god."

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by August

It might be but that doesn't make it any less true.

My thoughts exactly. They wear masks, and hide in the general populace.

[scandium]

Truth != Propaganda.

Way back when, in a 1st year university english class on "context, substance and style", which was a pure writing course, a lot of our assignments were 5% writing exercises where we'd be given a cartoon image, or a picture, or whatever, and construct some kind of essay around it (analytical, expository, whatever). For old time's sake I'll take a stab at writing a short analytical essay on this poster and the techniques used by the artist to convey his message to his audience.

Without having any background on this poster, or what the caption says, I'll have to confine the analysis to its imagery and presume that its based on the clash between Hezbollah and Israel. In that context, then, we are shown an armed Hezbollah militant male, a Muslim woman and her child on one side, and an Israeli male soldier, an Israeli woman and her child on the other. The number of participants presented are equal, as are the weapons, but this is where the symmetry ends.

The Hezbollah militant is depicted in an aggressive posture, crouching behind the Muslim woman and child, with his weapon taking direct aim at the Israelis who he appears to be about to gun down. The Muslim woman infront of him looks directly at the Israelis, in a confrontional posture of her own with a grim and determined expression on her face, with her child held in front of her like a shield.

The Israeli soldier, on the other hand, is drawn upright, looking directly at his assailants with his hand pressing the Israeli woman and child behind him and his weapon held at the ready, but pointed at nobody. The Israeli woman clutches her child to her, her stance is neutral and the expression on her face is that of a deer caught in the headlights - she is helpless, a spectator.

Thus taken at face value, as "truth", I would conclude from the artist's illustration that the Hezbollah militants attack the Israelis not man-to-man, but crouched, cowardly like vipers, behind their women. And their women, for their part, are defiant and even willing participants themselves as they hold their young before them as a shields posing the dilemna to non-agressive Israeli soldier with his own family behind him: 'do I allow them to kill me and my family or do shoot, and in the process perhaps kill both the woman and the child. But what choice do I have, what do I do?' His stance suggests that he is resolute, but not provactive; that he is in fact courageous, and valliant but faced with an impossible dilemna.

Is this then the truth? Can we extrapolate from this poster an accurate picture of the actual events in this conflict, the nature of the struggle itself, and the way it is being waged by both sides?

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words, and I suppose in a way even a propaganda poster is; but where a picture shows an unbiased, unfiltered reality taking place in real time a propaganda poster aims only to convey a perception of a reality, and that perception is what the propagandist wants you to see. Propaganda is the wrong place to look for truth.

[joea]

Excellent analysis Scandium.

[Onkel Neal]

Thus taken at face value, as "truth", I would conclude from the artist's illustration that the Hezbollah militants attack the Israelis not man-to-man, but crouched, cowardly like vipers, behind their women.

It strikes me as accurate. I certainly wouldn't feel compelled to argue it is propaganda. We all know the "militants" and terrorists won't march as an army to do battle. They know and count on the Israelis and US to show retraint about killing innocents, and they use that.

[Skybird]

Propaganda intention or not, that picture very much illustrates a truth, and a very substantial difference between both sides. The current destruction in Lebanon also comes from the illustrated Hezbollah habit to hide in civilian infrastructure. You can't target them without accepting to destroy civilian structures and lifes as a sideeffect. Hezbollah acts intentionally that way, to combine any fighting back of Israel with a political price: a PR-loss.

There had been questionable events on the ground in recent years were Israeli soldiers on the ground commited questionable or criminal acts that led to investigations, however, acting that way remained to be exceptions. But acting that way is routine for Hezbollah, and by far no exception.

Sunday night there was a poltiical talokshow in first Germnan TV program ARD, and two women, one from Israel and one from Syria, were among the guests. The Israelis spoke first, describing the fear that comes from having to expect the worst day by day, since many years, and the terror of missiles falling from the sky, out of the blue, or bus bombs going off. she said that from that she cannot hate the people on the other side of the border, and can imagine what they are going thoruhg right now, and she expressed sadness for that. - The Syrian women said that life was so well for the Lebanese, and everything turned better recently, and then the Israeli reaction to the constant terror (that she mentuoned with no word) came that of course is disproportionate and totally unjustified, she said. not one word about the terror from Lebanese soil and with acceptance from Lebanese government against Israelis, not one word of sympathy expressed for the fears the Israeli women described, and indirectly indicating that Hezbollah is the only one who could defend Lebanon against the unjustified Israeli agression. The contrast between both could not have been any greater. The syrian women lives in Germany, btw.

Over the last years, my tolerance for this kind of selfish bias and one-sided arguing slowly but surely has fallen down to zero. It seems Israelis are expected to let bthemself killed in assaults silenbtly, without defending, without protesting, and without having the right for self-defense. and that is the point were my tolerance ends.

there were reports about Israel using phosphor ammunition. A "German" family, Lebanese by origin, but despite their now German-being not able to speak fluid German, was amongst the victims, and received medical treatement. The Syrian or French doctor examing them has ruled out that their wounds were resulted by Phosphor. The intervie was in German TV this evening. The whole phosphor story probably also is only one of these attempted PR-stunts.

[Onkel Neal]

Now, if you want to show a picture of an American or Israeli warplane dropping a bomb on a house and splattering non-combatants, that's fine. It happens. As long as it's noted that US and Israelis make a honest effort not to kill NCs. If the Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Queda would fight as an army and not guerrillas, this would be a moot point.

[Safe-Keeper]

To sum up the propaganda poster:
NONSENSE.
Don't even try to justify slaughtering civilians by saying that the Hezbollah are "hiding behind innocents". What the Israelis are doing is illegal and unacceptable. Period. The Hezbollah fighters are partisans. They don't "hide among civilians", they live with the civilians. Why's that Hezbollah fighter in that house? He lives there.

I assume you condemn the Polish, Norwegian, Danish, French, and Russian partisans of World War II, too? They also committed this heinous crime known as "living at home with their families in-between attacks". I suppose that means that the Nazis were justified in torching all these European cities. I assume you think that when the Gestapo came to arrest these two partisans in the night in this Norwegian village I live near and got shot, they were justified in burning the whole village the next day. I mean, the evil, evil freedom fighters were "hiding amongst the civilian populace".

It strikes me as accurate. I certainly wouldn't feel compelled to argue it is propaganda.

Then it's time you learned what the word meant.

The world's going to the dogs.

My thoughts exactly. They wear masks, and hide in the general populace.

They wear masks?! Oh no! Dangerous, evil criminals!

Er.. Is it a war-crime to conceal your face? You've got a lot of arrests to make around the world if that's the case.

It seems Israelis are expected to let bthemself killed in assaults silenbtly, without defending, without protesting, and without having the right for self-defense. and that is the point were my tolerance ends.

Thank you for confessing so wonderfully that you've been keeping your head in the sand all this time. I love honesty and open-ness.

When you're ready to open up, though, I've got this for you, in bold, coloured letters so it'll be easy for you to read: The problem is not that Israel retaliates. The problem is that Israel breaks every law there is to break, deliberately attacks civilian targets and innocents, and even fire upon the Red Crescent rescue teams trying to stay in the region and help the said innocents. Thank you for your attention.

Safe-Keeper
-Who's so disgusted with Israel and with how 1/3 of the victims of the Israeli "retaliation" are children that he's boycotting all Israeli goods and supporting the movement among the Norwegian parties to implement a nation-wide boycott of Israel.

[scandium]

Meanwhile, in other developments: 4 UN observers killed by the IDF after being shelled, then bombed, and then the rescue team was shelled when they tried to clear the rubble.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5215366.stm

The UN in Lebanon says the Israeli air force destroyed the observer post, in which four military observers were sheltering.

It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery.

A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble.