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Another thing that makes black people just wanna holler and throw up our hands (Original Post) StarfishSaver Jan 2021 OP
What's wrong? I count five black faces and 12 white faces Stinky The Clown Jan 2021 #1
What is wrong? edhopper Jan 2021 #2
Guess I thought it was something else Phentex Jan 2021 #7
I give up. What is wrong with this picture? Ferrets are Cool Jan 2021 #3
You really don't see it? StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #4
No sarcasm. Ferrets are Cool Jan 2021 #6
Turin_C3PO explained it very succinctly StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #8
It's a Black Lives Matter protest. Turin_C3PO Jan 2021 #5
I don't see the problem. Also, it's a very small sampling in one image. Ferrets are Cool Jan 2021 #9
Seriously? StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #10
Ok, whatever Ferrets are Cool Jan 2021 #23
This kind of response is another reason black people wanna holler and throw up our hands StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #29
Exactly!! Vivienne235729 Jan 2021 #41
Totally agree. Strangest complaint to me. That other people Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2021 #77
Seems we are damned if you do and damned if we don't. LakeArenal Feb 2021 #78
Perfectly stated Lake A! Laura PourMeADrink Feb 2021 #80
Exactly. nt Raine Feb 2021 #81
The picture shows a bunch of white people leading black people in a march Tom Rinaldo Jan 2021 #37
There it is! From photographer to editor, this photo was NOT selected to show the movement. Hermit-The-Prog Jan 2021 #57
"The fact that you don't see the problem is one of the reasons this is a problem." intheflow Jan 2021 #56
I'm sure there's plenty Turin_C3PO Jan 2021 #11
I see a lot of those actually. SlogginThroughIt Jan 2021 #34
Ok now I see I didn't realize the article the picture was for. SlogginThroughIt Jan 2021 #35
Yes LeftInTX Jan 2021 #62
MSN obtained that pic from a conservative rag: Washington Examiner LeftInTX Jan 2021 #64
That image was chosen on purpose kcr Jan 2021 #51
SSDD - we can't even protest for ourselves - oh wait! malaise Jan 2021 #12
+1, this is the right wing trope that is intimated with pictures like in the tweet. uponit7771 Jan 2021 #49
Actually what I see in THIS picture is bluestarone Jan 2021 #13
Bottom line is Turin_C3PO Jan 2021 #14
Because edhopper Jan 2021 #16
AH. NOW i see the light! bluestarone Jan 2021 #19
rightfully, these women should be nominated! handmade34 Jan 2021 #25
Thank you! These women deserve the Prize. It's about damn time! CTyankee Jan 2021 #59
Black Lives Matter is a movement led by Black women. In an article saying it's been nominated WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #17
Read above! I see the light now! bluestarone Jan 2021 #21
But this isn't a story about white people StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #20
GOT IT! bluestarone Jan 2021 #22
So glad! StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #30
The "savior white person" or people in this picture is a trope and an insulting one. Keven Costner uponit7771 Jan 2021 #43
BLM is not just a 'Black' movement...it is about civil rights and justice for all...we all have a Demsrule86 Jan 2021 #60
Racist tropes are bad no matter how they're expressed, we all need to understand the META behind ... uponit7771 Jan 2021 #61
"BLACK Lives Matter" founded by black people for the purpose of protecting black lives isn't StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #66
You...you do know what BLM stands for, right? WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #72
Blanca Lives Matter? StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #74
Lol that photo. So, so frustrating. WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #15
no problem for me handmade34 Jan 2021 #18
You don't get it StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #26
I strongly feel handmade34 Jan 2021 #70
It's a problem edhopper Jan 2021 #27
That's the photo they should have used. Cracklin Charlie Jan 2021 #33
BLM is not a movement for celebrating white people for doing something about racism. It's a movement WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #31
This! StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #39
"But we should be GLAD that people of ALL colors are participating!!!11!!!11111!!" WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #46
Oh, great. Now you're going to drive the allies away StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #48
"I was TOTALLY down for the struggle, until you were MEAN!" WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #53
"I was an ally, but someone I don't know posted something I didn't like on an anonymous discussion StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #55
What was being said in this picture. The way her face changed. I am curious. Do you have any idea? LizBeth Jan 2021 #50
IIRC it was during the SAG-AFTRA awards and the sound was weird onstage and she couldn't WhiskeyGrinder Jan 2021 #52
Thanks. Looked more titillating than it was. LizBeth Jan 2021 #54
the women should have nominated handmade34 Jan 2021 #67
Very well said. hamsterjill Feb 2021 #79
It illustrates a problem with any "movement" gulliver Jan 2021 #24
That's not the problem. It's not like they couldn't find photos of BLM that featured black people StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #28
10000+ Vivienne235729 Jan 2021 #38
It's a really bad choice. No question. gulliver Jan 2021 #40
And whether it was intentional or unintentional, it shows why we need more diversity in newsrooms StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #42
Completely agree gulliver Jan 2021 #44
They need to fix it pretty quick. Cracklin Charlie Jan 2021 #32
Wow. It is a bit ironic, isn't it? This will be held up in the future Vivienne235729 Jan 2021 #36
Savior White Person is a trope the right likes to push onto outgroups that's usually meant to be uponit7771 Jan 2021 #45
It's really troubling to see people here try to defend it. StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #47
That is very disturbing. intheflow Jan 2021 #58
Poor choice from a poor source - the Washington Examiner LeftInTX Jan 2021 #63
Thank you for researching the source of the photo. SharonClark Jan 2021 #65
That's fucked up. Solly Mack Jan 2021 #68
That's a great way to reward white allies for all of their sacrifice StarfishSaver Jan 2021 #69
The chosen photo is all warm, fuzzy, and kumbaya for a reason. Racism in advertising has long been Solly Mack Jan 2021 #71
If you are going to do a photo of a Black Lives Matter march Bettie Jan 2021 #73
I get the anger and frustration frazzled Jan 2021 #75
It makes it look like the White people is what it's about lunatica Jan 2021 #76
"This account owner limits who can view their tweets." Hekate Feb 2021 #82
 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
10. Seriously?
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 11:53 AM
Jan 2021

Imagine if this were a story about a Woman's March and the accompanying photo featured a crowd of men.

The fact that you don't see the problem is one of the reasons this is a problem.

Ferrets are Cool

(21,063 posts)
23. Ok, whatever
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:04 PM
Jan 2021

One sees what they want to see. I see a diverse group of well intentioned people. What I DON'T see is the entire crowd, so I have NO idea as to the racial composition of this particular march. Even if I could see the entire crowd, unless I knew the demographic of the area, I would not jump to any conclusions.
Facts, man, facts.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
29. This kind of response is another reason black people wanna holler and throw up our hands
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:14 PM
Jan 2021

It's one thing not to get it initially. It's another to just continue to ignore what you're being told and insist that we're just "jumping to conclusions."

This has nothing to do with the makeup of the entire crowd. This is about a newsroom selecting a photo featuring nothing but white people to depict a black movement. Your inability or unwillingness to understand why this is a problem and why it's insulting to the movement and to black people - and not an isolated incident, but a pattern that occurs ALL the time - and your insistence on treating it as if it is WE who are overreacting, is really unfortunate.

Facts. Just facts.

 

Laura PourMeADrink

(42,770 posts)
77. Totally agree. Strangest complaint to me. That other people
Wed Feb 3, 2021, 03:35 PM
Feb 2021

are empathetic and care and therefore participate? Is involvement worse than no involvement?

LakeArenal

(28,729 posts)
78. Seems we are damned if you do and damned if we don't.
Wed Feb 3, 2021, 04:24 PM
Feb 2021

Then when we ask what there is objectionable to the pic we get:

“See, you are the problem just because you ask. We want to holler at you and throw up our hands.”

Tom Rinaldo

(22,911 posts)
37. The picture shows a bunch of white people leading black people in a march
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:29 PM
Jan 2021

for Black Lives Matter. Yes, it is a BIG problem. Not the actual event, this photo. Photography is an art form because it involves capturing, editing, and then framing slices or reality to make a statement. This photo statement is all wrong, and in my mind cringe worthy, given that its use is to illustrate the entire Black Lives Matter movement.

intheflow

(28,407 posts)
56. "The fact that you don't see the problem is one of the reasons this is a problem."
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 01:43 PM
Jan 2021

100%. Absofuckinglutely!

Turin_C3PO

(13,650 posts)
11. I'm sure there's plenty
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 11:53 AM
Jan 2021

of photos from BLM protests that they could have chosen that show more actual black people.

 

SlogginThroughIt

(1,977 posts)
34. I see a lot of those actually.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:20 PM
Jan 2021

There are MANY photos that are of predominantly black people. This is a photo that is cery representative of our population. Some people say white people need to be more involved on the front lines, some say white people need to take a step back. It is always a different set of rules and expectations depending on who is talking.

Myself I show up, support, and let others do the talking. But I don’t begrudge other white people that are vocal and taking a more up front place.

 

SlogginThroughIt

(1,977 posts)
35. Ok now I see I didn't realize the article the picture was for.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:22 PM
Jan 2021

Yes absolutely they should have used a different picture for this article.

LeftInTX

(24,560 posts)
64. MSN obtained that pic from a conservative rag: Washington Examiner
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 02:45 PM
Jan 2021

MSN is a news aggregate like Raw Story. MSN has two other articles from The Guardian and AFP.

When a random person posts a screenshot in twitter, it sends me hunting. I was wondering if maybe the image was screenshot from a slide show compilation, but it was from a single article reposted by MSN which was obtained from the Washington Examiner.

It is not an appropriate pic to represent a movement.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=15029757

bluestarone

(16,722 posts)
13. Actually what I see in THIS picture is
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 11:55 AM
Jan 2021

White people SUPPORTING Black Lives Matter? I see this as a GOOD THING! Happy they are there!

edhopper

(33,208 posts)
16. Because
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:00 PM
Jan 2021

it's about BLM getting a Nobel nomination'

And these are the people who started it. not some white protesters.

?resize=1200,600

WhiskeyGrinder

(22,147 posts)
17. Black Lives Matter is a movement led by Black women. In an article saying it's been nominated
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:00 PM
Jan 2021

for the Nobel Peace Price, the visual should depict that fact.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
20. But this isn't a story about white people
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:02 PM
Jan 2021

It's a story about Black Lives Matter.

Every story about black people doesn't need to find a way to make white people the focus. It's not like white people don't get enough attention or credit in the media for all manner of things.

This is another example of the tendency of many in the mainstream to not take black people seriously unless and until validated by white people. This story is not about white people supporting Black Lives Matter. It's a story about Black Lives Matter, a movement by and about black people. There are plenty of photos of Black Lives Matters activities featuring black people. This did not need to be illustrated with photos of white people in Black Lives Matters t-shirts.

It's insulting and further evidence of how we're marginalized in and not taken seriously in the media and why we need to have more diversity in newsrooms so that they aren't dominated by people who don't see us.

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
43. The "savior white person" or people in this picture is a trope and an insulting one. Keven Costner
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:35 PM
Jan 2021

... tried it and it was insulting decades ago and it still is a trope.

This picture by itself is OK but not with the history behind the "savior white person" that the right likes to push and the woke left likes to ignore isn't helpful.

Demsrule86

(68,352 posts)
60. BLM is not just a 'Black' movement...it is about civil rights and justice for all...we all have a
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 02:10 PM
Jan 2021

stake in it...and it will take all of us White and Black working our asses off to stop the police shootings, fix the unfair justice system and end systemic racism that still exists in this country...this OP makes me sad.

And I completely disagree with it. I didn't see anything wrong with the picture. I have attended BLM protests as a White person. I would also add, we need as much support as we can get in order to enact the change that is needed so desperately.

And lastly, I would remind everyone that women of all colors have and still face discrimination in our society-both in terms of harassment and economics. seeking Justice for all and an end to racial animus is the duty of every American .

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
61. Racist tropes are bad no matter how they're expressed, we all need to understand the META behind ...
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 02:14 PM
Jan 2021

... issues to be able to communicate to each other effectively.

The right has used the "savior white" as a patronizing response to outgroups setting boundaries forever.

It's their butt hurt way of being center to an issue that involves someone else, the atypical "we suffer too" response to conflate or minimize the focus on an outgroup request.

It's VERY VERY subtle and pushed by those who aren't aware or traffic in racism from the right or common ingroups.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
66. "BLACK Lives Matter" founded by black people for the purpose of protecting black lives isn't
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 03:01 PM
Jan 2021

a "black movement"?

Seriously?

Sort of like how white people, who had no problem calling folk with even one drop of African blood "black" suddenly deciding in 2007 that a man with an African father "isn't REALLY black. He's MULTI RACIAL What about his white mother?!"

This is a perfect example of the propensity for some to always feel that white people need to be centered or at least share attention and credit for pretty much everything that happens in this country, even when it's not about them.

handmade34

(22,755 posts)
18. no problem for me
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:01 PM
Jan 2021

Black Lives Matter is a movement for ALL people, and all people should and seemingly are involved.... I would hate to think white people would opt out just because of the color of their skin... and I sincerely appreciate all men who are involved in the womens' movements

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
26. You don't get it
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:07 PM
Jan 2021

This isn't a story about the diversity of Black Lives Matter and there certainly is no effort to make "white people opt out just because of the color of their skin."

This is about black people being made invisible in the media - even when the media is covering our own movements and causes, the media feels the need to center it all on white people.

And while you appreciate the men who are involved in women's movements, I doubt you'd think it made sense to illustrate a story about the Women's March with a picture of a bunch of men.

We are tired of everything constantly being centered around white people. Black people speak up? Wow - you shouldn't say that because you're making white people uncomfortable. Black people protests - No! You're doing it wrong because you might turn off white people. And now, a movement founded by, focused on, and comprised mostly of black people gets a singular honor - Cool! Let's talk about the white people who are involved in it. Aren't they great?!

handmade34

(22,755 posts)
70. I strongly feel
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 03:29 PM
Jan 2021

that Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and any monies should go to THEM should they win... not the movement... the movement gets time person of the year or such...

I would hope that anyone involved in the movement would give accolades to the women and understand the roots of the movement and the importance...

my response is to the fact that the movement has been nominated and while I suppose there is a sense that white people are trying to take it over... from where I stand I really don't think that is the big picture... example: in my mostly white state of Vermont, there are many, many more BLM signs out in front of houses that for sale signs or trump signs... easy for them to say huh? But... from all of my interactions, people are sincere, they care, no matter the color of their skin or ethnicity

I say the picture most likely portrays some realities.... the problem is that the wrong person/movement was nominated

and yes, I would be ecstatic if the women's movement had LOTS of men that finally are getting their heads on straight because they are at the root of our problems (just as white people are at the root of problems for people of color)

my 2 cents... but I certainly get what you are saying and hopefully am empathetic enough to understand what you are feeling

WhiskeyGrinder

(22,147 posts)
31. BLM is not a movement for celebrating white people for doing something about racism. It's a movement
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:17 PM
Jan 2021

led by Black women to dismantle systemic violence against Black people in the carceral state. In an article talking about how the movement has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the visual should reinforce that reality.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
55. "I was an ally, but someone I don't know posted something I didn't like on an anonymous discussion
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 01:40 PM
Jan 2021

board, so they drove me away because they were DIVISIVE. Nice JOB!"

WhiskeyGrinder

(22,147 posts)
52. IIRC it was during the SAG-AFTRA awards and the sound was weird onstage and she couldn't
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 01:20 PM
Jan 2021

hear her co-star talking.

handmade34

(22,755 posts)
67. the women should have nominated
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 03:09 PM
Jan 2021

and maybe it can be fixed so that the nomination truly reflects what BLM is...

hamsterjill

(15,214 posts)
79. Very well said.
Wed Feb 3, 2021, 05:16 PM
Feb 2021

I think this photo is representative of the true intent of BLM, being to bring people - ALL people - together. As has been outlined further in this thread, this photo is also only one representation. Are we to analyze each one? I am glad that BLM has been nominated and may very well win.

gulliver

(13,142 posts)
24. It illustrates a problem with any "movement"
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:05 PM
Jan 2021

I get that the picture should have had Black people (more and in front), but the picture points out a basic problem. Every "street is our stage" movement automatically attracts a mix of in-group supporters, out-of-group supporters, co-opters, wannabes, attention seekers and, unfortunately, yahoos. The Internet quickly turns a "protest" into an incoherent, usually counterproductive Tower of Babel flash mob.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
28. That's not the problem. It's not like they couldn't find photos of BLM that featured black people
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:10 PM
Jan 2021

These protests were overwhelmingly black. They could have closed their eyes and randomly grabbed countless photos featuring black people without even looking at them. Someone had to go through a lot of trouble to pull this photo - or if it wasn't intentional, no one else involved in getting this story moving and to the public didn't notice that showed a bunch of white people and never thought to say, "can we find another picture that more accurately depicts the movement?"

This wasn't accidental.

gulliver

(13,142 posts)
40. It's a really bad choice. No question.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:31 PM
Jan 2021

It's so bad that it definitely could be sneaky malice or bias. It could also be incompetence or other factors too. The editor might have thought the photo was the best click-bait (for positive or negative reasons) and that was all they cared about. But I do get that it obviously stinks and is worth pointing out.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
42. And whether it was intentional or unintentional, it shows why we need more diversity in newsrooms
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:33 PM
Jan 2021

Because intentional or not, the effect is the same. Unintentional bias is just as damaging.

Vivienne235729

(3,373 posts)
36. Wow. It is a bit ironic, isn't it? This will be held up in the future
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:29 PM
Jan 2021

As yet another great example of how the media is racially biased. This is terrible. Pink slips need to be passed out and there needs to be meetings across the country talking about this.

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
45. Savior White Person is a trope the right likes to push onto outgroups that's usually meant to be
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:39 PM
Jan 2021

... patronizing but on the face looks benign.

The person who did this didn't know about the trope (and it looks like there's a lot of people on DU who don't either) but that usually because there's a cultural deficit in the M$M.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
47. It's really troubling to see people here try to defend it.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 12:42 PM
Jan 2021

Even more troubling is the "why shouldn't white people be praised for helping black people?" tone to those defenses.

intheflow

(28,407 posts)
58. That is very disturbing.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 02:00 PM
Jan 2021

How any white person on the left could be trotting out the "All Lives Matter" and "But white people are supporting BLM!" after 2020 is beyond reason or intellect. The whole freaking phrase was created JUST for this reason! BLACK lives matter! That doesn't equal any other people's lives *not* mattering, it's that we as a country need to turn our gaze towards Black lives and Black experiences under white supremacist culture. We white people need to step back and let Black people lead this movement, even as we can't expect Black people to do the heavy lifting to overcome racism because we broke it, we own it. Step up, fellow White folks! Your colorblind good-intentions continue to help oppress Black bodies.

SharonClark

(10,005 posts)
65. Thank you for researching the source of the photo.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 02:49 PM
Jan 2021

Now I’m curious why the tweeter used that picture without identifying the source as part of right wing media.

Solly Mack

(90,740 posts)
68. That's fucked up.
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 03:15 PM
Jan 2021

Yes, BLM has become a global movement that has garnered support from various allies all over the United States and around the world - but

And it's a huge fucking BUT -

Black Lives Matter came out of the pain and anger felt each and every time black people were killed at the hands of the police. It is, first and foremost, a black movement. A movement begun by black people for black people, in support of and supported by black people, for the lives of black people.

Black faces should be front and center as representative of the movement. Regardless of participation by allies.

No one is trying to kick white people out of the club, just saying if you're going to recognize Black Lives Matter, then recognize.


Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors. Learn their names.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
69. That's a great way to reward white allies for all of their sacrifice
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 03:20 PM
Jan 2021

You'll drive them away with your divisiveness.

Because, unfortunately, this is needed ...

Solly Mack

(90,740 posts)
71. The chosen photo is all warm, fuzzy, and kumbaya for a reason. Racism in advertising has long been
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 04:25 PM
Jan 2021

a form of structural racism and, acting as a tribute to white privilege, it often comes with a comfort zone so as to not offend.

And if anyone thinks news doesn't market the news, well - think again. Even when you think it is something just so innocent, look again.

The photo in the OP is mostly white people out front, mostly men, with a few black faces, several women, and both gay and straight.

All inclusive, right?

Yet that's not the story (stories) behind Black Lives Matter is it?

Those stories being the many deaths of black people suffered at the hands of the police and racism period.

Sure, we can talk about how great and wonderful togetherness is - but first you have to recognize the reasons behind the Black Lives Matter movement.

Structural racism kills. White privilege kills. Racism kills. Racist cops kill.

Yes, a more diverse grouping appeals to, and allows comfort for, those who find a group of black people intimidating.










But there's the rub - and ain't it always?


Why should a group of black faces cause people to feel uncomfortable?

Why should it change how people view a cause, a movement, even a product?


Take any generic product used by all, but for the longest time all you ever saw was white faces. Comfort zone advertising. Racism in advertising.



Oh, and least anyone think I'm overlooking another aspect:

That rainbow sign, while meant to show inclusion in the OP photo - will also offend a lot of people. Because of bigotry against the LGBTQ community.

Bigotry in advertising also attacks the LGBTQ community as well. People of color, women, even religions.

Sure, we can all point to commercials and such that do try to be inclusive - but that hasn't been the history and that racist marketing history has done nothing but further entrench racist thinking.

It's about the visibility of black people and not the diminishing of black people and their lives.

That's why how BLM is presented matters. It makes a difference.

It's about the visibility of all groups not the dominant culture or dominant power and how they are represented. It matters. It makes a difference.

Otherwise, just go get Kendall Jenner and see if she is up for another commercial on the struggles of being oppressed.
















Bettie

(15,998 posts)
73. If you are going to do a photo of a Black Lives Matter march
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 04:30 PM
Jan 2021

maybe you could frame the picture so that the Black faces are in the foreground.

Center the people who the march is for. I'm betting that there are photos that have Black people in the foreground and white people in the background, giving the same impression: that many support the movement, but have the people for whom it is life and death in the foreground.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
75. I get the anger and frustration
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 06:19 PM
Jan 2021

on a visceral level. I remember the feeling, in a totally different context, when I went to see the much acclaimed movie Schindler’s List, way back in 1993. I grew increasingly agitated over the course of the film, and then finally angry. Why was this about two white guys (an Irishman, playing the Aryan hero, and a Nazi), while the purported subjects were nowhere: faceless victims with no agency and no story. When I expressed this to others, no one got it. Well, not until this guy wrote something almost two decades later that made me feel like I hadn’t been so crazy after all:

Last week, Tablet Magazine published our list of the 100 greatest Jewish films of all time. At the very bottom was Schindler’s List. In a brief blurb, I called it an “astoundingly stupid” movie, which, in turn, inspired some of our readers to call me a “piece of shit” and a “neo-Nazi”—all for casting an aspersion on what, if they are to be believed, is everyone’s favorite Holocaust movie.


Which makes perfect sense: More than just a regrettable film, Schindler’s List neatly reflects the Manichean mindset of many American Jews, for whom mythology trumps memory and nothing lies beyond good and evil. Those who howled at me weren’t expressing a mere aesthetic judgment; they were defending a worldview.

To understand this worldview, we need only look at Schindler’s List. The film’s two main characters are Liam Neeson’s Oskar Schindler and Ralph Fiennes’ Nazi officer, Amon Goeth. The first is a philandering and greedy German who sees a little girl in a red coat and has a nearly instantaneous epiphany, realizing that life is precious and that Jews should be saved. The other is a monster; ...

Spielberg’s ... Jews do not matter. They’re abstractions, spiritual currency so that our “hero” can pay his way toward salvation. Like Goeth, Schindler, too, is busy scrubbing away everything that makes him human.

The film’s blunt simplification enraged the Hungarian-Jewish Nobel laureate Imre Kertész, himself a survivor. Schindler’s List, he argued, was kitsch. “I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life (whether in the private sphere or on the level of ‘civilization’ as such) and the very possibility of the Holocaust,”

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/listless


My skin is white, and while I may be only able to understand the depredations of the black body on an intellectual rather than a visceral level, I do relate to the anger this image must generate. It angers me too.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
76. It makes it look like the White people is what it's about
Sat Jan 30, 2021, 06:26 PM
Jan 2021

Whoever chose that photo to talk about BLM getting nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize is ignoring that the movement was started by Black people and is about systemic racism against Black people and that White people are ONLY there in a supporting role.

Christ! White people don’t have the problems that Black people do with racism in this country. It isn’t about them! And on their own merits they did NOT earn the nomination. The Black organizers did.

I don’t blame the White people in the photo because I think they’re being supportive. I blame whoever chose that photograph. Especially when the subject is about BLM itself being nominated.

It would piss me off if the subject were about women’s rights and the photo just depicted men!



Hekate

(90,202 posts)
82. "This account owner limits who can view their tweets."
Thu Feb 4, 2021, 03:19 AM
Feb 2021

Well that’s just wrong.

I’m sure I’ll catch up later.

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