The photo shopped image below has made the rounds on gullible right wing blogs. Too many wingnuts were too willing to believe the fraudulent photo and put it up on their blogs so that in turn their equally gullible readers could nod their heads in agreement. Idiots.
PHOTO SHOPPED IMAGE
The original, pre-photo shopped image:
From PolitiFact:
The sign is an obvious reference to the death of Michael Brown, the black teenager who was shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014. Brown’s death became a focus for both peaceful protests and rioting in Ferguson, and it attracted attention around the nation and the world.
On Nov. 25, a grand jury decided not to indict, setting off a new wave of demonstrations. The phrase "every time he robs a store" refers to surveillance footage showing Brown earlier that day robbing a store of cigarillos and assaulting a store employee. Supporters of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Brown, have said the robbery is an important piece of context in explaining Wilson’s shooting of Brown.
Still, the PolitiFact reader asked us whether the photo was real or manufactured, so we decided to take a look. The version we received is cropped to focus on the African-American man holding the sign, with a partial view of a woman standing to his left. Other versions, such as one analyzed by Snopes.com, include a fuller view of the woman, holding a sign that says, "Shame on Ferguson Police," as well as another man, an African-American, holding a sign that says, "We the People." The starkly divergent messages of the three signs provide a clue that something is amiss. And indeed, something is amiss.
In the original photograph -- published on the Riverfront Times’ news blog on Oct. 1 -- the sign read, "No mother should have to fear for her son's life every time he leaves home" (emphasis added). It also includes the hashtags #blacklivesmatter and #stayhuman. But words on the sign were doctored by a user of the social media site Imgur. Initially, the user posted this statement with the retouched photograph:
"The black community has every reason to be angry with the police, and the brutality they inflict. But making a martyr out of the kid that robbed a store and attacked a police officer is just mind boggling. Micheal (sic) Brown is one of the worst things to happen to race relations in a long time." At some point after the doctored version of the image began circulating, the user acknowledged that he had changed the picture: "Edit: Yes, I shopped this. It captured mine, and many others, frustration with this whole situation."
Our ruling A photograph that went viral purports to show a protester in Ferguson, holding a sign that said, "No mother should have to fear for her son's life every time he robs a store." However, the photo was manipulated by a social media user, who later acknowledged the alteration. The change in wording turns the sign’s message completely on its head, so we rate the claim Pants On Fire.
Isn't what happened in Ferguson, and now Staten Island, tragic enough without making fun of those who sincerely protest the killings of unarmed African-Americans? Must the ignorant yahoos on the right mock the deaths of Americans in order to make themselves feel like powerful nincompoops? IMO those creeps are no better than the southerners who mocked and harassed the young black men and women who fought for Civil Rights in Jim Crow south.
I've got news for those who are feeling gleeful over these two particular deaths, and the deaths we will hear of in the coming weeks: You are on the wrong side of history in your judgement on this. Even libertarians and conservatives are outraged by the grand jury's decision to not indict the policeman who killed Eric Garner.
America is deeply infected by racial bias and hatred. The people who mocked protesters and passed this photo-shopped fakery around add to that racism and hatred. They are no better than modern Bull Connors and George Wallaces.
19 comments:
I mentioned on a certain blog that the sign was 'shopped and was quickly deleted.
There are some that simply will not grant Michael Brown any humanity whatsoever.
Do you think there is any hope that there will be a bipartisan move for change? I wonder if the trogs on the right aren't being exposed as a minority even among their own.
"Do you think there is any hope that there will be a bipartisan move for change?"
Yes. I do think there is hope. More information is coming out on the brutal tactics of some of the worst in local police enforcement. That has to see the light of day so we can understand how some law enforcement communities have become more like death squads than law enforcement agencies.
Read about the Cleveland, Ohio, investigations into its runaway brutal police force.
These are only the ones that have come to the public's attention. Gawd only knows what sort of savagery has gone unreported.
Those who do not grant Michael Brown and Eric Garner, or any other adult or child killed by brute force, their humanity are by definition brutes themselves. And apparently they are an infestation on the extremist blogs you visit.
OMG, not content with slandering African-Americans, that filth-p0t of a blog is slandering Jewish people as well.
The last gasp of a dying breed of repulsive bigots.
I'm sure if you read close enough, you'll find people excusing the photo shop with words similar to "the actual photo is not important, the attitude is and we know their attitude."
That's how it works... Even when caught in a lie, they justify the post because they'd have to admit to being wrong.
I was told recently by someone that they done believe data on immigrant assimilation, even though it comes from both liberal and conservative sources.
Simply because the data does not agree with them and their experiences.
This is just them trying to respond to the criticism that, when it comes to cops killing blacks, they're suddenly fine with government overreach. They failed, of course, like they do with everything. They are incapable of being consistent, because they live in fear (e.g. fear of guns being taken away = distrust the government. Fear of black men = trust the government).
Isn't racism a large enough problem that one ought not extend racism to mean things like using Photoshop to change "leaves his home" to "robs a store"?
I mean, every single negative thing that happens to a black person in America is blamed by someone somewhere on a racist white society that systematically seeks to oppress and ultimately eliminate the black race. Damn. If you're a non-liberal white in America, you are automatically considered a racist enemy of progress. If you view the evidence in the Brown-Wilson case and conclude the the grand jury made the right decision, you are automatically promoting racially driven murder, no quarter given, no questions asked. You are either with those who claim America is the worst place in history for black people, or you're one of the ones making it such.
Things are bad enough as it stands in the realm of race relations and the with-us-or-against-us mentality. All we need is for "racism" to be extended now further to include someone using Photoshop.
I often hear about the supposed duty of responsibility of those on the right to properly address these situations as to not further fan the flames. But does the touchy-feely progressive crowd play by the same rules? Some folks just call something "racist" like it's just an easy thing to say at this point.
Oh, you believe Texas and Republican governorships, and not Obama, is the biggest reason for economic grown over the past three quarters? That's racist!
Oh, you think Brown was killed because he attacked a police officer after robbing a store? This racism is disgusting! Open your eyes to the epidemic!
Plenty of words describe the Photoshopping incident: Stupid, irresponsible, pointless, and tasteless. But racist?
I guess it's true after all: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are racist, oppressive tools of the white male patriarchy. Hell, if a relatively benign Photoshop is racist, what isn't?
Josh wrote:
"I mean, every single negative thing that happens to a black person in America is blamed by someone somewhere on a racist white society that systematically seeks to oppress and ultimately eliminate the black race."
That's an exaggeration and simply not true.
Josh: "Damn. If you're a non-liberal white in America, you are automatically considered a racist enemy of progress."
Another exaggeration that is not true.
Josh, these statements are beginning to sound like YOU feel YOU'VE been victimized.
Josh: "If you view the evidence in the Brown-Wilson case and conclude the the grand jury made the right decision, you are automatically promoting racially driven murder, no quarter given, no questions asked."
Again more generalizations and overstatements that lead to victimhood.
Josh: "You are either with those who claim America is the worst place in history for black people, or you're one of the ones making it such."
Not true. More of the same generalizations to make a point of feeling sorry for oneself.
Josh: "Things are bad enough as it stands in the realm of race relations and the with-us-or-against-us mentality. All we need is for "racism" to be extended now further to include someone using Photoshop."
No, Josh, my point was that the Wilson/Brown tragedy is bad enough without idiots pouring more bile into the situation by making racist generalizations about young black men. I didn't do the photo shopping of that image, someone with an agenda to make fun of those African-American young people did. That is the point of my post.
You seem to think this is about you and the victimization of non-African-Americans. It isn't.
Josh: "I often hear about the supposed duty of responsibility of those on the right to properly address these situations as to not further fan the flames. But does the touchy-feely progressive crowd play by the same rules? Some folks just call something "racist" like it's just an easy thing to say at this point."
If it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, then the photo-shopped smear on African-Americans IS a sign of racism.
Josh: "Oh, you believe Texas and Republican governorships, and not Obama, is the biggest reason for economic grown over the past three quarters? That's racist!"
This is garbled incoherent.
Josh: "Oh, you think Brown was killed because he attacked a police officer after robbing a store? This racism is disgusting! Open your eyes to the epidemic!"
So now you have the power to tell me what I think? You know my thoughts? Nowhere on my blog have I made any such claims about the Wilson/Brown case. You are making assumptions and they're wrong.
Josh: "Plenty of words describe the Photoshopping incident: Stupid, irresponsible, pointless, and tasteless. But racist?"
Again, Josh, or whoever you really are, nowhere in my post do I call this "racist." I have stated that this photo shopped image MOCKS the sincere protesters. Decent people don't do that. And decent people don't come to other people's blog making accusations that are patently inaccurate and plain wrong.
Josh: "I guess it's true after all: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are racist, oppressive tools of the white male patriarchy. Hell, if a relatively benign Photoshop is racist, what isn't?"
You're either very young or very ignorant to have stated the above. There's no shame in ignorance, only in staying that way.
An exaggeration? How so?
Name any negative thing, and then go look at various blogs, YT vids, etc, and you'll find someone blaming it on white male patriarchy in America and the nation's history of oppression. I'm not saying everyone all the time blames "whitey" for what befalls blacks; I'm saying you'll find some people constantly doing it.
And, again, I don't think I'm exaggerating even a little to state that any white person holding more traditional values, anti-government values, or just non-progressive values is considered an enemy of progress, thus cisscum, privileged, racist bile.
As for generalizations: Damn yes. Fight generalizations with generalizations, is my philosophy.
"Nowhere...do I call this racist"
"The people who mocked protesters and passed this photo-shopped fakery around add to that racism and hatred. They are no better than modern Bull Connors and George Wallaces."
If that's not calling the 'shop racist, my apologies.
Lastly: It's peanut butter jelly time...peanut butter jelly time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fetDKgTqWZM
Josh, I started to answer you second comment but decided against it.
I'm wondering how much, if any, time you've spent in your life reading about the history of African-Americans and their experiences living in this country. How many books have you read by African-American men and women who have actually lived through slavery, the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights era? One or two isn't enough. There's a rich history out there that can help people to open their eyes and hearts to other people's struggles and sufferings and help them understand what is happening today.
I guess I have to say that I find it hard to be sympathetic to people like you who somehow turn other people's tragedies into their own personal pity party.
What happened in Ferguson, Staten Island, and Cleveland are not unusual nor isolated tragedies. They are part of our systemic racist history.
I'm going to quote Jon Stewart here because he, unlike you and too many others, gets it:
“I guarantee you that every person of color in this country has faced an indignity, from the ridiculous, to the grotesque, to the sometimes fatal, at some point in their … I’m gonna say last couple of hours, because of their skin color.
Race is there and it is a constant. You’re tired of hearing about it? Imagine how fucking exhausting it is living it.”
I don't quite understand where that particular line of reasoning comes from. Your own guilt perhaps? That speculative comment from Stewart, which ironically assumes all black people are the same, does strengthen that postulate.
It would be akin to pointing out that the sun exists in the sky, and then having someone accuse me of hating on the sun and making it all about me.
There's no pity party here; just a fact as I see it. A large swath of people are blamed wholesale for the problems of the black community, and you are reinforcing exactly that by throwing in my direction the history of black struggles. Your point being? To actually affirm my point that everyone else is to blame for everything negative that happens?
A horrific history, undeniably so. Tragic doesn't cover it. Though, I must say what I find to be "racism" far exceeding that of a Photoshopped sign is the honest, core-of-the-soul belief from progressives that all black people are the same, like they're connected like Borg or hive mind or something. Like LeBron's or Puffy's or Will Smith's kids are out there suffering because they're black.
Looking at nothing more than someone's skin color and assuming that, "Boy, they must really have it shitty in America, you know, with all these white racists" is a pretty pitiful way to carry an image of an entire people around.
I wonder what sort of expectations Stewart has for a people he has conceded are in an eternal state of victimhood besides crime or looting or needing preferential treatment for a leg up.
No wonder folks are often so seriously sensitive about these topics, particularly so for white progressives who stomp around like it's their duty to single-handedly right wrongs and to go full-on rabid Chihuahua on anyone who differs.
Josh: "I don't quite understand where that particular line of reasoning comes from. Your own guilt perhaps? That speculative comment from Stewart, which ironically assumes all black people are the same, does strengthen that postulate."
So Josh, you say Stewart's comment assumes all black people are the same?
The original sign said this:
"No mother should have to fear for her sons life every time he leaves home."
The photo shopped sign was changed to this:
"No mother should have to fear for her sons life every time he robs a store."
Your original comment criticized me for implying that change to the original sign was influenced by racism.
What else BUT a racist attitude would cause someone to imply that ALL African-American sons rob stores, and to change the wording on the sign to state that. That is EXACTLY what the photo-shopped sign does. It totally changes in a negative way the original intention of the sign. It MOCKS the young man's original statement of fact.
Josh: "There's no pity party here; just a fact as I see it."
Facts, as you "see" them, are true whether you believe them or not. You can have your own opinions, but you can't have your own facts.
Josh: "I must say what I find to be 'racism' far exceeding that of a Photoshopped sign is the honest, core-of-the-soul belief from progressives that all black people are the same,,,"
But THAT is EXACTLY what the photo-shopped sign does -- it implies, because there is no qualification in it, that ALL mothers have to worry when their sons are out robbing stores. An ignorant and racist assumption.
You've turned this issue on its head, and your argument is invalid.
The sign was changed to mock and imply that black sons rob stores, therefore, mothers need to worry each time their sons go out and commit crimes, thereby assuming all young black men are the same.
By the way, Josh, you deliberately came here and started this debate. You've stated your p.o.v., I've given you mine.
I think that's sufficient.
I've turned this issue on its head? Miss I-never-said-it-was-racist, accusing me of turning something on its head. Perfect.
And a fact as I see it; read: A fact that I see.
If you don't think it's true, which you initially argued it wasn't, you wouldn't have helped me prove it to be true with your reply to me -- two separate ways.
And, yes, I most certainly infer from Stewart's statement that he assumes all black people are the same, for no other reason than being black.
Call it what you will. I can be ignorant. I'll wear it. I can be divisive. I'll own it. I can speak in generalities. I'll work on it. But I'm hella thankful that the first thing that crosses my mind when I see a black person isn't, "Oh, man, How bad it must suck to be black! I bet all those people suffer indignities multiples times every single day, solely because they're black. Those poor, poor people with their horrid history! Imagine how crappy it must be to be black!"
I typically think, "What's up, dude" or something in that realm. But maybe that's because I grew around Prince George's outside of DC. Maybe that's because when I see a black person, I don't see a victim of circumstance, flashbacks of history, or anything else but a person. Stewart might want to think on it a bit before making those blanketed statements, and I pity--speak of a pity party--anyone whose mind transforms an entire people into a default victim simply because of skin color.
But if this has gone on long enough, so be it.
I cringe to think what someone thinks of me, if they think a black person must suffer horrible indignities on the reg just for being black. I must be a Klansman or worse. Talk about losing faith in humanity...
'I'm hella thankful that the first thing that crosses my mind when I see a black person isn't, "Oh, man, How bad it must suck to be black! I bet all those people suffer indignities multiples times every single day, solely because they're black. Those poor, poor people with their horrid history! Imagine how crappy it must be to be black!"
Perfect example of a white dude who knows nothing about what black folks think but congratulates himself on his insights in their life experiences.
Shaw, he's one of those wingnuts who posts at the Smut Hut, you know, where racists and pornographers are welcome, and at that schizoids blog, the crazy guy who writes shitty poetry. He has no intention of having a dialog with you, He just wants to score points and pretend he's an unbiased wingnut who knows something about what its like to be black in America.
Charles Barkley called the looters in Ferguson "scumbags", and he admonished them for rioting and breaking the law.
This from a guy who spit on a little girl, lost over 10 million dollars due to a gambling problem, threw a patron through a bar window, and he was also busted for DUI while cruising for sex with a prostitute.There is more of course, but my hands will get tired of all the writing I would have to do. And yet Chuck calls the looters in Ferguson "scumbags". Wow! Pot meet kettle.
According to law professor and dean Erwin Chemerinsky's book "The Case Against the Supreme Court," Lyons discovered that sixteen people died after being choked by an LAPD officer, almost all of whom were black men. When police Chief Daryl Gates was asked why almost all of these fatal chokeholds involved African Americans, Gates replied that the "veins or arteries of blacks do not open up as fast as they do in normal people."
And they look like demons, too.
Anonymous: Great reading comprehension. My point is the exact opposite of just that. I'm not claiming, like Stewart and others who tell us how horrible it is to be black just because of being black, to know what anyone else goes through. When I see a black person, my mind doesn't start trying to dissect the black experience. I don't see a victim every time I see a black person.
I tend to think of people as people, not a default victim solely because of skin color. I know, right -- shocker.
This makes me racist? Jesus flippin' sandbox; this is some weirdness going on here.
Holding Stewart's line of reasoning is okay, to the point it's thrown in my face like a sitcom teaching moment. Holding mine is racist and is typical of a white dude who congratulates himself on having insights.
Bizarro world.
Isn't racism a large enough problem that one ought not extend racism to mean things like using Photoshop to change "leaves his home" to "robs a store"?
Well, josh, yes, the so called humor of mocking black people with this kind of photoshop captioning IS indeed racist.
Small racism? Large racism? Who cares.
And the fact that you can't understand that shows me that you are either "a racist pretending to be an idiot", or else "a true idiot".
Beware of folks like "Josh" who pretend they know anything about black folks' lives. They don't. They never will.
Shaw gets it.
"Pretty creepy. Do conservatives think this is funny?"
Yes they do. Just go visit Lisa's Smut Hut. They get off making fun of African-Americans--oh, except the brilliant Dr. Carson who thinks Obamacare is the worst thing than happened to 'Merika. Worse than Slavery, the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, WWII, Civil Rights struggle, and 9/11. Yea, naturally, they think that schmuck is brilliant.
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