The Price of Propaganda
25 May 2006
The following is meant for a very select audience. If you’ve seen the email I reference and immediately realized it was a joke—whether or not you thought it was funny—this is not for you. I received this email from someone who thought the picture was real. She received it from someone else who thought it was real. Granted, these people are of a generation that still remembers having to dial the town’s local switchboard in order to make a phone call, but they are not stupid. They are however, more inclined to believe in the veracity of a photograph more than our own post-Photoshop generation. They are also, let’s remember, more inclined to vote.
I received an email recently with this text:
Read the following explanation before looking at the picture! This picture is not doctored. Most Syrians struggle to even read Arabic, much less have a clue about English. So, how do a group of Syrian protest leaders create the most impact with their signs by having the standard “Death To Americans” (etc.) slogans printed in English?
Answer: They simply hire an English-speaking civilian to translate and write their statements into English. Unfortunately, in this case, they were unaware that the “civilian” insurance company employee hired for the job was a retired US Army sergeant! Obviously, pictures of this protest rally never made their way through the Arab TV networks, but the results were “Priceless.”
which was then followed by this “authentic” picture:
I hope everyone got a good chuckle out of this…
You’re laughing at the person who wrote the explanation, not the picture, right? See, everything here is a lie. I’ll ignore the fact that the origin and context of the picture are unknown and deal strictly with what we can see, which is the fact that the picture has clearly been doctored. The paper or fabric upon which the slogans are written has a wavy or bumpy texture, while the text is perfectly flat and has perfect, very straight lines (not possible when hand-painting…) Here, it’s easier to see now that I’ve upped the resolution (from 72dpi to 300dpi) and increased magnification by 100% (click for full size):
Now, as for the explanation… all I can say is wow. With all the information so readily at our hands (courtesy, ironically, the very same technology used to spread this idiotic bullshit), finding out that Syria has a literacy rate of 78% for males and 51% for females took me all of about 5 seconds. Oh, and unlike the person who wrote the description—obviously much smarter and more important than I am—I feel compelled to provide my source: the US State Department. I’ve provided the link to the State Department’s profile of Syria (courtesy of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs) below.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3580.htm
In case you’re not interested in actually going there yourself, here are a couple of juicy morsels of particular relevance:
Arabic is the official, and most widely spoken, language. Arabs, including some 400,000 Palestinian refugees, make up 90% of the population. Many educated Syrians also speak English or French, but English is the more widely understood.
and…
Education is free and compulsory from ages 6 to 11. Schooling consists of 6 years of primary education followed by a 3-year general or vocational training period and a 3-year academic or vocational program. The second 3-year period of academic training is required for university admission. Total enrollment at post-secondary schools is over 150,000. The literacy rate of Syrians aged 15 and older is 78% for males and 51% for females.
This certainly paints a very different picture than the one our anonymous and source-less author would have you see. But of course, this is just simple—albeit effective—propaganda, where truth and honesty have no place when you’re getting down to the important business of depicting entire cultures as demons or clowns, or better yet both. Instead we’re supposed to sit back and have a good laugh at the stupidity, the naïveté, the outright gullibility of these fools who would dare to openly hate us, who would dare take to the streets and have a sit-in to protest (you did notice they were sitting, right?). It all sounds like something out of a dream, something like “a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’”
Oops, my bad. I forgot they didn’t really mean all men, they meant only the men who look like us, think like us, act like us, and, most importantly, agree with us. People with whom, you know, we have something important in common, like religion or philosophy or history or a love of fried pork products.
Of course, we do use the Arabic numbering system. You know they invented the number zero, right? (The word “zero” comes from the Arabic ṣifr (صفر) meaning empty or vacant) Sure, it doesn’t sound like that big a deal, but ponder a moment the philosophical implications of not being able to indicate or express in writing the absence of something…
And then there’s more from the State Department:
Ancient Syria’s cultural and artistic achievements and contributions are many. Archaeologists have discovered extensive writings and evidence of a brilliant culture rivaling those of Mesopotamia and Egypt in and around the ancient city of Ebla. Later Syrian scholars and artists contributed to Hellenistic and Roman thought and culture. Zeno of Sidon founded the Epicurean school; Cicero was a pupil of Antiochus of Ascalon at Athens; and the writings of Posidonius of Apamea influenced Livy and Plutarch.
Wait a minute… let me just work a little philosophical family tree here, to see if I got this straight: there’s the modern “we” and we’re trying to follow the ideas put forth by the founding fathers of this country, who in turn were much influenced by the writing of Thomas Paine, who was much influenced by John Locke and other writings which came out of the (European) Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, which was heavily influenced by a movement away from religious (Christian) mysticism and superstition and a return to ancient Greek and Roman ideas about philosophy, science, and medicine, which was in turn heavily influenced by… wait for it… wait for it… yup, the ancient Arabic and Persian cultures. Ironic, isn’t it, that the “Democracy” we’re attempting to impose on the Middle East is actually a direct descendant of the philosophies of early Middle Eastern cultures?
Oh, but wait, they’re a bunch of illiterate sub-humans who clearly need our guidance and wisdom (though not our mercy or compassion) if they ever wish to reach the fully human level. Wait, that sounds familiar… oh, right, that was the same justification used for slavery in the US and the policies of Apartheid in South Africa1. Whew, it’s a good thing the white man was there or surely men like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela (and Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall and Michael Jordan and Barack Obama and… and…) would still be running around Africa poking each other with sticks. I mean, really, all one has to do is look at the state of Africa today to see what a fine job the white man has done in bringing these people democracy. And of course, let’s not forget the successful “upbringing” of the Indian and Southeast Asian peoples by the British and the French, respectively. Thank God for Imperialism, eh?
Finally, just a few nuggets I find particularly interesting and relevant:
Jesus of Nazareth, historically speaking, was an Arab Jew. What do you think those family reunions are like? Oh, right, I guess we already know…
More from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech:
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
An interesting quote from Mahatma Ghandi: “The Truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction.”
Too bad that in the current situation we’ve found neither.
1 And really, this logic has been used in virtually every instance of Imperialism that I’m aware of, and was the focus of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which also gave us, for the first time in literature at least, the conceit of “the noble savage.” Now, if Shakespeare had already figured out, in the 15th Century no less, that this doesn’t work, why do we keep trying to employ this rationale?
I’m glad you posted this page. I agree with everything you’re saying and it’s really sad that people would put there.. dare I even use the word “skills” to use in that type of way.
How meaningless and counter-productive. Not considering the cultural and ethical ignorance that this person displays to the entire world intentionally (which says enough in itself the way he is proud to display it online to showcase to the entire world how he feels and of course, to add another drop to the “reasons to hate Americans” bucket for other nations) Andrew Murret | 06/09/2006 03:19 PM | #I can’t believe that you think people actually think this is real. You’re really not “exposing” anything. The “translated banners” are so over-the-top ridiculous that everyone immediately gets the joke. It wasn’t intended as propaganda, it was originally posted in a forum for webcomics. Furthermore, anyone who is web savvy can see that it takes less than a minute with Photoshop to erase text and enter them at an angle.
Your argument that democracy is a direct descendant from early Middle Eastern cultures is ridiculous. Middle Eastern nations TO THIS DAY do not allow the same rights to men and women, given one or two exceptions.
It is ironic that you would point out that this country does not act as if it believes all men are created equal, yet you do not also bring up the fact that Islamic extremists outright execute those people who do not agree with their faith or particular sect. And many of these people are innocent civilians. Really, I can’t remember the last time the US blew up a marketplace and killed 15-20 civilians without even asking questions.
Dan B. | 06/12/2006 01:42 PM | #Would you have wasted so much time blasting this picture if it had the same level of offensiveness to it, but had actually been done in a funny way? i really hope not. the internet is a big place, try not to take things personally, or you could waste alot of your life.
pete | 06/25/2006 03:48 AM | #I can only guess that all the negative comments were from Americans. :P Well, I’m Finnish and I think you have a good point. As a joke that picture is just plain stupid, too obvious and so über-nationalistic that it horrifies me.
Anne Petelius | 06/25/2006 07:09 AM | #Im American, and i dont see any humor in the picture and i think that all men are created equal. That being said, every country, or religion has its share of morons.
Carl Soliday | 06/25/2006 07:01 PM | #Thank you for posting this. For those who think you missed the joke or that you take things too seriously let me say this: With thousands of innocent people dying everyday around the world because of cultural misunderstanding it is time that we did take things seriously. The joke that targets people we don’t know or understand is the joke that risks escalating violence and hatred. The joke that works to heal relationships and create a more peaceful world is the joke against ourselves.
Graham Shepherd | 06/26/2006 06:58 AM | #When a doctored image is presented as reality, it does everyone a disservice. Whether or not any given individual agrees with the agenda served, false images eventually undermine the cause by reducing the trustworthiness of the cause itself. The short term benefit, no matter how substantial, is inevitably outweighed by the deleterious long-term effect of lying.
Those who would dismiss such deliberate misdirection as a “joke” should regularly check their own ethical foundation to ensure that it isn’t rotting away beneath themselves.
keethie | 06/26/2006 11:23 PM | #Commenting is closed for this article.
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