Nevada is a battleground state, and the state elections have gotten nasty (on both sides); the mailers I get every day don’t even pretend to be about issues any more, they’re just attack ads. I got this one, against a Democratic candidate, a couple of days ago:
I thought the photo they chose to illustrate “radical groups” was interesting. There were no specifics about what type of “radical” groups, or what they are radical about. To me, this image seemed like it was supposed to bring up the threat of radical (angry) feminists, but I don’t know if that was the specific type of radical this was meant to evoke or if that’s just what it makes me think of.
Anyway, it might be useful for a discussion of political discourses (for instance, how groups selectively use words like “radical,” “progressive,” “traditional,” “regressive,” and so on to depict change as either good or threatening), as well as what types of political agendas even appearances have become associated with “radical” politics (for instance, a woman wearing multiple necklaces and dreadlocks symbolizes radicalism).
Comments 6
Chris Norris — November 2, 2008
I think it's interesting that the girl on the left is almost certainly making an "f" sound and it's easy to imagine the main subject making an open vowel sound.
someone — November 2, 2008
Is it possible that the photo could be from a specific local protest that would have meaning to the people receiving the mailer? I know that happens a lot on my county (which is far, far, from Nevada)
Gwen Sharp, PhD — November 2, 2008
someone--
The back of the mailer just says "radical groups" support illegal immigration and gay marriage and "want to silence political competition and grab more power." It's possible the photo would be recognizable to some people in Vegas as being from some specific event, though I've asked around and no one I know could connect it to any particular protest in Vegas or Carson City (the state capitol). Of course, I may just not know the type of people to whom a photo of a protest would be noteworthy enough to remember--my friends and I tend to see protests as fairly unremarkable, in the sense that we're not shocked or incensed that people would engage in them.
I know the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a relatively conservative newspaper, recently did a story about students at Nevada's colleges and universities protesting education budget cuts (they put up mock gravestones but didn't actually have a march or anything), and there were many angry comments and emails to the effect of "if they don't like what the state has to offer, get the hell out." So the mailer may be playing to that part of the Nevada population that has a sort of authoritarian, anti-mass-action outlook that sees protests as, in and of themselves, illegitimate and even disrespectful.
Jodi — November 2, 2008
This photo is so carefully staged it's got every scary "radical" group covered. Women = angry feminists. Young women = those entitled young'uns who want our jobs and our car keys. White girls with dreadlocks = people who embrace other (black) cultures. Multiple necklaces = hippies. Eyeliner = goth, punk, possibly s&m culture. Bra straps showing/gaping necklines = sluts (who, as we all know, want lots and lots of abortions). Shouting (as Chris pointed out) what looks like the f-word = vulgar, classless. Of course it all screams scary lesbian, what with there being no dudes present.
momentofchoice — November 2, 2008
These mailers are absolutely crazy to me. I've never seen anything like this in Canada. I'm now in North Carolina (another battleground state) and we've received upwards of 10 different attack fliers from the GOP specifically addressed to my husband, a registered democrat. The most recent mailing has an Obama head lined up with a bunch of other heads of nasty world leaders with an image of flames in the background...all I can say is thank goodness for Jon Stewart or I'd have gone insane a long time ago.
Kirsten — November 3, 2008
Heh - to me that image said "rock concert", not "protest rally".