Thanks Reuters!

[rjmacs]

neophyte wrote:
So, some people think "we don't want Jews here, they build fires on public sidewalks". You will say this is an exaggeration; I reply that the negative connotation of Jews has just been latently reinforced. Thanks Reuters, indeed.

Call me when police officers nationwide start shooting unarmed Jews with their hands up, neighbors start dragging Jews behind their trucks until dead, and public intellectuals start pronouncing that, 'until Jews stop building fires on sidewalks, we can't start talking about social justice or discriminatory practices.'

Your argument:

• Decontextualized images of minority groups can theoretically reinforce prejudice, as is empirically known about images of Muslims and Black Americans
  
• This image is a decontextualized one of a minority group
  
• Therefore, the harm that theoretically could be caused by this image is equivalent to the documented harm caused by other images
  

I believe the phrase I'm looking for is "Give me a break." I feel it pairs well with your, "Come off it."

I think antisemitism is REAL, it is SERIOUS, and it must be OPPOSED and DEFEATED. I also think that complaints like this are whiny distractions from the real struggle for justice and equity.

[Ombligo]

Where did you see the photo? was it in a publication or are you watching the Reuters newsfeed?

The reason I ask is that you may be blaming reuters for something they did not do. Media outlets seldom use the full caption material a photographer provides. It is edited down and reworded by a desk-editor who just wants to fill a given space or get it online as fast as possible. I have had captions under my photos that in no way resembled the information I sent with the image. Yet the public reads it, knows it's wrong and I get the blackeye.

So don't assume that the photographer or Reuters was wrong or incomplete. They may have been, but without seeing the raw feed that could be completely incorrect. If it came from the newsfeed, then yes, I fully agree that is a poor caption. I would have been asking questions and calling my photographer to task.

Now, you know WHY that photo was taken? precisely because it is different. The old adage than a dog biting a man isn't news, but a man biting a dog is still holds true. It isn't a vast anti-Jewish conspiracy, it's simply interesting. I would have sent one of my staffers out to it in a heartbeat (and hopefully they would have come back with a better image than that one).

[neophyte]

rjmacs wrote:

Call me when police officers nationwide start shooting unarmed Jews with their hands up, neighbors start dragging Jews behind their trucks until dead, and public intellectuals start pronouncing that, 'until Jews stop building fires on sidewalks, we can't start talking about social justice or discriminatory practices.'

Your argument:

• Decontextualized images of minority groups can theoretically reinforce prejudice, as is empirically known about images of Muslims and Black Americans
  
• This image is a decontextualized one of a minority group
  
• Therefore, the harm that theoretically could be caused by this image is equivalent to the documented harm caused by other images
  

I believe the phrase I'm looking for is "Give me a break." I feel it pairs well with your, "Come off it."

I think antisemitism is REAL, it is SERIOUS, and it must be OPPOSED and DEFEATED. I also think that complaints like this are whiny distractions from the real struggle for justice and equity.

So, it's empirically known that other similar images reinforce prejudice, but this one only rates theoretical. Why?

"I think antisemitism is REAL, it is SERIOUS, and it must be OPPOSED and DEFEATED." But this photo apparently doesn't meet your standard for [photos that latently reinforce prejudice]. IMO, your standard is too low.

I agree that violence against minorities must be stopped. And this photo certainly would not incite overt violence. But it reinforces the us vs them mentality. "The real struggle for justice and equity" starts with acceptance of others who are different than, but equally deserving as, you. To me, this photo is not a "whiny distraction".

[rjmacs]

neophyte wrote:
I agree that violence against minorities must be stopped. And this photo certainly would not incite overt violence. But it reinforces the us vs them mentality. "The real struggle for justice and equity" starts with acceptance of others who are different than, but equally deserving as, you. To me, this photo is not a "whiny distraction".

I think you are conflating your bitterness toward Reuters with a real struggle.

Real struggles focus on actual people who are suffering palpable harm. They do not start with acceptance of others who are different from us: they start with accepting that justice is unequally distributed in our world, and it is our duty to fight until there is equity.

I'm sorry, but your formulation of the fight for justice is an outdated liberal one. It doesn't work anymore.

[Numo]

Whew! :-)

[bfd]

If anything, Peasch is a holiday about children - why not show a family celebrating at seder? Why not show children asking questions of their elders? These things are at the center of Passover.

So one must ask, why show a bonfire, some funny looking Jews, and have that picture represent "a holy day"?

[davester]

bfd wrote:
If anything, Peasch is a holiday about children - why not show a family celebrating at seder? Why not show children asking questions of their elders? These things are at the center of Passover.

So one must ask, why show a bonfire, some funny looking Jews, and have that picture represent "a holy day"?

That would make sense if you ignore the fact that news organizations are in the business of attracting customers by publishing things that are unusual and attract clicks. The OP's attempt to make this about anti-semitism is just nonsense. It's about using the most clickworthy picture of an event in an article, nothing more.

[Speedy]

The heat will pock the concrete sidewalk and probably damage the sign as well as the fencing. Other than that, it looks fine.

I get more upset with people who celebrate Christmas by setting off fireworks all night long, keeping me awake.

[JPK]

Reuters' journalists don't capture the news they stage it. This is clearly a staged photo where the subject was instructed and directed.

I have seen many examples where, especially Reuters does this.

Your job is to capture the news not stage it for impressionistic effect. If you want to be artistic and set the stage thats fun - but it is no longer photo journalism and should be in national geographic not reuters.

JPK

[$tevie]

Speedy wrote:
The heat will pock the concrete sidewalk and probably damage the sign as well as the fencing. Other than that, it looks fine.

I get more upset with people who celebrate Christmas by setting off fireworks all night long, keeping me awake.

Where I live people shoot guns into the air to celebrate New Year. In my old neighborhood I could clearly hear all the pop pop pop, not so much where I live now.