Dissatisfaction
Man: Excuse me, sir!
Me: Yes?
Man: What do you think about Halloween?
Me: I’m cool with it. It doesn’t bother me.
Man: Well, my brother, let me tell you why it should bother you because …
Me: (thinking) Oh brother, here we go!
Well, that’s how it started. Fortunately for me, I just decided to walk away because I wasn’t wanting to really hear what he had to say. On the ground lay a number of posters, some with pictures of President Obama. Click on image for a larger picture to see the types of things they were saying about it him. I guess that not everyone was happy with his election. I’m not really sure what their beef was; they just seemed to be angry about something, anything.
I stood by and watched an argument between a youngster, perhaps 14 years-old (on the right) and this man on the left. The young man wanted to know why the group was calling President Obama a devil. The man, in my opinion, never did come up with a good reason, he just spoke louder and louder thinking perhaps that volume made up for substance! The argument continued for some time with more and more people stopping to have a look. Meanwhile, I just kept moving around and snapping pictures. Soon, it got too crowded and I had to move away. Of course, the argument was never resolved, but I did get some interesting photography experience!
Curious, huh? Sometimes I really wonder about people and politics. Death panels! Concentration camps for blacks and hispanics! I mean, how silly can one be? OK, they could talk about taxes, but that?
On the other hand, it’s not different here. 70, 100 years ago we were told there was a “Jewish question”. We know how that ended, and today the extreme right has managed to establish the term “Foreigner question” in the normal political discourse. What do they think? There is no “question” concerning foreigners, just as there was never a “question” concerning Jews. There is only the question of irresponsibly populist politicians.
Oh well, sorry for the rant
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Same thing overall – they try to win the power with simple slogans, and they do because quite often people want simple solutions that relieves them of the necessity to think. It’s much easier to follow simple slogans and feel at home in the masses then to deliberate and make a careful choice, pondering the pros and cons, maybe even admitting own responsibility. And for irresponsible politicians it pays – it did in Germany in the Third Reich, and it does pay still today.
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I must admit I am not one to follow politics. I’ve never really understood the passion it elicits in people. I guess I could say the same about religion.
What I do like to follow however is your story about your trip to New York. Along with your vibrant images, your posts really make my day. Thanks man.
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Like Cedric, I have never understood the passion (mindless passion?) that politics and religion can generate. Unlike Cedric, I do follow (American) politics closely. Why? Because it’s the Greatest Show on Earth! It’s endless entertainment. How dull would my day be if people like Michelle Bachman or Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck never opened their mouths? To borrow an old advertising phrase, “A day without morons is like a day without sunshine”.
The downside, of course, to this mindless passion is the inevitable violence, misery, and oppression it spawns. When will we recognize these folks for what they are – clowns? Not anytime soon, I think.
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Oh dear! I had never heard of Michelle Bachman
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@Andreas: To those who think for themselves, issues are not nearly so black & white. Further, there always seem to people who believe them, unfortunately. While I was working the scene there was another guy matching me step for step and telling me that I and other people need to listen to what this man had to say because he was speaking ‘truth’.
@Markus: There are no simple solutions, as you know. And, it seems, most people don’t mind or even want to be told what to think. Certainly, no one wants to admit that they’ve had a hand in the problem. The problem is always ‘out there’.
@Cedric: Thanks, man! I appreciate it!
@Paul M.: I hardly find the blowhards on the right or the left entertaining. I find them quite annoying, actually, which is why I don’t follow them. Somewhere between the left wing and the right wing is a possible solution, the rest is pure bloviation and self-serving rhetoric.
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Andreas: Never heard of Michelle Bachman, the congresswoman from Minnesota?!? She once urged MSNBC to do a “study” to determine which members of congress were “anti-American” and which were “patriots”. She was also very vocal about Obama’s citizenship and she’s one of the so-called “teabaggers”. All a very dangerous kind of populism. But she’s fun to watch!
Paul: In a way I suppose they are “annoying”. But to say that the whole bunch of them don’t constitute great theater is, in my opinion, missing the very point of American politics. American politics is 90% theater and 10% substance (and I think I’m being generous). Any successful American politician knows this is so. You get people to vote for you by entertaining them, not by educating them. Americans don’t give a damn about rational argument. That’s why Sarah Barracuda won’t go away and why she has a book tour coming up. She knows how to entertain. So I say we might as well sit back and enjoy the show.
As for middle of the road “solutions”? Probably not in our lifetimes…..
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@Paul: Unfortunately, I would have to agree with you that American politics, I’m not sure about the rest of the world, is about entertainment, shock and awe, and finger pointing. Rarely do you hear anything that amounts to a solution, a possible solution, or even something that relates to the problem.
However, I cannot call it great theater. It’s still annoying. And, again, you are right, the elections are won similar to high school elections, most popular. Never mind that the other guy/gal may actually have good ideas. Not entertaining, to me. As for Sarah Palin, we’ll, she’s just basking in her 15 minutes of fame. On the other side, I could certainly do without Nancy Pelosi. I find her … ridiculous.
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Thanks for starting a highly informative discussion about politics. Populism is raising its ugly head here in Finland as well.
Nice captures, street style.
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@Paul M.: How does the saying go? “A good dead every day – try to educate a teabagger” Guess there’s a substantial amount of truth in that…
I can only wholeheartedly agree with Andreas. From a European perspective this out-of-proportion argumentation that seems to be dominating the political discussions in the US are a bit weird.
But of course it’s partly the same over here: more and more people enjoy a nice political discussion – without feeling the need to taint it with actual facts, background knowledge or even respect for the opinion of your counterpart.
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Neither side has the people in mind. The overriding fact is most of them are Lawyers and it is a contest remember they talk about Win/Lose not justice or the right way to do things unless they are on TV. Plus anything they may do won’t affect their bottom line, otherwise some of them would have to ask why some of these problems exist. I have yet to hear a why from any side of the discussion. Solve the symptoms and they get to keep a job, solve the problem and they aren’t needed any longer or they have to come up with new ones to solve.
Isn’t any different anywhere in the world the US just gets more press and is the elephant in the room.
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Your photos and post highlight the double edge sword that exists with the freedoms we offer in this country Paul. Since they came up in the comments, I don’t see much difference between these guys and the cable / radio windbags. Each with a different method to spread their gospel. It still amazes me though at the amount of people they draw in. It seems to be common practice that if you repeatedly say the world is flat, you are eventually going to get some people to believe it.
I think Mr. Maxim underestimates the desire of Americans to be done with this kind of stuff. We got a peek at the more rational side during Obama’s campaign.
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All I have to say about this is look how many comments a post about politics generated, Paul. Maybe you and I should start blogs about politics instead of photography.
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@Chris: No thankya! I prefer to stay way out of politics. I’d be happy to photograph it, but prefer not to talk about it!
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