Monday, December 3, 2012 Happy December to one and all! Let's take a look at how the country is faring, shall we? So it seems that the phrase at the tip of every politician, reporter, analyst, and political junkie's tongue right now is "fiscal cliff." It's the newest of the doomsday scenarios that congress/our country has seemingly faced, following debt ceiling and credit-rating downgrade crisis of 2011. But what exactly...is it? All the news coverage that at least I've had access to seems to just dodge around what the "cliff" actually is, choosing instead to focus on politicians pointing fingers at the other side blaming each-other for not doing enough to avoid it...whatever it is. Luckily, we have The Daily Show to not only walk us through difficult concepts like the "fiscal cliff."
Ahh The Daily Show. Seemingly every week you provide me with Post It Politics fodder. Not only explaining seemingly obscure political topics while ridiculing those who are behind said political topics, but also giving me a quality transition to discuss political imagery by satirizing the way we use arbitrary metaphors to circumvent actually making sense of political scenarios. Today, I won't be braking down a single image or meme, but rather the whole metaphor of a "fiscal cliff." Why the need for such an ominous concept? The term was popularized by Chairman Ben Bernanke in February of this year as he appeared before the House Financial Services Committee to describe the situation that could come into affect on January 1st if congress doesn't act. Whether or not the scenario he described is really as dire as falling off a cliff would be is hard to quantify, and is at least out of the scope of this particular blog. All that really matters is that is stuck, (probably) making it the last big legislative event of the year, not to mention this congressional session. We love to use absolutes in political conversation, especially when there are distinct deadlines involved. We do so to attempt to legitimize our own views, while making the other sides seem inconceivable. This is why both sides have been so quick to reference the fiscal cliff, even if Bernanke never intended it to accuse either the Democrats or the Republicans. However, as the above video makes apparent, this gives us with two unviable options, focusing us to instead change our dialogue to make the situation seem less (or more) apocalyptic, as opposed to changing stances. I may differ from Stewart a bit on this method of political dialogue though. While I do find the reasons that we have to change our political metaphors and labels to be rather ridiculous, I don't find the actual act of doing so to be completely meaningless. Though the images that we use to simplify politics can cheapen our discussion, they still play an integral part in how we bring issues to the table. If the metaphor is off, by all means, change it. Yet, this is not where the apocalypse imagery ends when it comes to congressional budgeting. Last week, Obama released a video, urging middle class Americans to contact their Representatives and tell them what a $2000 tax hike from inaction would do to them, and suggested that they do so by using #my2k, a reference to the feared digital catastrophe that the year 2000 would bring. Many did follow the president's advice, and #my2k trended on Twitter for a good long while. However, this may be due to the fact that many conservatives hijacked the hashtag and used it to call out the president and his tax plan. And so it goes. As of now, it looks like we've got Thelma and Louise in the congressional driver's seat. Wait, no. Scratch that. There's no way that congress could ever come to a conclusion to do anything quite so easily as Thelma and Louise.
November 19, 2012 First off, I would like to announce that one of my predictions from last week has come true, or at least started to come true. Imagery and memes relating to the Pertraeus Scandal have become widely circulated. Most of these have involved photoshopping or captioning photos of Pertaues and Broadwell to make sexual puns or commentary, and SNL took a crack at the affair as well, but I think the image that best illustrates this whole debacle is a flowchart from Gawker detailing all of the key characters of what continues to be a more confusing narrative the more we find out. It makes clear just how ridiculous this whole thing is, as it grows to something much more than just an affair between a general and his biographer.
Whether or not these images have peaked or if we've only witnessing the beginnings of a military-affair-image explosion will remains to be seen. A lot of it may depend on how much more information is released. Another event that has started to reach wide circulation is the conflict between the Israel and Hama in the Gaza Strip. As Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israel, and Israel has begun to conduct devastating air strikes on Gaza as part of its Pillar of Defense, powerful, tragic images have been released. Many of these being put out by Palestinian sympathizers show the disparity between the damage caused by Palestinian and Israeli attacks, but regardless, images from both sides are painful. Perhaps the most talked about image was featured on the front page of the Washington Post. one of Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic journalist living in Gaza, holding his dead 11-month old son, who was killed by an Israeli air-strike.
As these images related to the conflict continue to come out, I will keep track of them here on the blog. And though doing this will probably mostly have to do with the implications of images of tragedy, I am sure that images of this magnitude will eventual have political significance. On to my final (and more light hearted) group of images. They have to do with the announced bankruptcy of Hostess, makers of Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread, and most importantly, Twinkies. This was not a surprise to many in the media, as Hostess has had financial troubles in the past, as people start to turn to healthier snacking alternatives. But a labor dispute and strike with the Bakers Union has seemingly put the colossus of sugary treats under. As Hostess snacks, especially Twinkies, have been a mainstay of American culture for decades, famed for (speculative) deliciousness and seemingly unending, post-apocalypitc shelf life, it is unsurprising that there was an internet outcry about the bankruptcy. Most of these revolved around the theory that the world will end in 2012, drawing from either Mayan Calendar references...
or references to the zombie apocalypse, especailly due to the movie Zombieland, in which Woody Harrelson's character is obsessed with finding the last Twinkie on earth.
There have even been political implication from this meme (sort of), as Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), who many believe to be a front runner for the Republican candidate for President in 2016, was questioned about the bankruptcy at a question and answer session at a New Jersey school, which he perceived to be a loaded question due to his weight.
I think he handled it well, as far as maintaining his image is concerned. He's definitely got that roll-with-the-punches, I-won't-take-your-shit, yet good humored New Jersey thing going for him. Yet, it can't be ignored that the whole thing has seemed to turn our attention away from real political issues, an effect that we have found to be characteristic of almost every "political" meme here on Post It Politics. This is touched upon by the following web comic.
Interesting to see two of our major themes from this week collide. Will touch base next week, reporting on any new developments in image culture. For now, Happy Thanksgiving everybody. @Post_It_2012
