For fuck’s sake, Dana–stop wasting our time (and Katherine Graham’s money), cut the crap and just say what you really fucking mean (and, um, next time, try to getyourfactsstraight, asshole).
There’s no reason to include Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in this ad. None. It hangs on the word “celebrity” being included, which means it could have just as well been Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Anyway, all the footage is from Obama’s Berlin speech, not the red carpet. This is absolutely meant to juxtapose images of white women with images of a black man.
First he takes teh White House, then he’ll take teh white wimmins…
(image originally uploaded by Barack Obama, posted under a Creative Commons license.)
professor what if has posted part two of the series Consuming Whiteness, which, as noted in the first installment, sets out to explore the all-encompassing notion “that whiteness (in food, bodies, clothing, etc) is ideal”:
Despite the fact that for the majority of people of color milk is a ‘health disaster,’ the Got Milk ads, (which, for the most part, feature famous white people) set up an erroneous equation between milk consumption and health (not to mention weight loss, athletic ability, beauty, success, fame, wealth, etc). The milk moustache ads, which feature supermodels, actors, musicians, famous athletes, and politicians, imply that drinking milk is the key to opportunity, fame, and fortune. Although the ads portrayed some diversity in terms of race, class, and social background, the people of color that do appear are, ironically, often lactose intolerant. Whoopi Goldberg, for example, appears in a milk print ad- although she has to take lactose intolerance medication to consume milk.
The ads, through their continued focus on milk as a white drink, also often refer to the superiority of whiteness. While some may argue that this is a merely a marketing tactic with no racial undertones, it is problematic to ally whiteness with perfection in a country with a long, ugly past (and present) of racism. Take, for example, the milk ad featuring a young white woman with copy reading “the milk white look.” Not only is the ad equating consuming milk with ‘consuming’ this white woman (and thus sexually objectifying her), it is also claiming that ‘the milk white look’ is desirable, sexy, beautiful, etc. This message that white is better is conveyed in a number of ads. For example, in a milk moustache ad that features country singer Clint Black, the copy reads: “My favorite color? White of course”. Or, as the ad suggests, even those who are named ‘Black,’ really prefer white.
This usage of the term white as something that is good, something that is so powerful it can palliate flaws or conceal crimes, reveals the high esteem ‘white’ holds in the western cultural imagination. As a color it is seen as pure, clean, refreshing. When it refers to people, the same positive associations also apply. White people are seen as ‘purely human’ and not animalized or denigrated in the way people of color are. Or, as Chris Matthews would term it, white people are ‘regular people.’ These associations between whiteness and what is better/normal certainly are readily apparent in advertising.
Next up on CNN’s 2008 Ethnic Anthropology US Tour: Jewish in America, where we find noted WWII historian David Irving waxing poetic about picturesque Polish vacation spots for the Judenreich set.
There are 8 cities planning events for Hiroshima/Nagasaki Days this week. Please check the listings and join events calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide.
The First Annual Japanese Lantern Ceremony for World Peace
Where: Keystone Centre YMCA Pool on 13th Street
When: Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Time: 7:30 PM
CALGARY
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial
Thursday, August 7, 2008, 7pm – 9pm
Calgary Area Outdoor Council, Large Room on 2nd floor
(wheelchair access to 2nd floor, 1111 Memorial Drive NW)
– We may watch movie with colour footage of the devastation.
– Speeches
– Lantern ceremony with glow in the dark non-flame, non-flammable
lanterns.
CASTLEGAR, BC
This year we gather on Zuckerberg Island, Wednesday, August 6 at 6:00 pm to both commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also to listen to our minstrels of peace and hear from the Mayor of Hiroshima and other voices of reason in our troubled world.
Kootenay Region Branch of the United Nations Association in Canada (KRUNA)
2600 Columbia Avenue
Castlegar, B.C., V1N 2X6
250-365-7180
GRAND FORKS
Grand Forks City Park at 1 pm on Saturday, August 9th to commemorate the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and mourn today’s victims from ‘Depleted Uranium’ radiological weapons, tanks, vests, bullets and bombs.
We urge you to join us on August 9th at 1 pm in City Park for speakers, entertainment and a Auction. The auction is to raise funds to support our work and encourage all to donate items and then make generous bids.
We thank all who have given of their time, energy and funds in the past and look forward to your continued participation at events and regular meetings in Selkirk College on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month.
For inquiries please phone Laura at 250-442-0430.
On behalf of the Boundary Peace Initiative: member of B.C. Southern Interior Peace Coalition, Canadian Peace Alliance, Uranium Free Kootenay Boundary, Uranium Free B.C., Abolition 2000, Lawyers Against the War, and an affiliate of Fellowship of Reconciliation.
OTTAWA
EVENT DETAILS (SATURDAY, AUGUST 9th):
6:30pm: meet at Friends House (91 A Fourth St in The Glebe) to decorate laterns
7:30pm: film screening and discussion @ Friends House on the threat posed by nuclear weapons
8:30pm: march to float and light the laterns (location to be announced shortly)
The Ottawa Peace Assembly
SASKATOON
Commemorate Hiroshima Day, Wednesday August 6 at Rotary Park Peace Pole, 12-1 pm
Program includes Mayor Don Atchison, Mayors for Peace • Reverend Hiraku Iwai • Jillian Cyca, Artist • John Crawford, Project Ploughshares
The Toronto Hiroshima Day Coalition (THDC) cordially invites you to attend the unveiling of the powerful exhibition of photographs from the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the Rotunda inside Toronto City Hall on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 5:30 pm.
The exhibit runs from August 6th -11th, 2008 in conjunction with the “Paths to Hope” Peace Commemoration and Lantern Ceremony on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at the Toronto Peace Garden, Nathan Phillips Square beginning at 6:30 pm.
To RSVP for the August 6th, 2008 unveiling of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki Photo Exhibition at the Rotunda, Toronto City Hall, please contact Helen Chilas, National Coordinator of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, via email h-chilas@rogers.com or cell at 416-473-8238
Note: If you would like to reserve a table at the Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Annual Peace Commemoration and Lantern Ceremony (August 9th at the Toronto Peace Garden, Nathan Phillips Square), please contact Dr. Barbara Birkett with Physicians for Global Survival at bbirkett@interlog.com.
WINNIPEG
Where: Memorial Park, Winnipeg
When: Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Time: 7:30 PM
bastard.logic 