When I first came across this piece of political
rhetoric I knew right away what the meaning of the image and text was. Most people
would rather look at an image and read the description then read a three page
paper to find what the author is trying to tell us. At a glance the picture
could be showing how America fought for their independence from the British. Once
I figured out what the meaning of the image was I knew that there could not be
any other meaning for the image and phrase. I believe that there is only one
correct way of looking at the meaning of this picture. This piece of political
rhetoric would be difficult to understand if you were not given both the image
and text together. With the picture and text combined the meaning is clear and
obvious compared to if the reader was only given the text or just the picture. This
particular image and text means that the United States of America has a lot of
power and weapons and will not hesitate to use them at any given time. If you
look back at the history of the United States you will find that America does
have the power and weapons needed to free a country from their corrupt government
and will use them if needed.
When looking at this image I find that it is
oppressive in more than one way. The image of the American flag in the back
round of the bombs assumes that Americans will use power and weapons to get
what they want at any given chance. When in reality Americans are not always
violent. I feel that the author of this particular image believes that all Americans
are violent at any opportunity and will only use power, weapons, and violence
and not be friendly and nice to other countries and people. This is the authors
view on the American government and there is nothing wrong with that. This piece
refuses to acknowledge any kind of peace treaty or time that the United States
did not use power, violence, or weapons to do something. This image is also
very stereotypical of Americans saying that they are all violent and there is
no other side to them. Stereotyping is often used by people who have nothing in
common with the accused.
William
(394)
It is easy to understand where you are coming from in this post. The author appears to label all Americans as violent, but I feel this is more about how the U.S. government is constantly going to the aid of other nations. It is mocking the fact that we are fighting in the middle-east to free its citizens. To me it is stating that we are not actually freeing them and only causing more trouble than we are stopping. That is what it seems to say to me anyway. I don’t think the author would use the language they did if not to imply that we don’t actually intend to free them. This implies that we are at war for reasons other than stopping terror and this is merely an excuse to do so. I may be reading far more into this image than there actually is, but that is the message I got out of it. I don’t really see how this claims all Americans are violent. I only see it talking about the U.S. government and its policies. The bombs also hint that we tend to use excessive force than we should for our engagements with other countries when we battle.
ReplyDelete- Codie Rome (203)
I see the stereotype in it but I see the political cartoon trying to show how America pushes there way of government on others. Which I do disagree with, America does influence the world but I do not believe we are pushing our government style upon anyone. In a majority of cases America wants to stay out of war since at the moment public moral is at a very low point. It also could be seen as saying that we are bombing Iran or other Middle Eastern countries into Federal Democratic submission, giving them no other choice but to mimic our style of government.
ReplyDeleteIf this was an older political cartoon it could also be making fun of America’s zeal and animosity for Iran and the Al Qaeda after they had bombed the world trade center. Many responded in outrage and pure madness, saying bomb them all to hell. It could be that the bombs in this picture are signifying America’s outrage and the words are showing America’s self-righteous reason for going into war there. I agree with you that Americans in general are not a violent people, although we can get stirred by national pride, for the most part we just want to do what’s best for the world around us.
-Ashley Kocanda (212)