What's wrong with this picture?
March 2, 2001 8:29 AM Subscribe
posted by samsara at 8:48 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by sonofsamiam at 8:50 AM on March 2, 2001
Suppose you're married filing jointly have two kids and a combined income of, say, $65,000. Your tax cut is $1618. Not bad. (Without the kids, it's less than half that, but that's another matter.)
Suppose, now, that your combined income increases by a factor of 10 to $650,000. Your tax cut goes up by a factor of over 20, to $32,655.
If you're a millionaire and your annual earnings total $6,500,000 (a factor of 100 over the original example), your tax cuts grows to $418,755--a factor of over 258.
What do you stand to gain?
posted by jpoulos at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by frednorman at 9:01 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by tiaka at 9:07 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by jwells at 9:13 AM on March 2, 2001
What's wrong????
It was done using Frontpage, that's what's wrong!
It's like the man is out to get me.
posted by jbeaumont at 9:15 AM on March 2, 2001
(Married filing jointly)
Family Income.....Tax Bracket.........Improvement
10,000................15% to 10%.........5%
40,000................15%....................NONE
70,000................28% to 25%.........3%
150,000..............31% to 25%.........6%
300,000..............39.6% to 33%.......6.6%
Source - The White House
posted by quirked at 9:25 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by Postroad at 9:27 AM on March 2, 2001
Still, it's a photo illustration, not a news photo, so the rules about this sort of thing are more relaxed.
This crowd looks WASP, and as for Bush's cabinet, I swear I haven't seen so many black suits and ties since Nixon's funeral. Big difference in culture: Clinton's aide-de-camp was Bruce Lindsay, who was perpetually seen toting a shoulder satchel. I swear he was closer to the man than the Marine carrying the nuclear football. But Bush's people aren't sleeve-roller-uppers, they have people to do that for them.
I stand to gain a month's rent. Whoopee.
posted by dhartung at 9:31 AM on March 2, 2001
For a person of color, there is no question of how long it will take to notice. It is instantly evident.
This my friends is what racism does to our minds. We see that the world around us is not white, but our minds don't object to images like this which purport to represent America.
Now, stand back. I'm not gonna call you a racist. I'm just gonna say that I and everyone else who didn't notice right away has some amount of learned & well-hidden racial prejudice in them.
And to follow up on Zinn's notion that "you can't be neutral on a moving train," I would propose -- simply for discussion -- that it is a racist act not to write to the webmaster and indicate that this graphic should be replaced with an appropriately representative image. It is racist not because it is one image of a dozen white faces, but because it is one example of an ocean of images which by repetition, condition us to accept this stuff as the norm.
posted by sudama at 9:37 AM on March 2, 2001
Needlessly fine semantic distinctions always help me digest another ridiculous suckjob-for-the-wealthy tax wangle. Thanks, frednorman!
posted by Skot at 9:43 AM on March 2, 2001
For a person of color, there is no question of how long it will take to notice. It is instantly evident.
Only if you are a continually race-baiting moron who has nothing better to do than scour every picture on every website to make sure that you're being fairly represented, because God forbid that there should ever be a picture made without a black person in it.
Will you please get the hell over yourself and quit talking for a community that you are not a part of? Thank you.
posted by Dreama at 9:53 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by thunder at 9:59 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by Postroad at 10:06 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:19 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by likorish at 10:25 AM on March 2, 2001
As the person who spotted this (and, parenthetically, a white person) I'm feeling pretty good about my self going by sudama's criteria. I've sort of reached a caucasian thetan level where I'm sensitized to this sort of thing.
My point in bringing it up was not to accuse GWB of racism, but rather to point out that since our new president is using the Ronald Reagan program of leading via photo ops and "messages of the day," this was a rather obvious gaffe that someone should have caught. I suspect by tomorrow the page banner will be changed.
posted by darren at 10:25 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by Loudmax at 10:28 AM on March 2, 2001
If the right is truly interested in building a multicultural strategy, the imagery used to represent the party is as good a place to start as any. Despite what they say in the Sprite commercials, image is everything.
posted by likorish at 10:30 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by Postroad at 10:37 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by darren at 10:40 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by allaboutgeorge at 10:42 AM on March 2, 2001 [1 favorite]
posted by holgate at 10:46 AM on March 2, 2001
Gimme a break, Dreama. Try to tell me that, on those rare occasions that you find yourself on "the other side of town", you aren't completely self-concious about your race.
Sudama's comments are the truest words I've read at MeFi in a very long time. I arrived at a similar understanding many years ago--long before I became a policital junky (or even a Democrat, for that matter). So I can say that I arrived at that understanding unencumbered by political rhetoric.
Dreama, you are just plain wrong on this one.
posted by jpoulos at 10:53 AM on March 2, 2001
My point about the white viewer of the image stands, however. I'm far less interested in how the image was produced or by whom than in how it is perceived by whom -- therein lies the rub.
Why does white America, on the one hand, appreciate racial inequality and cluck "that's not right, something should be done," and on the other defend each and every instance of racism we are confronted with?
The problem is not the count. We don't need to apply statistics to our media production, just an honest recognition of who "we" are. Speaking for the community I am a part of, I say "This image doesn't reflect us." And I want a new one.
posted by sudama at 10:54 AM on March 2, 2001
but then again i also can't help but sneer when i see photo shoots *so obviously engineered* to make sure everyone's represented. equal numbers of boys and girls, mostly white but with at least one each of yellow black and red, just make sure the boy isn't white because we all know about those *white males*.
so tokenism and art-directed, engineered diversity make me a little ill too---do I lose all the Liberal Points I gain by noticing pictures full of pink people?
am not defending this picture, mind you, it's about what I'd expect of Geedubyah. just wondering if it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:19 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by sonofsamiam at 11:21 AM on March 2, 2001
posted by allaboutgeorge at 11:43 AM on March 2, 2001
I guess I don't like fraudulent human interaction. It's kind of depressing.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:01 PM on March 2, 2001
As with most racial issues, we don't seem to be capable of coming up with a simple, satisfying solution. That doesn't mean there's nothing to be done.
posted by sudama at 12:50 PM on March 2, 2001
But isn't it nice to at least have a end point goal to work towards?
I feel kind of like Sapphireblue on this one, yes I noticed the sea of white faces and thought it was annoying, but yeah, the perfectly balanced multicutural images fresh from photodisc.com remind me how pointless and transparent some of these things are.
posted by mathowie at 1:05 PM on March 2, 2001
Would it illuminate the issue any better if we were to consider how we might feel if Bush were standing in front of a group composed entirely of Asians? Blacks? Latinos?
I'm working towards a culture where whoever composed that website would never even think of using an image so utterly exclusive -- the idea would be a benign absurdity.
posted by sudama at 1:41 PM on March 2, 2001
I'd much prefer a culture where no one would think of even noticing the ethnicity of people in a picture, because it's so utterly irrelevant to anything.
posted by kindall at 1:50 PM on March 2, 2001
Utterly irrelevant to anything?
In theory, that's very nice, but in practice, it doesn't work that way - at least not NOW and on this planet.
Claiming color blindness is a way to wash your hands of responsibility. Unfortunately, if you're not actively fighting racism, you're probably unwittingly adding to it.
You could almost say that ignoring ethnicity/race is the same as ignoring racism itself.
posted by go vegan at 2:04 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by allaboutgeorge at 2:12 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by mblandi at 2:40 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by owillis at 2:43 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by samsara at 2:56 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by jpoulos at 3:02 PM on March 2, 2001
Well, of course. That's why I didn't say that's the way it is now. I said it's what I'd rather work for.
posted by kindall at 3:11 PM on March 2, 2001
What I can't understand is why a person of color would willingly show up at a Bush rally in the first place.
(Which, incidentally, is what this is.)
posted by perplexed at 3:31 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by samsara at 4:23 PM on March 2, 2001
The originating post is pure, unadulterated race baiting. The idea that Bush's tax plan is somehow conspiratorially engineered to prevent all black people from getting a tax cut or any other financial break - which is the only possible thing the post could be saying - is flat-out racist bullshit. So yes, a lot of people are going to "freak out" as a result.
And if you want to talk about the logistics of the photo itself, fine, but you'll have to answer these questions first: Where's the original uncropped photo? What's the racial makeup of the entire crowd behind Bush at the original event? Where did the people come from? Were they all picked well ahead of time (which would have to have been purely for their whiteness, of course, for any of the above claims to have legitimacy) or were people just randomly grabbed off the White House tour? Etc.
Besides, with so many people saying things like "What I can't understand is why a person of color would willingly show up at a Bush rally in the first place," why the hell should Bush's team even try? They're damned if they do and damned if they don't in liberals' eyes: Photo op with no blacks = racism. Photo op with blacks = patronization since we all know the Administration is a bunch of racists anyway, right? (wink, wink.) Bush will just end up on the receiving end of hate speech either way.
The Republican Party is open to everyone. If there are people of color who kneejerkingly refuse to have anything to do with it, that's their problem. (Hint: True racist organizations have ZERO blacks in them. If even 10% of African-Americans are willing to side with the Republicans, then there's obviously something more going on than the other 90% are willing to even consider. It's not a black and white issue. Pun intended.
posted by aaron at 11:55 PM on March 2, 2001
Interestingly enough in 1977 the Supreme Court upheld the decision in "VILLAGE OF ARLINGTON HEIGHTS ET AL. v. METROPOLITAN HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORP. ET AL." . The case involved a new housing development targeted at low income and moderate income households, which was opposed by the town. Suit was brought, because some felt this was due to racial discrimination. Now while I do not want to delve into this case (as I am not a lawyer), I still find the following figure interesting -- "According to the 1970 census, only 27 of the Village's 64,000 residents were black."
It just seems to me that Arlington Heights, Ill. is this nicely engineered community, where everything is just 'sooo perfect'... I can just envision how that $1000 tax cut that lady in the video referred will improve the landscaping of her home...
...,I just don't understand how the U.S. 'works'. Diversity seems always be an issue of grievance here. I find it absurd that there is a need for minorities to be photoshopped in. I find it absurd that there is so much artificial segregation in those 'perfect' little suburbs. And that you then have turn around and teach kids about diversity in college (coz they dont know it).
...
posted by noom at 11:59 PM on March 2, 2001
posted by holloway at 2:33 AM on March 3, 2001 [1 favorite]
posted by sudama at 8:09 AM on March 3, 2001
I just watched it again: the woman says "When you came to our hometown of Arlington Heights ..."
An insight into the composition is that these were all people that were used as examples during the Bush-Cheney campaign. In fact, the event was called the "Tax Family Reunion". Salon examined exactly what it meant to be a Bush-Cheney tax family.
There are many requirements to be a Bush campaign "tax family": no kids in day care or college or under the age of one, no sick parents or children at home, no one at night school and an income roughly between $35,000 and $70,000. A Washington Post story from early September reported that the Bush campaign's requirements for its "tax families" effectively eliminated 85 percent of the population in that income bracket.
CBS reported similarly
As he did with seniors in Clearwater, Fla., the day before, Bush assumed a plainspoken, "just folks" manner and trotted out another picture-perfect "tax family." Most of these families are young, two-parent households with two or three children and incomes in the $30,000-$50,000 range who would benefit from Bush's proposed tax cut.
Perhaps the most illuminating was an earlier Salon article.
Turning to a bleacher under the sign "Bringing America Together," Bush picks out the carefully screened "tax family" who will benefit from his tax plan more so than from Gore's. They're easy to pick out -- they're the only African-American family in the joint.
Ken and Sharon Ashford and their three children pay $7,198 in federal income taxes, Bush says. The crowd boos. Bush does not mention that the family makes $72,000 a year. The Ashfords will save $3,390 under the Bush plan, but only $390 under Gore's, he says.
Some time ago, the Washington Post reported on the rigorous screening process Bush "tax families" now have to go through before they can be paraded on the stump. The Gore campaign was showing that many Bush families would actually save more money with the vice president's targeted tax cuts than they would under the Texas governor's plan. Now, in order to avoid such potential embarrassments, Bush tax families can't have any children under the age of 1, or any kids in day care or college. No one can attend night school. The family must also have an annual income somewhere between $35,000 and $70,000. And it must have "no substantial savings outside of 401(k)," according to a GOP memo in search of a New Mexico tax family.
The Bush "tax family" requirements, the Post pointed out, eliminate 85 percent of the families in that income bracket.
posted by dhartung at 9:13 AM on March 3, 2001
But the stringent requirements for Bush's 'tax family' status may very well explain the composition of the photo shoot.
Applying requirements like those to other areas in life would produce some very akward situations. Reminds me a bit of European trade and product policies, but that's a completley different story...
posted by noom at 3:07 PM on March 3, 2001
posted by Watcher at 1:12 PM on March 4, 2001
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What does that have to do with who will benefit from his tax plan. And speaking of the tax plan, when are the white male, late 20's, overpaid Web developers going to get a tax break. What, I don't deserve one?
posted by jbelshaw at 8:43 AM on March 2, 2001