Little things ... Re: [Leica] Susan Sontag on Iraq Photos

[daniel.ridings at muspro.uio.no (Daniel Ridings)]

> "No reflection on you" is, like "no offense intended" a way of saying something
> meant to give offense but which is intented to duck the responsibility for
> saying it not-very-gracefully.

Oh, now worries about being graceful. I've not been graceful before, so
why start now. When I said no offense to you, I mean I was thinking more
of the masses who got all up in a huff over a nipple. If you want to count
yourself among them, that's your business.

> That said, the manipulation of what is called "pop culture" is the same
> as what happens in politics.

Sure! But that's the business of entertainment and it doesn't offend me
when they try to make me smile or cry. But when it comes to politics, I
have more respect for a rational approach. I'm aware of the manipulation
there, it's just that it then offends me, not when the entertainers do it.
Her little nipple in the super-bowl is something we see a couple of times
a week in shampoo comercials. No big deal. (That might be an exaggeration.
I don't really watch tv so I have no idea how frequent it is. Probably not
that frequent, I'd watch TV more if it was.)

> Many people are becoming increasingly sensitive to it and many more are
> becoming desensitized. In the U.S. it's all a part of the same spectrum,
> no longer seperable.

Politics and manipulation? I don't think you should unduly criticize the
US for that. Any politician who thinks they can get away with it, will do
it. If the voters are on their toes, they won't succeed. If the voters can
be led like sheep, don't blame the politicians for taking advantage of
that. Their business is to sway opinion in their direction. They use what
works. If low-class methods work ... time to counter that with some form
of voter education. Democracies depend on that.

Daniel