August 4, 2012

A Drudgetaposition.

This line-up at Drudge (right now) is no accident. Obviously — don't bore me with disagreement — Obama making the teeny tiny gesture next to the missile launch is a small penis/large penis visual joke. Next to that we see the double-amputee with highly effective prostheses. (Olympics spoiler alert.) It's a challenge to complete the implied statement, but we can see the relationship.


(Click to enlarge.)

The Obama pic goes with "8.254%" and the linked story is about Obama saying, essentially, it's smaller than you think. He's referring to the unemployment rate, which was announced as 8.3%, but if you take it out to another decimal or two, you can see that the rounding, though conventional, makes it look bigger than it really is.

The missile pic goes to a story about Iran test-firing a long-range missile. And the amputee picture is "Legless Pistorius makes Olympic history; Qualifies for 400-meter dash...."

So... at the visual/subliminal level, at Drudge today, it's all about... what can I say? I'll say: masculine power.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am wondering what is happening with Lehrer? Why is held to such a standard? Why is not Dylan held to such a standard? What about Adam Smith of Tucson, AZ? Will a lawyer help him get his job back? Will Lehrer contact a crisis manager to help him get a new gig? What is happening in our society? Why are people with good jobs messing things up? I think the answer is obvious: People need to be more and more excited about our POTUS. Every-one should be thankful and consider themselves blessed that we have this great POTUS. Once we do this, then we will not make mistakes, like the ones by Lehrer and Smith. So, every-one, please run and contribute to our re-election campaign. You will be part of destiny.

Roman said...

This is so subliminal to be nonexistant.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Somebody captioned that photo of Choom, "Yeah, we know".

rhhardin said...

You missed the lady (with pic) saying British ships banned from Argentine ports.

No sex for the British.

ricpic said...

So does the prosthesis make the guy an Olympic shtupper as well?

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Not to get too far off topic, but center column about 1/3 down on Drudge is a link to a CBS item on Amtrack ads touting "Ride with Pride" trips to gay/lesbian friendly destinations.

Amtrack says "“We understand that valuing diversity is not only a good thing to do, but a business necessity beyond compliance that plays a vital role..."

Sounds good to me. Amtrack should expand the idea with special deals for Blacks traveling to Detroit, Philadelphia, or D.C.; Hispanics traveling to San Antonio or Los Angeles; Asian-Americans going to Seattle or San Francisco.

As Amtrack says, "... our business diversity philosophy means commitment to ensuring our company embraces a culture of respect and appreciation for differences and similarities of all people.”

george said...

The Obama administration is to a typical administration as the special Olympics is to the Olympics.

Either that or the economy is exploding and we are handicapping ourselves due to the tard in the White House.

Really, you can go on and on when it comes to symbolism. Who is to say who is right? That is why it is such a pointless exercise compared to talking about things of substance.

Politics as fashion or fiction analysis is way too prevalent as it is. We are where we are in some measure due to the crease in Obama's pants and his personal hygiene according to the "clean and articulate" crowd. The less we tolerate those sorts of things as being relevant the better off we will be.

William said...

OK, I get the joke. The figure 8.25 is not so anemic when used in a phallic context and Obama's minimizing gesture serves not to minimize the figure but his own ineffectuality in the presence of that stud unemployment number. I suppose the rocket launch underscores the phallic context. It's the prosthetic legs that I have trouble with. What do prosthtic legs represent in this conxtext? Obama's artificiality?

Quaestor said...

Either it's a deliberate juxtaposition (The portmanteau of Drudge and juxtaposition seems clever, but just try pronouncing it. I predict an early death) or Ann has taken a self-imposed Rorschach test.

FleetUSA said...

Yep, masculine power....which Choom doesn't have.

traditionalguy said...

Testy Osterone's competing in the London Olympics has caused Drudge to erect 4 hour Drudgetapositions exposing the incredible shrinking Obama.

george said...

Also, someone needs to explain to Obama the concept of least significant digit and measurement precision. Most presidents aren't all that great with math but this one seems to be completely innumerate. He invariably botches anything involving numbers... even if it only requires counting.

Dante said...

Professor:

The missile pic goes to a story about Iran test-firing a long-range missile.

It's a short range missile.

Is the ban on disagreeing still in effect, and boring?

Maybe it's about small things do matter?

jungatheart said...

Althouse said...
It's a challenge to complete the implied statement, but we can see the relationship...it's all about... what can I say? I'll say: masculine power.

Or maybe Drudge is gaslighting you :)

I don't agree with your conclusion, but agree with others, that there's too much leeway, especially with his inclusion of the 'legless' runner.

Dante said...

I should amend that. Just because things are shortened, does not mean they are not potent. Iran, notorious for demonstrating long range missiles, obviously feels short range missiles are important enough to test. The guy with short legs is still able to qualify in the Olympics. And even the shortened 8.254% unemployment rate is still devastating.

PWS said...

"Don't bore me with disagreement"?

Don't bore me with this post.

Ann Althouse said...

"The portmanteau of Drudge and juxtaposition seems clever, but just try pronouncing it."

Drudge tuh position.

ed waldo (Hart Williams) said...

Er, you might want to read this before proceeding further, Ann.

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4063

jungatheart said...

I said it should be Druxtaposition, but did you listen? Nooooooo.

Anonymous said...

ed waldo:

The subliminals issue is not so easily settled. I've crushed a couple of advertising professionals like grapes in debates on the subject.

Brian Dunning of Skeptoid presents the usual appeal to ridicule arguments against subliminal advertising. The only hard argument he offers is a reference to a single study (2007) from UC Davis examining gender differences in "sexual arousal following subliminal exposure to a sexual or neutral picture."

I suspect (I'm not going to pay $36 for the article) that it is a typical tachistoscopical study in which isolated images are flashed below the levels of conscious awareness. How well that bears upon the far more complex visual experience of seeing sublminal material in a non-flashing magazine layout is entirely debatable.

The biggest problem for those who argue against subliminals is that subliminal devices, as W. B. Key presents them, cover a broad range from sexual embeds in ice cubes to symbolism and subtext.

Just about all skilled writers and artists use subliminal effects. For instance, in the first paragraph of "Big Two-Hearted River" Hemingway describes a landscape of "burned-over country." That's World War I, though the war is never mentioned and you never learn in that particular story that the protagonist, Nick, is a veteran recovering from the trauma of that war. But if you read enough Hemingway and you know that is what the story is about, though you could not prove it from the story alone.

Likewise I can't prove that Drudge is doing what Ann suspects. It wouldn't surprise me though. If you spend enough time creating, you start playing games like that.

jungatheart said...

Look:

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2010/10/late-night-drudgtaposition.html

Anonymous said...

Ann argued a much more direct subliminal of the letters "NIG" on a child's pajamas in a 2008 Hillary ad. Many commenters considered that a real stretch, but Ann stuck to her guns, which was brave considering that subliminals have been relegated to the same fringiness as the Face on Mars.

For those curious to see more examples of subliminals, here.

I don't consider subliminals some terrible conspiracy against our precious bodily fluids (see Dr. Strangelove) but it is an interesting game to watch for.