November 29, 2019

Poppy Noor at The Guardian says "Trump posted a picture of himself as Rocky. No one knows what to make of it."

Link, collecting Twitter snark about the pic.

But "no one" is a strong statement. Really? Did no one know what to make of it. I could tell you what I made of it, but it's simpler and more impressive to just look at what the Hong Kong protesters are making of it. They're carrying and flaunting big posters of that picture. The link goes to the New York Post, which says that "President Trump is Hong Kong’s sudden hero":
Hours after he signed two bills to support human rights in Hong Kong, angering Chinese government officials, pro-democracy protesters in the beleaguered city held a “Thanksgiving Rally” Thursday night to commend him for taking the action. And front and center at the rally were printouts of the president’s Wednesday tweet showing his head on Rocky Balboa’s chiseled body.
That image is like a MAGA hat, but already fully distributed on the web. Anyone can print it out and have their poster to display, and it's obvious that anyone who sees Trump as a hero can vividly (and with fun good humor) express that emotion. It works especially well in a crowd (as you can see in the photograph of the Hong Kong protesters at the the NY Post link).

The immediate deployment of the photo in such an appealing, effective way makes the Guardian's collection of I-don't-know-what-to-make-of-it snarkers seem obtuse and wet-blanket-y.

78 comments:

David Begley said...

There is video of HK protestors with American flags and the Trump-Rocky poster. They are singing a patriotic American song.

For the first time in my life, I’m proud of my country.

Unknown said...

Our supposed betters in the Fourth Estate are dumb. Really, really dumb. I mean, thick as a plank and as dumb of a bag of hammers stupid.

And they are going to be shocked out of their thick gourds the morning of Wednesday, November 4, 2020.

Temujin said...

Really- I think the statement by Poppy says it all. She/they just don't get the world. But they do get paid to tell us about it.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I for one appreciated how in the face of the Chinese saying that signing the Support for Hong Kong bill into law would “complicate” our ongoing trade war. Trump ain’t dissuaded. We’re winning the Tariff War bigly.

Michael K said...

Did you mean the Guardian is more than its usual clueless self ?

rehajm said...

I know what to make of women named Poppy.

Mike Sylwester said...

That's our President Trump!

buwaya said...

The HongKongers are sending multiple messages.

To the Chinese government they are making a threat, pointing out their potential powerful foreign ally.

To the US government, Trump, they are pleading for an alliance. A tacit one of course. Remember us in trade negotiations, probably.

rhhardin said...

Trump isn't exactly a hero but a taunt. Trump defied the Chinese government threats just like the protestors did, and they're rubbing it in.

narciso said...

Meanwhile druid rampage in london

Charlie Eklund said...

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in world history.

~ Mao Zedong

Sebastian said...

"President Trump is Hong Kong’s sudden hero"

No prog knows what to make of it.

Then again, they haven't known what to make of him since 2015. It's one reason they gambled on fabricating the Brennan lies.

They still think they can win without having to know. Since the Althouses of America haven't made "plans" yet for 2020, and want to "see what happens," their arrogant gamble is not irrational.

narciso said...

In france they dropped the halimi case, because murderer used pot.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

They make it sound like Trump created the picture himself, instead of just re-tweeting or forwarding the photo that someone else made.

The media has absolutely no sense of humor or the ability for self introspection. What pinched faced sour little prunes they are.

Trump (and millions of other people) find the photo hilarious. It is obviously not Trump's body. Pretty sure that Trump himself realizes it too.

However, the statement that it makes is not only profound.....Rocky... Getting strong now! Defeating the enemy against all odds....it is also ironic in that this is what Trump IRL is facing. It obviously resonates with the beleaguered oppressed people in Hong Kong. That statement is also why Trump resonates with millions and millions of Americans.

Shoot. If someone were to Photoshop my face onto the body of ..say...Raquel Welch in her prime...I would forward it EVERYWHERE and be laughing the whole time.

Fernandinande said...

Her article is as dumb as her name, which reminds me of that famous kids' book "The Poopy Little Puppy".

buwaya said...

These msm people aren't that stupid. Their handlers, this being a centrally managed system, certainly aren't.

Disingenuousness is a tactic. They pretend not to understand, not to realize implications, to fail to get the joke.

This is a propaganda war and it is a terrible mistake to assume sincerity in any expression. All these people are working off scripts, outlines and party lines. Who pays the piper calls the tune. You may have to get them drunk in private to get at whats actually in their minds.

Wince said...

Althouse said...
But "no one" is a strong statement. Really? Did no one know what to make of it.

"Well, Poppy's a little sloppy."

whitney said...

It is absolutely amazing to me that Trump's people can claim that disputing the photograph is unsubstantiated and the media doesn't understand they're being trolled. I mean I guess that's Trump derangement syndrome or it might just be that they're really stupid. It's time to stop snickering behind our hands about nonsense like this and time to move it to full-throated laughter like these people did. This story warms the cockles of my heart

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7723815/Sexual-harassment-researcher-laughed-large-group-men-work-won-award.html

buwaya said...

"The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in world history."

Mao wasn't an idiot. Evil, a monster, but he knew and could tell the truth, when it suited him.
The little red book is worth a read btw.

The handlers of the opposition to Trump understand very well that they aren't fighting one man but a people. A huge mass of latent opposition, that in the US has solidified into a political force. Trump is the face of it, having found it, and run to the front of the parade.

In spite of all the personalization, which is a propaganda technique, the real conflict is that of masses of millions of people against each other.

Kevin said...

"President Trump is Hong Kong’s sudden hero"

Meanwhile the NBA shuts up and dribbles.

I’m sure Poppy and her friends knew what to make of that.

narciso said...

https://mobile.twitter.com/SkyAndyHughes/status/1200424030265839622

Kevin said...

Let’s be clear.

I don’t know what to make of this is a step up from knowing and being massively wrong.

mockturtle said...

"The immediate deployment of the photo in such an appealing, effective way makes the Guardian's collection of I-don't-know-what-to-make-of-it snarkers seem obtuse and wet-blanket-y."

They don't just seem so, they really are. I used to think they just were feigning obtuseness but now believe that TDS adversely affects the humor portion of the brain, rendering them dour and witless.

William said...

Perhaps they're having a "Ho,ho,ho--Ho Chi Minh is going to win" moment. It would be kind of ironic if Trump achieves the kind of iconic status among dissident youth in totalitarian countries that Che has achieved among western assholes....I'm sure that Trump's commitment to capitalism is as sincere and as deep rooted as Che's commitment to communism.....I'd like to see the Iranian and Iraqi protesters carrying this image and waving the American flag. It would be very paradise to be alive in that moment. I lived to see the fall of the Berlin wall. Maybe I'll live to see some other great event.

narciso said...



Look what we have here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1200250455571480577

Michael K said...

Whitney, that young woman has no idea how ridiculous that award was. I have not seen anything about what her "research" concluded. My daughter spent a couple of summers working at an archeological dig. The only thing remotely like sexual harassment she found was an Ecuadorian policeman who tried to romance her. The dig was in Ecuador.

In Bob Baer's book about his CIA career, he recounts requesting a Tukic speaker as his replacement when he retired. They sent him an expert of sexual harassment.

buwaya said...

Re Mao and his works -

The best lies are selected truths. Mao knew this.
That's one reason the third world was once full of Maoists.
I used to know quite a lot of them, sincere ones.

narciso said...


Elaboration on thr earlier point:


https://www.millerchevalier.com/node/178

John henry said...

Narciso,

Here are some charts on knife crime in England and Wales.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089

43,000 attacks in the 12 months ending march 2019

John Henry

Daniel Jackson said...

I suppose it is an American thing. It is so grotesquely outlandish that the image is so good. The Brits will not understand.

More than that, it is a complete poke in the eye of Putin who regularly parades his sagging chest for the world to see what a He-Man he is. Rocky defeated the Russkie; Trump defeats Russia AND China.

Rock on, Dude.

rcocean said...

The Liberal/Left MSM game-plan had been to find Trump's humorous remarks "puzzling" or serious literal statements. They're only labeled "Puzzling" when the MSM cant' figure out how to spin them into making Trump look bad.

Big Mike said...

the Guardian's collection of I-don't-know-what-to-make-of-it snarkers seem obtuse and wet-blanket-y

@Althouse, the Guardian’s snarkers are always “obtuse,” but sometimes you don’t notice it because there are topics about which you are equally obtuse.

rcocean said...

Trump has taken China on and tried to get us a better trade deal. The DNC MSM response was to hysterically attack Trump for starting A TRADE WAR!!!

Then when Congress passed a worthless resolution supporting HK, the MSM tried to make out like Trump was in love with China, and didn't like the protesters. Now, he's signed the resolution, and the MSM can't criticize him.

Roy Lofquist said...

I wonder what Hillary would do.

pacwest said...

China receives 57% of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) through Hong Kong. It's not a prize they will give up lightly. This story is a long ways from over.

Bill Peschel said...

The feigned ignorance is one of the more maddening tactics reporters use, because it has nothing to do with the story, and allows them to insert their bias safely. Same way they troll for experts to confirm the story's slant.

JAORE said...

snarkers seem obtuse and wet-blanket-y.

It ain't just the Guardian people. Most of the hard left I encounter fit into this category.

J Melcher said...

I find the phrasing oddly significant. What to MAKE OF it, eh?

As if the events or images of the day are at best the raw materials and elemental components of news which require the theory, plans, patented methods, factory, and skilled laborers of our news-people in order to manufacture a safe, sterile, homogenized, blunt-edged, temperate and non-threatening consumer product.

Biff said...

I am reminded of a wedding of a Taiwanese PhD to a US-born, non-Asian Harvard MD I attended in Boston a while back. The wedding occurred right after the US sailed a carrier group through the Taiwan Strait to send a message after some sort of kerfuffle over mainland meddling in Taiwanese elections, IIRC. The immigrant father of the bride got up at the reception to welcome the guests, and he began by offering a heartfelt toast to the US and its citizens, saying how grateful he and millions of his countrymen were to the beacon of freedom, thanking the Americans in attendance for building a country that was such a wonderful example to the world, etc.

The Asians in the audience, at least the ones who weren't grad students from the mainland, were nodding and smiling during the toast, while a large portion of the mostly highly-educated caucasians in the crowd had looks ranging from confusion to embarrassment to disbelief to disgust. The father was smart enough to see that something was off, and he said something about "You don't understand how important this country is to us," but then he wrapped up quickly, rather than take too much of the focus from his daughter. Truly, a revealing moment.

Jersey Fled said...

Did Poppy indulge in HYPERBOLE when he/she said the "no one" knew why Trump posted that picture.

Like when they criticise Trump for when he does it. Fact checking him for not being literally accurate in every detail.

I'm shocked.

gspencer said...

"Yo Adrian" has morphed into "Yo Obama I beat ya"

John henry said...

Donald Trump was quite athletic in his younger days. I suspect that as an 18 year old he was probably pretty buff.

It would be interesting to put his current head on his 18 year old body and see what he looks like.

John Henry

mockturtle said...

Wish we weren't over a trillion dollars in debt to China.

BUMBLE BEE said...

narciso... Apelbaum is quite a treasure

Bob Boyd said...

Trump can laugh at himself.
If Hillary'd had the sense of humor to graft her head onto Kate Upton's bare chest, she might have been taken more seriously.

narciso said...

Yes he is, now all of these characters are hard to spot in their natural environs

mccullough said...

Bye, Boomer.

It’s Tucker Carlson’s show now.

narciso said...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/29/london-bridge-reports-gunshots-central-london/

Yancey Ward said...

Feigned disingenuosness always makes a person look stupid. There are a number of trolls who do this relentlessly here at Althouse.

Ken B said...

Buwaya said
“Disingenuousness is a tactic. They pretend not to understand, not to realize implications, to fail to get the joke. “
Exactly. Playing dumb to appear smart. You see the tactic everywhere.

“This is a propaganda war and it is a terrible mistake to assume sincerity in any expression”
I don’t quite agree here. I think lots of people are sincere, just not media people.

Yancey Ward said...

Dust Bunny Queen wrote:

"They make it sound like Trump created the picture himself, instead of just re-tweeting or forwarding the photo that someone else made."

I noticed the exact same thing- I even considered commenting on it the other day when Althouse posted about the tweet.

Yancey Ward said...

When the House and Senate passed the bills, the Democrats were dead certain they had laid a trap for Trump given the trade war with China.

Automatic_Wing said...

Wish we weren't over a trillion dollars in debt to China.

When you owe the bank $100K and you can't pay it back, you have a problem. When you owe the bank a trillion dollars and you can't pay it back, the bank has a problem.

mockturtle said...

Touché, Automatic.

traditionalguy said...

Do not misunderestimate the hope both the free world and not free world has gotten from the revelations by Q and Q+. The Global Criminal Cartel is now in a panic facing demonstrators against their crimes in France, in Hong Kong, in Iran, in Iraq, and in Bolivia. And Ukraine wanted its freedom from that criminal Cabal enough to elect a Comedian.

Every damn one of those demonstrations are President Trump ( a/k/a Q+) induced. China is nearly in checkmate, and Trump laughs while the his Tariffs keep on keeping on.

Ken B said...

A lot of people on the Left don’t get it because they think it’s about beauty and sex appeal. It isn’t; Rocky is a long-shot low-class hero. He stands up for the little guy and he says “yo” instead of quoting Camus.

The po-faced Poppies of our planet swooned at pictures of Obama that presented him as an upper crust intellectual. Even bad ones like this

https://www.google.com/search?q=obama+mirror&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiR-8uS7o_mAhX9FzQIHS67CYQQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=obama+mirr&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-img.1.0.0j0i5i30l2.50999.54072..55420...0.0..0.97.959.12......0....1.........35i39j0i67j0i131j0i8i30.mMQtMDrT5gI&ei=7UnhXdHQOf2v0PEPrvamoAg&bih=704&biw=1024&client=puffin-a&prmd=insv#imgrc=hYzdGBzbers_9M

But they cannot see why this Rocky image appeals.

Francisco D said...

What kind of an elitist name is "Poopy"?

Byron "Whizzer" White was OK, but Poopy?

Ken B said...

Francisco
Poopy would be truth in advertising. Alas her name is Poppy.

narciso said...

Heres her other hits


https://www.theguardian.com/profile/poppy-noor

Drago said...

Recall not that long ago many lefties around the world and here at Althouse told us the "real Leaders Of The Free World" were, and I believe it was in this order over 18 months:

May
Merkel
Macron
Trudeau (yes, the Boy Prime Minister)

The lefties literally argued that because of course they did.

Skippy Tisdale said...

At least he didn't Photoshop his head onto this:

https://mediadc.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/279f883/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2290x1322+0+0/resize/2290x1322!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmediadc.brightspotcdn.com%2F90%2F8e%2Fd1e4c09e4e6a9ea8e922d32feed8%2Fproxy.png

Drago said...

The Hong Kong freedom protestors wave the American flag, display pics of Trump and sing our National Anthem.

I suspect certain Althouse commenters on the left and LLR-left will need some additional alcohol and chemical support to make it thru the weekend.

Thoughts and prayers lefties/LLR-lefties.

Thoughts and prayers.

doctrev said...

Given that commentary about Twitter memes is about all that 20% of the population and 90% of young female commentators are good for, the notion that they can't figure this out is an example of the tactical wooden stupidity expressed in George Orwell's 1984. Yes, the little floozy is stupid, but she's not that stupid, ya dig?

The fact China -really- can't afford to take any practical measures to express their anger, and boy are they angry, is telling. Donald Trump correctly assessed that they can't afford to take another economic hit just out of being pissy, and his BIPARTISAN law supporting Hong Kong means that a Chinese attack will be answered with sanctions. Things are getting really bad for the Chinese and their Rat puppets. And it will only get worse.

Comanche Voter said...

Things sometimes get a little "Rocky" for The Donald, but he keeps powering on through.

Comanche Voter said...

Thinking about "journalists" like Poppy and the MSM in general (Brian Stelter and Don Lemon, I'm looking at you), I'm reminded that Kinky Kriedman is one of the savants of our time.
Kinky sees it--and tells it--like it is.

In his song, "Wild Man of Borneo" which is nominally about visitors to a zoo looking at an orangutang, Kinky writes

"They come to see, what they want to see
But they never come to know."

When you keep your head is in a deep dark place where the sun never shines, you are not likely to ever know much.

hstad said...

"...Things are getting really bad for the Chinese and their Rat puppets. And it will only get worse..." The problem for the Chinese, in their ever increasing demands for "Control", the Chinese Communist Party has accomplished the opposite. Moreover, if the Chinese Communists persist in this line of operating, their economy will collapse and so will their 'Societal Control'. The obvious conclusion by the people, is these guys in Beijing can't even run a 'hot dog' stand. But the MSM is ignorant of what's going on. Hong Kong is just a minor disturbance compared to the daily, weekly, monthly, etc., disturbances on the Mainland. Just remember the Chinese military was created to control 1.3 billion people[their people] and they will be needed and used by the Communists.

effinayright said...

Fernandistein said...
Her article is as dumb as her name, which reminds me of that famous kids' book "The Poopy Little Puppy".

**************

Yeah, a woman named after a flower. Ridiculous.

narciso said...

it used to be, they were giving talking points to bin laden,


https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/11/china-reads-the-ny-times-editorial-page.php

FullMoon said...

Think I may have a bunch of those Trump/Rockies printed. Put 'em in Christmas cards. Maybe send some to local politicians.

Is that a Federal offense?

doctrev said...

hstad said...
"...Things are getting really bad for the Chinese and their Rat puppets. And it will only get worse..." The problem for the Chinese, in their ever increasing demands for "Control", the Chinese Communist Party has accomplished the opposite. Moreover, if the Chinese Communists persist in this line of operating, their economy will collapse and so will their 'Societal Control'. The obvious conclusion by the people, is these guys in Beijing can't even run a 'hot dog' stand. But the MSM is ignorant of what's going on. Hong Kong is just a minor disturbance compared to the daily, weekly, monthly, etc., disturbances on the Mainland.
11/29/19, 12:33 PM

EXACTLY. You get a lot of extremely vain and miseducated idiots claiming that China sees the long view, a century of strategy, etc. In reality China does a lot of loan sharking to the Third World, and seizing factories/ military bases when their vassals can't pay back the debt. Patriots like Mahatir Mohammad usually reject these tactics, and respond by repudiating the debt before cancelling all further Chinese construction.

What's ironic is that the Chinese social control is far more benevolent and sustainable than the American version. Sad for them that it will collapse, but then they did fetch up against President Donald Trump. No one had a gun to their head forcing them down that path. Unless they did? Shit, I dunno. Help em out here.

Seeing Red said...

China receives 57% of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) through Hong Kong. It's not a prize they will give up lightly. This story is a long ways from over.

From a certain POV, they did it to themselves. They chose to strangle HK thinking they could get away with it.

eddie willers said...

Shoot. If someone were to Photoshop my face onto the body of ..say...Raquel Welch in her prime...I would forward it EVERYWHERE and be laughing the whole time

And I would click and save.

Maillard Reactionary said...

It's important for the readers and writers of The Grauniad to be obtuse and not know what to make of it. If they were to let themselves understand, their whole world view and self-image would collapse. It's just not worth it to them.

Sad!

Michael K said...

From a certain POV, they did it to themselves. They chose to strangle HK thinking they could get away with it.

I think this happens a lot with dictatorships. Even big corporations run by managers and children (like Chick fil A).

Harry Truman had a story from his knowledge of Roman history. "His (a Senator) downfall began when he took his friends for granted and tried to bribe his enemies." Boy is that true ! If you are successful, it is easy to think, "I have ll these people supporting me. Why not add all those who don't support me?"

China thinks they are all powerful. Hong Kong is only a small island. How can they matter ? Boeing thought, if only they could shave costs on the 737Max by avoiding all that retraining? Just program a system called MCAS, and by the way, have the code written by H1B visa holders who work cheap. Who would ever know ?

narciso said...

Indeed, the jugurthan war, occurred in part because this son of numidia, had bribed many roman senators, it took seven years and the third commander marius,

narciso said...

more here, as you see plutarch differs with Sallust,


https://www.ancient.eu/Jugurtha/

narciso said...

well perhaps not significantly,

Bunkypotatohead said...

Big Media's instinct is to oppose anything President Trump is for. They "don't know what to make of this" because they are forced to side with the Chinese gov't against the freedom loving protesters.