Lies, Damn Lies and Photoshop

http://blog.timparkinson.net/2011/09/30/lies-damn-lies-and-photoshop/

by jedwhite • 15 years ago

79 42 15 years ago

blog.timparkinson.net

jedwhite2• 15 years ago

Website is getting overloaded from look of it. Here is the google cache link:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fIfQpD6...

JeremyBanks• 15 years ago

I do however find it supremely ironic that a group who is supposedly protesting about corruption and lies would produce such a blatant piece of propaganda. Especially one so readily falsifiable.

The first comment is pointing out that he doesn't actually know if it's from the organizers. The author concedes that, but it doesn't seem to have stopped him from associating it with them.

Do we now hold groups responsible for images that 50 of their supporters have shared on Facebook?

rick8883• 15 years ago

well, the organizers didn't come out and say it was false, now did they.

rick8883• 15 years ago

It's a valid thought. it's popular enough so you know they've seen it, yet they haven't denied it or stopped spreading the propaganda.

benwerd2• 15 years ago

Do we now hold groups responsible for images that 50 of their supporters have shared on Facebook?

This. It's natural that sympathizers will have latched onto the image - but that just means they've been duped with everyone else.

rick8883• 15 years ago

well, the organizers didn't come out and say it was false, now did they. (for some reason my other post is -1)

cema• 15 years ago

-1 means it still can be seen and read (and upvoted, if people feel so). A double posting is, at best, an error.

InclinedPlane3• 15 years ago

"Do we now hold groups responsible for images that 50 of their supporters have shared on Facebook?"

According to the treatment the Tea Party has received in the media and in public opinion: yes, yes we do.

benwerd2• 15 years ago

Huh. A cynical protester, or a cynical person wanting to undermine the credibility of the protesters? Either way, sad that someone put so much effort into a fabrication.

Edit: I guess Hacker News says "no".

fungi• 15 years ago

reminds me of the BS chain emails my mum and her friends are constantly forwarding each other.

i would personally put it down to a primitive form of karma whoring.

sunchild4• 15 years ago

I live a few blocks away. I just walked past the park where the protesters are camped out. There are (and have been over the past few days) a small group of activists there. A lot of them seem to be playing "reporter" in front of their friends' very expensive video setups. I've seen more cops than protesters over the past week, to be honest. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but this movement just turns me off. I wish it were otherwise, but the impotence of that crowd is depressing. Also, they were packed into the local McDonalds, presumably for the WiFi and corporate cow meat. Ugh.

gerggerg4• 15 years ago

Impotence? What do you want? Thousands of people to occupy wall street for weeks? Violence? Business like advertising?

It's a real bummer that you can be so demoralized by what people 'seem' to be doing.

I'm glad you can vent on the internet though.

sunchild4• 15 years ago

Well, since you asked: I want fewer people sleeping in parks and playing in drum circles and pretending to be reporters, and more people working inside the system to right its course.

InclinedPlane3• 15 years ago

I THINK, and this is just my hunch, that he, and a lot of other people, are looking for some sort of definite, positive, cohesive, rational, achievable agenda that the country (or, you know, at least 99% of it) could get behind.

Instead of, you know, just a bunch of people whining about how horrible things are in a world where being a member of the economically disadvantaged majority means owning a satchel full of luxury electronics like ipads, macbooks, and DSLRs.

MichaelApproved• 15 years ago

How about a leader with a clear message that people can stand behind? Right now it just seems like a herd of cats.

philwelch2• 15 years ago

Eight years ago, people from diverse backgrounds turned out in the thousands with a definitive message: don't invade Iraq. I guess that was pretty impotent too, considering Iraq was invaded anyway, but at least there was a combination of popular mass and an actual agenda, not just a few discontented slackers with a vague sense of dissatisfaction with the world and a convenient yet eternal scapegoat to blame it on.

gasull4• 15 years ago

> A lot of them seem to be playing "reporter" in front of their friends' very expensive video setups. (...) Also, they were packed into the local McDonalds, presumably for the WiFi and corporate cow meat.

So should they use cheap second hand gear, eat organic and communicate with others via push-to-talk?

Do you need to avoid any possible contradiction before you protest against Government corruption?

sunchild4• 15 years ago

Practice what you preach.

nodata• 15 years ago

And many of them are wearing JEANS! shriek

coryl• 15 years ago

Was walking by there this weekend, only a couple hundred protesters occupying the area? A lot of tourists taking pictures, checking it out. Also a lot of police standing by.

Hisoka• 15 years ago

I work in Wall Street, and funny thing is I haven't seen a sign of 1 protestor. Maybe I'm in a very small radius, but still, it's very overwhelming. They need someone like Lady Gaga if they want more traction. They should probably consult with one of the guys from Mint.com for marketing ideas

philwelch2• 15 years ago

I bet if Rage Against The Machine turned up for an impromptu show the protest would explode in size.

cpeterso2• 15 years ago

Rage Against The Machine (and Michael Moore) stormed the NYSE to film a music video on Wall Street in 2000:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1433553/rage-shoots-video-w...

datums• 15 years ago

BLOOMBERG: The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. really? There's more than one bubble.

gasull4• 15 years ago

According to some sources, NYPD estimated the protestors in around 5,000:

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/09/30/huge-crowd-5000-...

irrumator• 15 years ago

Do you not see the irony of linking to some blog with the same Photoshopped image that this post is talking about?

gasull4• 15 years ago

Does the irony invalidate the estimate of 5.000 protesters?

paul9290• 15 years ago

Usually a protest is an organized group of people opposing something for the purpose of a resolution.

These people have not outlined nor have a resolution. They are just against capitalism (?). Though as noted in a comment above, they all pack into their local McDonalds for free wifi and pay to eat there, yet in doing so they are further fueling what they oppose. Seems odd to me!

Can anyone here make sense of this movement?

jeffreymcmanus2• 15 years ago

ah, the "let them eat cake" argument.

throughout history, there have been far less purposeful protests whose outcome has been far less "silly".

abalone• 15 years ago

That pic may be ridiculous but so is the claim that there are only 100 protesters. The police have arrested eight times that alone.

And since when is some guy's blog "The Media"?

olefoo• 15 years ago

At the least, the people out there trying to #occupywallstreet are doing something to try to limit the power of the unelected, unaccountable, unchecked financial elites whose wealth puts them above the law and whose infinite appetite ensures they will never be satisfied until they have sold the last bit of land, eaten the last wild animal and hold the rest of humanity on a short leash of material necessity.

To make things, products and services that people want and choose to buy of their own free will is an honorable path. The people out there on the street are not against those who choose that path; they are against those who want to set up one set of laws for the rich and powerful and another far harsher one for the rest of us.

Whether this picture is a product of regrettable enthusiasm, or is a deliberate fraud aimed to discredit is beside the point. The fact that the space has been opened to have a conversation about the nature of power in our society at this time is the important fact worthy of note.

cpeterso2• 15 years ago

How often does Google Maps refresh its satellite photos? Someday they will be live, which is both cool and scary..

jedwhite2• 15 years ago

Seems odd that this story would get flagged or moderated off the homepage so quickly. The technology issues it raises about manipulation of social media are more interesting than the politics of OWS itself.

Lies, Damn Lies and Photoshop

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