Laura's Body Language (BagNewsNotes)

[On the Road]

I just discovered this blogger. He's a psychologist who reads the subtext of news photos. Quite good. Here's one on Laura Bush's new responsibilities:

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New Head of the Passport Office

---snip

What can be really interesting is a set of news photos from the same event taken within an instant of each other. ...If you're lucky, however, you might also get a shot like the one above -- more like an out-take -- revealing a more authentic feel of the moment, and the dynamic between the players. The image shows Mrs. Bush a few weeks ago, attending a program called 'Passport to Manhood' at a Boys and Girls Club in Philadelphia.... I would have hoped for at least a little more humanity and connection from Mrs. Bush in between the photo flashes.

The feeling these kids give off is demoralization. And also defensiveness. They boy next to Mrs. Bush couldn't be more distant and pulled in.... Then there's the kid in the sweat top to the right of Bush's head. He's got that "just do what you want with me" forward slump.

The only kid that actually looks like he's breathing is the one with the white shirt and black jacket at the far right. If you're a kid, and the wife of the President shows up, this is the kind of attentive, slightly self-conscious, slightly-embarrassed manner you would typically expect. So the question is, are these kids this unresponsive because they are downtrodden? Or, do they just know that they are props?

---snip


http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2005/03/new_head_of_the.html

[Us vs Them]

1. They're probably embarrassed

I know I would be if some news photographer started taking pictures of me next to some cracker bitch at any event called "Passport to Manhood."

[bullimiami]

2. they know her type.

she is pissed they got off of the plantation.

there is your "ownership society" they think they should own everything

[sui generis]

3. actually

they're worried about their reps now that they've been photographed next to the Lizard Queen. If you look closely you will see her tongue flick out and back. No kidding.

[TwentyFive]

6. Laura's lipstick - looks like it was made from blood

Her mouth looks like it just got done taking a bite out of somebody, and she hasn't had time to lick the blood off her lips.

[LiberalinNC]

4. I wouldn't want that bitch at my kid's school!

She's such a phony!

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Right

They probably know it from their own research of the Bush family and/or parents or can just tell. I'm sure they know when a phoney is around.
My parents volunteer at an innercity thing on Thursday nights and they actually love going there and have fun with the kids and the kids seem to like them (one little boy gave my dad a drawing he made). All this is for the Bush's is a photo-op and the kids know it. They look bored out of their minds. Cool blog. I'm checking it out now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. They all look like

she either has really bad breath or she just farted and they're trying their best not to react.

[tridim]

7. Wonder what he thinks of this one?

I thought Bush was supposed to be a tough guy.

[flordehinojos]

9. doesn't bush's hand look effeminate in this picture?

[FreedomAngel82]

12. That photo is funny

He's trying to wave and be nice to the little kids.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. An they're ignoring him! n/t

[flordehinojos]

8. the kid looks like he just got caught in a place with a companion he does

not want to be with.

[Lena inRI]

10. Mariannnnnnnn.. .the librariannnnnn. . .

photo-op. . .photo-op. . . Mrs. Goodytwoshoes. . .photo-op . . .what the heck is this all about. . .why couldn't we get Oprah, Obama, Eminem, or Ice T ??
:shrug:

[FreedomAngel82]

13. Yeah really

I'm surprised they didn't get Oprah banging on this. Eminem hates Bush so I don't think that'd work out too well. Ice T. :shrug:

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I don't usually say things like this, because Laura does not

impinge upon my reality in any fashion whatsoever. She's just another prop for * to use. But I wonder --

Does anyone else think she looks like a lizard here?

[riverwalker]

16. best first lady pic I ever saw was

of Rosalyn Carter, when Jimmy was President. They were on a tour of some foriegn impoverished place, I can't remember where. Rosalyn was wearing mud boots and sloshing through a dirty refugee camp carrying a diseased and bloated child. She is such a beautiful human being and the antithesis of Laura.

[maveric]

17. OMG! She looks like a lizard in that photo!

Blank retilian eyes.

[Cleita]

18. bagnewsnotes?

Is he referring to Laura? LOL

[brainshrub]

19. Manhood-as-a-passport is dangerous to democracy.

Take a look at this picture!



From the same blog: Bagendnoots:

I have to say, I'm fascinated with this title. I can't help pulling the words apart, especially the first and last four letters. (...Maybe, if you don't pass, you end up in the hood?)

But what really interests me is the concept of a "passport." If a passport is something that bestows the right or privilege of passage, what are the terms upon which these kids earn that right? According to the Bush model of rigid moral conduct, rights are earned if you just 'shape up.' But then, what are the consequences if you can't conform quickly enough to their terms (if you can at all)?

I suppose you get your passport revoked. And your manhood.

http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2005/03/new_head_of_the.html

###

The frame manhood-as-a-passport is extremely dangerous to democracy. One gets permission from the government to receive a passport. But in a free society, you don't need to do anything after a certain age to be considered a man and receive the privileges of adulthood.

The very concept of a "Passport to Manhood" is anathema to the Constitution: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

One of the verbal weapons white racists used to enforce their perceived superiority over black males was to call them "boys" regardless of age. Seeing a chalk-board with the implied message that black youth need a permission-slip to be a man is so bigoted that it boggles my mind that it is part of a portfolio to promote Mrs. Bush's program.

Certainly, manhood can be an honorary designation placed on someone by their religious or cultural beliefs, such as in the Jewish or Catholic traditions. Ultimately, however, manhood is something that is as innate to our personhood as the ability to think or feel. People can refuse to accept their manhood by shirking their social responsibilities, but manhood is not something that one gains or loses with someone else's permission.

[oneighty]

20. Coming of age

on poverty street. Bush* could not pass that time honored 'Passport to manhood' and these kids know it.

To be born and raised rich is to be stupid/ignorant in so many ways.

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