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| Photo of Netanyahu as it appeared on Huffington Post. |
The picture of Benjamin Netanyahu shown to the left appears on the front page of today’s Huffington Post, illustrating a story about Israel easing its blockade of Gaza. The full article on Huffington Post, which can be seen here, also uses the same photo as an illustration. (As of this writing, the picture is still on the HuffPo main page, though it may be gone by the time you read this, as the site’s front page changes every day.)
When I first saw the photo, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, because it looks like Netanyahu has neon devil horns growing out of his head. What the hell? Was the photo altered in some way? Or is it a “truth-o-graph” revealing Netanyahu’s true devilish nature?
Turns out: No. The photo is an authentic AP photograph — or at least part of an authentic AP photograph — which was cleverly cropped by someone at Huffington Post to make it appear as if Netanyahu has devil horns — flaming neon devil horns, at that.
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| The same photo of Netanyahu as it was originally released by AP/AFP. |
After a bit of searching, I found the original photograph, which you can see to the left and also here, in its original context on the Yahoo News page. (The picture also currently appears in this Yahoo News slideshow, but again it may not be there by the time you read this, as the slideshows change over time.) At the Yahoo site, the photo is credited to “AFP/Pool/File,” which probably means that one photographer was allowed in to take photos of Netanyahu and the images were then shared in a “pool” by all the news syndicates, including AP and AFP.
As is plainly visible, the original photograph reveals what is really going on: Netanyahu is standing in front of a backlit cut-glass official Seal of the State of Israel, which depicts a menorah flanked on either side by branches.
Somebody — most likely at Huffington Post — carefully cropped off the top portion of the photo so that the bottom parts of the two branches combined with the curved edge of the seal appear to be the outlines of horns sprouting from Netanyahu’s head.
Why?
Is this part of the ongoing and relentless campaign by news sites to subtly slant the news — in this case, to “demonize” (in a literal sense) Israel? Or was it just a sheer random accident?
Or did Huffington Post get the photo from a different source, already pre-cropped? If so, I’d like to see the original source, and investigate who did the cropping. Either way, somebody — either at Huffington Post or at AP (or possibly a different news syndicate) — cropped the photo at the precise point to make Netanyahu look like Satan.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But considering the longstanding documented anti-Israel bias at so many news outlets, “coincidence” seems like the least likely explanation.
For the record, here is a screenshot of the photo as it currently appears on the Huffington Post main page:
UPDATE:
Turns out this is not the first time that the Huffington Post has been involved in similar incidents, as detailed in the following links:
FrontPage Full Report: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Hatred on the Huffington Post
CAMERA re HuffPo: Spreading Falsehoods About Israel on the Internet
Huff-Watch, a blog monitoring anti-Semitism on the Huffington Post.
Pretty lame for HuffPo to resort to this petty and juvenile tactic, but not surprisingly. HuffPo folks are full of adult-sized bratty children.
I don’t think there was anything deliberate there.
It looks like they just cropped the photo from the top and the bottom without much thought, no biggie.
How many “halos” have we seen behind Obama’s head ? Editors know what they are doing.
I don’t see it – and I don’t consider this theory worth mentioning. Zombie – your work is usually so spot on – there’s certainly a LOT to criticize — why not stick to material which speaks for itself, as you usually do with your scathing photo work? This barely rises to that level of quality and import! Just my two cents….
“I’m shocked, shocked to find cropping going on at the Bluffington Post,” Inspector Renault.
There are a variety of ways to crop a head-shot, the most common is to align the top of the head/hair with the top of the picture (see the picture below the Netanyahu one headlined “Democrats Push…” or the pictures on the sidebar in the Huffpo screen-shot). I doubt it was intended to produce devil horns, merely to diminish Netanyahu’s stature (by comparison he seems smaller than those who have a head-shot taking up most of the picture) and to make him seem distant and unattached (crreative use of dead space around him.
Having worked in graphic design for the Dallas paper as well as many ads and catalogs I can tell you that editors agonize over editing of photos. For them to think they could get away with this is outrageous. I guarantee that if you look on whoever is doing the layout they will be someone with a political and/or cultural bias that would approve of such an action.
But of course!
Hi Zombie:
Big, big fan of your work. I’m the author of the report you cited (“Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Hatred on the Huffington Post”), and the editor of HUFF-WATCH. You are right, selective photo-editing to demonize Netanyahu – while elevating and humanizing Ahmadinejad and other murderous tyrants – has become a specialty at HuffPost.
Here are some links to detailed reports on HUFF-WATCH:
5/20/09 onward: Pathological photo-bias re Netanyahu, Ahmadinejad
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2009/05/52009-onward-pathological-photo-bias-re.html
5/13/09: (Kennedy-esque) Obama “warns” (sinister-looking) Netenyahu; predictable Israel-hatred ensues (with approval!!!)
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2009/06/51309-kennedy-esque-obama-warns.html
8/1/09: Hamas: “Hello, HuffPost? Yes, we have a new cuddly picture of our chief terrorist for you.” (HuffPost: “Thanks!!!”)
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2009/08/8109-hamas-hello-huffpost-yes-we-have.html
Ahmadinejad announces his love for Arianna Huffington
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2010/06/ahmadinejad-announces-his-love-for.html
God do I hope it’s a deliberate photo chop. This makes Bibi look like he needs to look if he is going head to head with the unicorn and his one big horn. Bibi needs some fangs as well to tear Obama a new one.
Nah, the only ones who used to give Jews horns in the US were those bible beating rural Christians who viewed us as greedy bankers. As a Jew I do not trust fundamentalist Christians as much as I trust the hard left.
Figures.
And do you appreciate the measured way Obama has treated Netanyahu and Israel?
I think Obama realizes that Bibi is a member of a party that would not give an inch of the West Bank under the best of conditions. he also realizes that Bibi is supported by a delecate coalition that includes a lunatice foreig n minister. If I were back living Israel, my vote would have gone to kadima under Livni. As for the flotilla. I am thankful that Israel is not being pressured by its ally to go beyond what it has agreed to,an internal probe with international observers.
Liar or fool David? Which are you?
That last question was directed to your comment #11.
BP = Barry’s Payoff .Jerk-Offs @ the Commie-Post won’t say a word about the 20 billion BP dollars that Barry can now siphon from.They would rather spend their time playing childish games.Post has no credibility what-so-ever.
Wow! I’m . . . well I’m just so saddened. So wildly fearful of what’s going on in our country. And in the country of our dearest friend and neighborly Democrat, Israel. First, the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of innocent Jewish children in Gaza a couple of years ago and now this! A photo of our hawkish brother, Ben . . . caught strategically positioning himself in front of a logo to create a subconscious connection to the devil in the minds of paranoid media dwellers . . . knowing they will seize upon the opportunity to promote division among the American viewer/voter, thereby leveraging the discord to extract more aid dollars from an administration forced to feign genuine of Israel to remain in favor with a sympathetic electorate. It’s really a . . . what? That’s not the claim here? You what? You think Ben is a victim? . . . Victim of what? . . . Devil horns? . . . Really? Devil horns? . . . What are you, high? I mean, I was with you till now, but, come on, that’s really a stretch, even for you, and you’re very stretchy.
Are you the same guy who bought the “Jesus In My Toast” thing on ebay?
See, Zom, Mr Scuzneck was with all along: “I mean, I was with you till now, but, come on, that’s really a stretch, even for you, and you’re very stretchy.” Unfortunately his selection of the phrase “…even for you, and you’re very stretchy…” belies the statement: “…I was with you till now…” But Mr Scuzneck often forgets what he/she wrote in one part of a sentence as he writes the next part of a sentence. It is almost a trademark for him/her. Just a lovable old trolling kidder is Mr Scuzneck.
When people state bald-faced lies (though it was an interesting slip, since you meant to write ‘Arab children’, I think), why should anything they say be taken seriously. It has been documented – if selectively and deliberately ignored – that the Hamas in 42 months of ‘liberated Gaza’ did the following:
1) Built up a huge terrorist militia;
2) waged war against the Fatah in the Strip;
3) relentlessly attacked pre-67 Israel with rockets;
4) kidnapped Gilad Shalit and attempted to kidnap other soldiers – again, inside Israel’s borders;
5) attempted numerous ‘incursions’ whose purpose was to take civilians hostage and kill them.
After 42 months of this, the IDF targeted the Hamas infrastructure, warned civilians to flee repeatedly, avoided firing on areas where large nos of civilians were known to be, and did considerable damage to the infrastructure of an organization whose purpose(s) are, in its own words, 1) destruction of the ‘Zionist entity’; 2) murder of all Jews in the world, 3) Jihad in general.
Civilian casualties were exaggerated, as usual when comes to Israel. Some of the kids killed were also active fighters, as can easily be proven by simply looking at reports of Arab kids laying mines on border fences, etc.
You belong to the line of rank anti-Semites (numbering no more than 50% of the world’s population) that believes that any Jewish effort at self-defense is an atrocity.
Healthy skepticism is important, Skeez, but as the former newspaper edito who was very involved in a hands-on way choosing photographs (and telling photo editors to crop, where to place, etc.), I can say with certainty that Huff Post knew exactly what they were doing. Additionally, Jews are commonly depicted with horns in anti-Semitic artwork so this really isn’t a stretch in the least.
Oh, wait, that’s right . . . it was the wholesale slaughter of PALESTINIAN children in Gaza . . . silly me. What WAS I thinking?
Do I believe that any Jewish effort at self-defense is an atrocity? Nope. Nor do I believe that any Jewish atrocity is an effort at self defense. You see, that’s the benefit of being a liberal . . . I get to deal in reality. Conservatives don’t care about reality.
Lots of confused rage and anger here. The loss in the hotdog eating contest must have really hurt. In it’s own words –
“…I get to deal in reality…”
“What WAS I thinking?” Maybe retail?
“First, the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of innocent Jewish children in Gaza a couple of years ago and now this!”
“Oh, wait, that’s right . . . it was the wholesale slaughter of PALESTINIAN children in Gaza . . . silly me. What WAS I thinking?”
Maybe retail?
Well, let’s see. Thinking? What is the implication here. A thinking The Principal Liar sleazits? Or reality coming forth like a single Modern Liberal overflowing toilet in a desert Ex-Lax factory. Mmm, mmm, mmm. The raw sewage can really get the Modern Liberal… Thinking? Thinking? Maybe retail.
The Principal Liar sleazits rap sheet gets longer. Alger Hiss could relate. Nixon? Yes of course. Benedict A.? Ted Hall? Likely.
Let’s see, how has the Wannabe Jihadist has been performing? Truth still seems to be an alien concept. Oh well, Trotsky was a rightist too. Orwell applauds!
“I have no reason to lie about my political affiliation.” Sure.
skeeziks
“You see, that’s the benefit of being a liberal . . . I get to deal in reality. Conservatives don’t care about reality.”
July 6, 2010 – 9:08 am
Then the closet admission of The Ultimate Sin. Shame on you Liar! Conservative! Notice the use of the word “true”. Where did that come from, Liar. And self projected hate on oneself.
“…, and you’re very stretchy.” Too.
skeeziks
“Don’t hate me because I’m right. Im the only true conservative on this board.”
July 2, 2010 – 9:07 am
The RIP Skid Marks Persons Galore clan member kicks in an explanation. People are funny, and they don’t listen. Wonder why… Note the ubiquitous “you people”.
45. G Marks
“You people are hilarious. I have no reason to lie about my political affiliation.
…but you people don’t want to listen.”
June 13, 2010 – 8:34 am
35. skeeziks:
“You people….”
Jan 30, 2010 – 12:55 pm
The Expert Numerologist standing up for “35 and 84″. This means something? Maybe retail? Blistering tautology.
skeeziks
35 and 84 are me, and I stand by them. The others are others.
June 11, 2010 – 3:42 pm
The Principal Liar sleazits Multiple Persons Galore exhibits three manifestations of Modern Liberal personal identification truth telling, with approved gender bending dead Princess sexual innuendo ripoff confusion.
Who is this Now and Then, anyway? Another princess type? And you’re Lady Di too?
30. skeeziks
“Hail Rush. Go Sarah!”
June 21, 2010 – 9:05 am
233. Now and Then:
“Hail Rush. Go Sarah!”
Dec 5, 2009 – 7:03 am
15. Lady Di
“I love you, honey!!
And now the punch line . . .
Indeed. Drill, baby, drill. Hail Rush. Go Sarah! (If she’s still going by that name today.)”
June 3, 2010 – 1:06 pm
This member of the Galore clan has been tracking in Lawn Chocolates to PJM as of late. Another “you people” lover with such great advice. Funhouse mirror anyone?
Praetorian
“It’s gonna be a rough eight-years for you people. I’d stock up on blood pressure medicine. I can almost hear the gaskets bursting in 2010 and 2012.”
May 19, 2010 – 4:57 pm
The “Final Challenge” Modern Liberal Art of Love on display. I guess you can major in this at Harvard these days. Course title – Donkeys, Dogs, A***h and Cartoon Art: Oral Love and the Single Lawn Chocolate.
158. skeeziks
“And my final challenge on this topic to you all . . . draw up a nasty cartoon of Allah, you know, him sucking a donkey dick or eating a dog turd,…
May 23, 2010 – 9:28 am
Graduation speech! Tough with a mouth full of chocolate.
skeeziks
Blork skoonyta zozz ferntata! Blungsorsik stazi sherade, igno porz? Shapung.
Fale Doosh! Ubo Sassee!
June 10, 2010 – 3:23 pm
Wild Deacon rumors. Note “I used to know people…” What happened? Yeah, a mirrored Cesspool can be bleak.
skeeziks
“I used to know people like you when I was a deacon . . . conservative god-fearing moralists…
Hail Rush. Go Sarah.”
June 4, 2010 – 8:03 am
Well, Van Jones moved out until after The Verdict. The Principal Liar Persons Galore has been Huffing Post 4th of July methane contributions flushed down the pipe. What a patriot!
Where’s Liar Levine anyway? Such an intellectual needs more exposure. Maybe retail?
You made your cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.
I’m sorry, can you repeat that? Oh, you already did? Never mind. Borkusfooz!
Sorry alright. The truth can wear on a Liar.
So who is this Now and Then Princess? “Hail…” What? All “you peoples” uses that line. Why not The Persons Galore clan? Nice box you packed yourself into. Interesting isn’t it. All of your own making. So lame, so very, very lame. Exposure is wonderful, is it not? B.F. Skinner is applauding too.
The Kick Me sign nailed to you ass looks a bit worn. The self kicking really isn’t necessary. It’s simple, just like Dorothy.
“There’s No Truth in Lies, There’s No Truth in Lies, There’s No Truth in Lies…” Click click. Boom! Out of the Cesspool.
Mr. President kicks ass. There may be a gig there. You could replace Mr. Gibbs. Think of it, televised ass kicking, starring The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore. Beyond Pee Wee moho. Van Jones will like your sacrifice. He won’t get his hands dirty. What name will you use? Jaaavvvvvelllliiilin? Yeah, that’s cool.
Kyber been feeding you lately? Bark bark! Get a napkin. Where’s your clever snare?
You made your cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.
Huffpost has been doing agitprop against Israel for several years – as has been fully documented by Huffwatcher – see comment #9 and the links he provides. Most certainly this was intentional.
Golly, I should be a candidate for the Scuzneck Sentence award. I left out the word you (was with YOU all) in my first sentence. Just to make up for my mistake, Mr Scuzneck’s statement that there was “…wholesale slaughter of hundreds of innocent Jewish children in Gaza a couple of years ago…” is a stretch akin to a lie.
Fred, I take Skeez’s use of ‘Jewish children’ to be a Freudian slip, by which his subconscious is admitting whose children are really targeted by the other side, genocidally.
Who started that whole thing of giving Jews horns? I believe it grew out of the holy Christian world.
Seems that nobody’s biting. Might want to check your bait.
This is the most ridiculous post I’ve ever seen on the subject of the Middle East; the worst ever on Pajamas Media. Thanks for the chuckle.
Who of sound mind reads the Huffington Post?
I’m with EllenK.
And seriously, how many times has Bammy been photographed with the faux halo?
You mean the ‘Huff’ did something amoral? How surprising.
LET’S HOPE SO
Uh, really? Are you guys now the photo-cropping police? Better head on over to Drudge and bring your F5 key.
Or you could just check out the photo-manipulation ethics of that bastion of liberal thought The Economist:
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/07/photoshopping-news
Oh, but I forgot — this is Pajamas Media, which is a total joke.
Your argument consists of, “Oh really? Well someone else did it too!”
That’s called a tu quoque logical fallacy. It does not stand up as a valid rebuttal.
It seems to me that liberals must take classes in how to argue illogically. Nothing else could explain their across-the-board FAIL when it comes to stuff like this.
Yes, we are indeed the photo-cropping police. As are you, Mother Jones, Drudge, and anyone else who wants to point out dishonest media bias.
Just because the Economist (and National Geographic and Newsweek and the New York Times and Reuters and dozens of other news sources which have been busted over the years) also engaged in underhanded photo manipulation and/or cropping doesn’t mean that Huffington Post is innocent, nor that we the people should stop pointing it out when news sites engage in trickery. You don’t have a monopoly on critical media analysis, nor do I, nor does anybody.
And a wire service photo of Netanyahu in front of an unfortunate backdrop doesn’t indicate a massive conspiracy to bring down the Jews. This is what’s known as “grasping at straws”.
Wrong. My argument is that you only care about unethical photo manipulation when it shows up on HuffPo, and are completely willing to give passes to Drudge or The Economist, which happen to have ideologies similar to your own. Huffpo crops a photo, and it’s a sinister anti-Zionist conspiracy, but when it’s on Drudge, no problem.
I have never read the Economist and know nothing about it, nor do I visit Drudge.
I generally don’t re-report other people’s exposés. I try to only do “original content.” If someone else points out a photo manipulation, more power to ‘em. Fine by me.
But even your new defense again fails as a valid argument. In order to defend HuffPo, you instead attack me, the messenger, rather than address the issue at hand.
The question is: Did HuffPo intentionally manipulate a photo to slant the news?
The question is not: Did the person who first noticed this manipulation also first notice other manipulations?
This is a conservative/libertarian-leaning news portal. Why would it be surprising or noteworthy that stories posted here reflected that worldview?
Should we all go over to DailyKos or any of the other innumerable liberal sites and point out how 100% of their posts support Democrats? Ooooh, DailyKos is biased! Shocking!
Now we can add “attack the messenger” to “tu quoque” in the list of logical fallacies you’ve tried so far.
Ah, so you’re (begrudgingly) admitting that my initial argument (which in point of fact wasn’t a tu quoque, it was simply pointing out your own bias) was correct.
And since when does pointing out bias constitute “attacking the messenger”? I’m starting to think conservatives take classes in misidentifying logical fallacies so as to appear more unctuous and less “intellectual” online.
Perhaps I could start a list of logical fallacies you commit, starting with false inference (“This cropped photo looks to me like devil horns on Netanyahu, therefore the Huffington Post hates Israel”).
One additional note: Getting lectured about logical fallacies by the guy who just wrote 500 words about “devil horns” he found in a picture of Netanyahu is easily the funniest thing that’s happened to me this week.
I’m sorry to hear that your life is so boring. Maybe some more amusing things will happen to you in the future to compete with the humor you find here at PJM.
Well, it’s only Tuesday.
Wow, you’re right! And I see Jesus in the oil spill photo right above him!
Remember when people thought they saw devil horns in the 9/11 smoke (http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bltabloid-arch10.htm)? How about all of those tortillas supposedly bearing the face of the Virgin Mary? Haven’t you ever seen something that looked like an animal in the clouds?
ALL politics aside, I seriously doubt that this was intentional. People often perceive what they expect/want, even if there is nothing there. It’s simply built into our brains. Let’s focus on the issues, please? They’re important.
If you’re interested, read up on the psychological phenomenon known as ‘Pareidolia’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia): “Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.”
Sorry, about.com broke my link
Here’s a pic of the supposed 9/11 “devil horns”: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ml59PlBGnC0/SeUZfww7xXI/AAAAAAAAMPg/4ooHwOGoyFc/s400/devil.jpg
Actually, I thought the photo made him look kind of like Uncle Martin on the old TV show “My Favorite Martian.”
You know when Uncle Martin (played by Ray Walston) put up his antennae. Now, Uncle Martin was a good guy in the show, so maybe this rendering of Netanyahu shows him in a positive light.
On the other hand, as I’m thinking about this, Uncle Martin was from Mars and living in the United States surreptitiously, making him literally an illegal alien … and that’s bad, right?
Zombies aren’t very bright though are they?
Good grief. Anyone who says that they see horns in the photo is a liar, a mental defective or a rigid ideologue. At even a casual glance the image above his head is clearly something in the background, not the foreground, and the background image does not look like horns at all. So, it’s neither deliberate nor a “coincidence,” because by any objective standard there’s nothing there to begin with.
I am not persuaded that the “horns” are deliberate; this could have been accidental. So I remain uncertain. There are too many cut and dried examples of mind management associating the Devil with Jews to do this particular stretch.
Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses has horns, but when I researched this, I didn’t find any association with the demonic.
Yes. They also cropped it to make it look like he had no arms.
There are quite a few commenters here offering some variant of the following:
(1) This was an accident; HuffPost did not intentionally crop Netanyahu’s picture to make it appear as if horns were growing out of his head.
2) Even if HuffPost did this intentionally, so what? Other media organizations do the same thing, and since Netanyahu is a monster anyway, it’s kind of funny to see a visual depiction of it, right?
In regards to (1), all I can do is point to the innumerable prior instances in which HuffPost has selected the most unflattering pictures of Netanyahu to use in its articles, and cropped them to make him look as sinister as possible – while doing the exact opposite when it comes to murderous, genocide-threatening thugs. See many links in Comment #9, above.
In regards to (2), what these commenters either don’t know, or want to deny, is that Arianna has repeatedly claimed HuffPost is a “nonpartisan” source of “news, “not positioned ideologically in terms of how we cover the news,” that seeks “to debunk the left-right way of thinking,” and whose purpose is “to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned.” See the sources of these and many other similar claims, here:
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2009/06/articles-about-statements-by-huffpost.html
Bottom line: There is plenty of evidence-based precedent upon which Zombie asked his/her question, the title of this article:
“Did Huffington Post crop AP photo to give Netanyahu devil horns?”
Not the least of which is a comprehensive report that documents in extensive detail how HuffPost – this supposedly “nonpartisan” site – has repeatedly manipulated “news” in order to incite hatred of Israel and Jews:
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2010/01/full-report-anti-semitism-and-anti.html
If you want to argue facts, then let’s argue facts. But to attempt to give HuffPost some blanket exemption from the very standards it has claimed for itself, and from the long legacy of acts it’s perpetrated which expose its disingenuousness, is pretty pathetic.
You are 1000% right! My goodness golly me I’ve never seen anything so dastardly in all my days, just what is this world coming to!? Keep up the good fight, I must depart as there are clouds overhead that look suspiciously close to communist hammer and sickle…
http://www.google.ca/images?client=opera&rls=fr-CA&q=bush+halo&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=upIzTPW7DIS8lQfUwKG_Cw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CC0QsAQwAA
http://www.google.ca/images?um=1&hl=en&client=opera&rls=fr-CA&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=obama+halo&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
What do you expect from the ‘kinder gentler’ party, which Huffington represents. They dislike Jews and Israel at Huffington, and the Jews repay them by voting Democrate year after year, and the Jews are porported to be intelligent. Like that great thinker (Mick Jagger) once said……”Crazy world ain’t it”.
Sheesh. Occam’s razor much?
omg, Huffpo cropped Netanyahu’s photo so he looks like he has horns ….. and he has no hands and is wearing a really awful tie with a large bulbous protrusion. Have they no journalistic shame? Would have been much better to have him appearing to wear a large pot on his head with very tall horns or plants sprouting forth!!
I think it was deliberate. As a student of Semiotics, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics, I believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. It’s subtle and loaded with plausible deniability, but any attempt to manipulate perceptions through published imagery is propaganda.
So they’re dumb liberals AND expert social psychologists? Even if I agreed with your estimation of these people and their motives:
“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
The people at HuffPo are Democrat-leaning capitalists, and not even very good capitalists, at that. They’re not the linchpin of some ingenious, anti-Semitic, Soros-funded, Beck-ian conspiracy. Come on! That’s insane! The only evidence we have here is disagreement on policy and rhetoric.
Sorry, I’m no lefty, but I have to put this in the same crazy-bin as: “them commies killed JFK to set up the usurping of that Kenyan-born Marxist, Barry Hussein Obama. Oh yeah, Free Masons and Bilderbergers!!”
I mean all of this very respectfully: we’re all going to lose in these debates until we can refocus on the issues.
“I mean all of this very respectfully: we’re all going to lose in these debates until we can refocus on the issues.
Absolutely on the money. The birthers and Beckians and Sarah Fantasists have taken over the Republican/conservative movement. Great for tea baggers but more than a little disgusting to most Americans. You’ve officially traded intellectual and political relevance and policy insights for media hysteria. You can trot out Ted Nugent nd Orly Taitz till the cows come home, they’re in it for themselves – clinging desperately to Fox news, the American idol of politics, in an attempt to squeeze the last few dying breaths out of their wheezing careers. They have no sway with the American voter.
November is going to be yet another wake-up call for the ever-sleeping giant of conservatism. (Here’s the missing clue – he’s not sleeping. He’s dead. Keep him in your prayers.)
Hey, Misster Lucky, down here. Aren’t you due at Beck University? You’re late for orientation. Here, I have your class schedule for you:
MWF 8:30 – 10:00 Dr. Martin Luther King – One of the Good Ones
MWF 11:00 – 12:00 Why Miscarriages Are Funny
T TH 9:00 – 12:00 Internet Scat (focus on “Ex-Lax, overflowing toilets, raw sewage, skid marks, and lawn chocolates” . . . I like your chances in this class)
T Th 2:00 – 4:00 Palintology – Overlooking Intellect Because Her Ass is Sooooo Fine
Sat 8:00 – 5:00 Arbitrary Principles and Convictions (guest lecturer Sean Hannity)
Don’t dawdle. You still have to buy books and a pendent and a raccoon coat. 23 skiddoo, small change!
Here we have an example of how the Modern Liberal Mindset deals with facts that show that it is a Liar. Note that the subject at hand, the question as to whether The Principal Liar sleazits Multiple Person Galore is indeed posting with multiple ID’s on PJM, is avoided at all costs.
Two deflection techniques, just a sampling of various methods to escape the existential threat of simultaneously portraying oneself as an unimpeachable truth teller who would tell others what is righteous, that positioned against the need to explicitly lie repeatedly to make the truth it tells all the more compelling to itself.
First, the need to always position oneself to the left. This is thought to absolve you of any misdeeds, as the notion that lefter is better and the lies don’t matter when you’re sitting in Stalin’s lap.
37. skeeziks
The golden example setup establishing impeccable self goodness saying “Me too!” –
“MWF 8:30 – 10:00 Dr. Martin Luther King – One of the Good Ones”
Then the attempt to “piggyback” the golden example to discredit, mixed with bigoted misogyny –
“T Th 2:00 – 4:00 Palintology – Overlooking Intellect Because Her Ass is Sooooo Fine”
…and then a subject it knows all too well, with convenient reference to the “other” –
Sat 8:00 – 5:00 Arbitrary Principles and Convictions (guest lecturer Sean Hannity)
Then there’s the begging for mercy confession. The devil made me do it –
skeeziks
“Just so you know, I mean, it’s only fair to tell you. I’m worse than a liar. I’m Satan, the Horn-ed One, and I’m here to infiltrate your righteousness. I’m here to suck the sweet scent of heaven out of your soul. You were right about me all along. I can’t hide it any longer.”
And a thinly veiled wish for it’s lying to be absolved.
“Glad we worked that out.”
May 14, 2010 – 7:32 am
An aside, someone did take Misogynist 101-
Now and Then
“Not everybody wants to piggyback Palin (though I must admit I’d take the opportunity if given it.)”
Dec 9, 2009 – 6:51 pm
60. skeeziks:
‘Stop the fight, Ref’ . . . I think you have me confused with Sarah Palin.
Jan 29, 2010 – 11:13 am
129. skeeziks:
Hail Rush! Go Sarah!
Jan 28, 2010 – 7:51 am
Now and Then:
Hail Rush, Go Sarah!
Dec 7, 2009 – 5:35 pm
So what about it Liar?
The Kick Me is worn with pride. Boom!
You made your cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Wouldn’t it have looked like he had even BIGGER horns if they hadn’t cropped it? Plus, it would have looked like he had a ghastly trophy placed atop his head. Either way, I think it looks more like a Laurel Crown, or even Moose antlers (maybe the HuffPo is just shilling for Palin, and/or Caesar?)
Don’t take things like this as a shortcut for actual debate!
They’re devil horns and that’s that, commie! Why do you hate the Constitushun? Why do you want to destroy America?
Um, are yall idiots? Because this is idiotic.
Looks more like a halo to me with the second outer circle,compared to the one from AP last week with the obummer sitting and a scone on the wall reflected horns on him/ the fly on lip / the rat running/ bees chasing in the white house/ and last but not least the two phoniex birds coming from his hands… Yep, belzabub \ antichrist\ satan’s spawn.. that’s obummer
Having read most of the posts, my conclusion is that you have to be extremely naive or of the ‘it’s not about me and mine’ philosophy to believe that HuffPo is not capable of doing exactly what Zombie says they are. What fascinates me about message boards like this where the majority of posters are nice people and also pro-Israel is the level of unawareness about the nature of anti-Semitism.
Having been raised in an assimilated California Jewish family in the 60s and 70s, I hate to meet it multiple times before the supernatural nature of this hatred became clear to me. The Left has a pathological hatred of Jews that stems from the testimony that Jews have given for thousands of years to the existence of a demanding ‘Almighty’ and the need of humans to live morally. This hatred is absolutely psychotic in its ‘purest’ forms and causes the destruction of whole nations – nations have been willing to destroy themselves over and over again in history to attack Jews, Judaism and the messages contained within.
Much ado about nothing.
Is it really “news” anymore that the leftist media and Democrats hate Israel and Jews?? The only question is why the stupid Jews still vote Dem in droves. That are voting for people that will allow the moose-limbs to behead Jewish Grandchildren. Incomprehensible!
Sorry, I don’t buy it.
The cropped image doesn’t look sinister, nor do the greenish bits look like horns. Wrong color, assymmetrical to the head, behind the head and not on the forehead, not shaped like horns at all. They might look vaguely like moose antlers, which are not associated with the Devil.
OK, second look, I see what you mean – the shape of the spaces between the curved edges of the plaque and the curved bases of the wreathing on the plaque does form horn shapes.
Could be…
You people are morons…this is really something you consider to be ‘news’? Does anyone actually read this blog more than once?
Of course they doctored. What so astounding about that? Liberals are a “forward looking” group that continues to support Radical Islamic causes. They they support those who kill homosexuals for their sin, they stone women for appearing in public without an escort other than a family member, they repress any right women could dream of having, they abuse children,they engage in barbaric punishment ie hand chopping for petty theft, lashing for verbally expressing something some mullah disapproved of, who engage in torture as a routine, who have violated every human right in the book and, of course, supports terrorism and death to those who do not support their vile and hateful religion. HuffPo should explain itself. Feminists here in the US should explain themselves. Gay rights activists whould explain themselves. What’s up? Explain it to me I just don’t get it…………… surely it couldn’t be anti-semitism…….could it? They place a higher value on hating jews than their on espoused causes. Really!?! You mean liberal elitist could be bigots??? The same ones who support abortion clinics in minority neighborhoods? Eugenicists? None of them will read this anyway…..just Obama’s Web Warriors
Remember the picture of Obama with a fly on his lip? Flies on shit!!!
Ah, the tea bagger sense of humor at work. . . . observant, finely honed, able to to crate a genuine emotional connection with wry and undeniable insight. Wow! I’m VERY impressed. You should get together with Mr. Lucky. I think together you could be the new Abbott and Costello of Right Wing Scat. I suggest a men-in-the-Navy buddy film to start with . . . “Turds Away!”
Keep up the challenging posts. Remember, it’s not about comparing yourself against anyone else. It’s about comparing yourself against your ow potential. Dare to dream, fellas.
Obviously, it was cropped to show his ugly jew face closer you dumb fuck. It had nothing to do with painting devil horns on anyone — as if it was needed. You forget, Israel is guilty of committed atrocities against Palestinians for over sixty years. They literally came from Europe and placed themselves on top of Arabs living in what is now “Israel” for over 2000 years.
NO ONE ACTUALLY BELIEVES YOUR BULLSHIT. How long can you keep up your house of cards before the next Shoah? It will happen if you keep lying and with due cause…
When I first saw the photo, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, because it looks like Netanyahu has neon devil horns growing out of his head.
To you maybe. The photo’s still there, though like most of your hysterical rantings based on images and video, there’s no image on your blog. I think you project far more about yourself, than you say about the Huffington Post. There’s no way that any sane individual would think those were horns. And it’s even sillier given how often it’s you ranting about the poor, oppressed white people of America and how they are constantly being unfairly accused of racism. You’re a walking hypocrisy generator.
always the victims….. It gets old.
This site is too kosher for my blood.
And we wonder why people still harbor so much resentment?
What other sliver of humanity has this kind of domination over conversation?
I had exactly the same initial reaction when I first saw the photo on HuffPo — in fact, I figured someone had photoshopped it.
I almost threw up when I saw it.
Anyone that is in the slightest way familiar with the anti-Semitic drawings and cartoons of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries would instantaneously recognize the blood-libel.
This is like gang signs in the inner cities. The un-initiated do not see it, but the players do.
One of two things is happening: 1) The editors of the HuffPo need some serious education regarding anti-Semitism and its history, both in terms of text and pictures, or 2) the editors of the HuffPo are purposely being anti-Semitic.
In light of the liberal media’s race to demonize and delegitimize Israel, and by proxy the Jews, I would actually say both cases are true.
I think you’re reading too much into this. All the photos on the Huffington Post’s main page have the same aspect ratio, roughly 4:3. Therefore, it is not surprising that they would cut out a 4:3 chunk for use on the home page. For head shots its typical to include a little below and a little above the head. They could have cut the top part so that his head butted right up against the frame, avoiding your perceived “devil horns”, but this is considered to be bad framing. Ask any photographer.
There’s enough genuine anti-semitism in the world without rushing to conclusion that every shadow hides a culprit and every action involves a conspiracy.
ZOMBIE FAIL.
Not to mention that this complies almost perfectly to the principles of headroom in photography. Notice the eyes are a third of the way down the image, complying with the “rule of thirds,” also pretty textbook.
Speaking of course as a professional graphic designer.
Still no actual image of the “offending” photo on your own blog. You do this often enough for it to be embarrassing in its own right. Why not just delete the post wholesale, comments and all instead?
What the hell are you talking about? The image of Netanyahu is both at the top of this post, and at the top of the post on my own blog (http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=1579). And I have never once “ranted about the poor, oppressed white people of America and how they are constantly being unfairly accused of racism,” as you said in your earlier comment #49.
My initial reaction is to assume you are deranged, but it’s more likely you have me confused with someone else.
Sorry, Zombie, I’m going with ‘deranged’ on this one.
Hot enough for ya?
Being a professional photographer, an active and proud American conservative and an unabashed supporter of Israel with quite a bit of experience with national news media outlets, I think I can shed some light on this debate.
There is no clear indication to me that the picture of Netanyahu was cropped with malicious intent to show “horns’ sprouting from his head. Looking at the original image from which the cropped version was taken, what you see is just a crop to clear away the needless clutter behind his head; this is consistent with thousands of other such crops applied when the accompanying story centers around the person in the picture, rather than the environment around him. The so-called “horns” were there in the original shot, and the crop doesn’t alter that in any way, unless you are criticizing the removal of the context of the wider view. But, the everyday job of the photo editor is not usually concerned with such details as that, unless it is brought to his or her attention by a supervising editor. They just want to crop the picture down to its simplist constituent part. Simple as that.
Now, that is not to say that the photographer did not notice the issue, or even try to align the original shot so that the “horns” appeared; this is a far more likely, but easily deniable and not provable, scenario. That is also not to say that the Huff Post editor did not choose the original shot itself because of the “horns” opportunity, or that such an interpretation of the shot did not resonate with Huff’s anti-Israeli world view. It is just that we cannot draw an ironclad conclusion as to an intentionally prejudiced choice or edit on the part of either the photo editor or photographer based on such skimpy or non-existent evidence as this. This has become a less than stellar thread, because there is so little over which to actually argue, on a factual basis.
As to the amazing number of Huff dwellers and defenders who are posting here, well, that’s what you get when you can’t really defend your premise properly. That’s what conservatives are supposed to be able to do, and most often succeed in doing, as opposed to the often creepy ad hominum attacks of the Huff Left. We’re not doing conservatives, the United States, or even Israel any favors by continuing to argue this “how many angels can you fit on the head of a pin” topic. So, my advice is to quietly conclude this thread and let many of our new guests return to the warm and fertile soil under the rock of their Progressive homeland.
Hi Zombie:
I’ve done a sort of tribute blog article to you, to help clearly establish:
* What choices HuffPost actually faced in cropping this photo
* Whether or not HuffPost’s actions in this incident are indicative of an anti-Semitic bias
* How HuffPost’s actions in this incident relate to its selection and cropping of photos in the past
Enjoy:
“In defense of ‘Zombie’; A chronicle of HuffPost’s pathological anti-Semitic bias in picture choices and editing”
http://huff-watch.blogspot.com/2010/07/7710-in-defense-of-zombie-chronicle-of.html
Nothing new for HuffPo.WHat do expect from a site with “their” sheet dont stink atitude.A bunch of freakin sheep over at HuffPo.All parroting the same old anti-semetic remarks and playing right into Jihadists hands.To be molded then squashed like ripe fruit.
Did the holocaust turn all surviving Jews and their descendants into crazed lunatics?? You have to be paranoid to see horns in this picture, cropped or not.
STOP!
Uncordial how yearn did it rob to do.
Regards, Josh
Stay http://armeniasurf.tk – webpage as comfortably
So Obama needs to say that NASA has been underfunded and correct the situation – right?