Is this for real? Is the US this totalitarian?

[robertpaulsen]

This looks like a joke, but I trust tompaine.com:

Pass It On Message:

Keep Your Eyes Open, Comrade


Check out this poster , displayed on a commuter train between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. this week. Red Scare, anyone?

http://www.tompaine.com/pass/

Here's another link, with a bigger poster:

Soviet America
Well, the Bush-Nazi comparisons are deja-done, so of course now we have to move on. Seen on the MARC commuter train (between Baltimore and DC) today, this picture pretty much sums up the new "National Security:"

http://artiloop.blogspot.com/2005/06/soviet-america.html

Is this a joke or not?

[kittenpants]

1. I can imagine it's real.

It's like they're even TRYING to make their posters look 1984-ish.

[robertpaulsen]

2. Yeah, the Big Brother is Watching subtext comes through loud & clear.

I was thinking of putting this in the lounge, but tompaine is a pretty serious site.

[thrift_store_angel]

3. I would imagine it is real.

On DC Metro at least they are always reminding you about security issues. They used to have little announcements telling you the exact same thing the posters say. I am not a daily rider so I am not sure if they still do or not. It may be only during major events.

[Internut]

4. I must have missed something -

what is "totalitarian" about a poster that asks you to report "unusual activities or packages" on the train?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. It's the style, very similar to classic Soviet posters

like this one:

[robertpaulsen]

11. Hey, your Soviet poster didn't show up.

Says bandwidth exceeded.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Damn, I was afraid that would happen

I just googled soviet poster, and picked one that looked quite like the 'Report' poster. I thought it might run out of bandwidth, so I tried the technique reported on this thread. But it didn't seem to be working, so I used the original URL. Ironically, the caching method seems to have finally woken up - and it has now cached the 'bandwidth exceeded' image. :-(

Here's the results page from Google Images - it's the one at the bottom left: http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=soviet+poster&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&start=40&sa=N

[robertpaulsen]

14. Yeah, there's some good ones at your google link.

Check out my link to Micah Wright's book on post 8 for the Ministry of Homeland Security spoofs.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Replied to wrong post (n/t)

[Internut]

15. Just because the style resembles the

1930s propaganda art - does that make the US "totalitarian"?

There is so much other stuff that is objectionable, but calling US "totalitarian" because your object to a poster's artistic technique is a bit silly.

[robertpaulsen]

16. It not only resembles the style, it reflects the spirit.

I agree, there definitely is "so much other stuff that is objectionable". The Patriot Act is totalitarian. The poster itself is not totalitarian. But it reflects the totalitarian spirit of the Patriot Act. As another poster here commented, it's like their not even trying to hide the fact that what they're doing is straight out of 1984. Total Information Awareness is alive and well in this poster.

[Internut]

17. Please explain, how watching out for

"unusual activites or packages" on trains can be construed as "totalitarian spirit".

In this era of trains/busses being blown up (see Spain/Israel) it is not unreasonable, IMO, to ask the riders to watch out for stuff like that. Why you and others on this thread are objecting to that, I have no idea. You don't like the artistic style of the poster? Everybody is a critic.

[robertpaulsen]

19. So, you disagree that this poster reflects the spirit of the Patriot Act?

Or do you disagree that the Patriot Act itself is in fact totalitarian?

Just curious.

[Internut]

24. I absolutely disagree that the poster

reflects any "spirit" at all except the extremely practical and useful suggestion to look out for unusual activities and packages on the train. Do you disagree that it would be good of people looked out for unusual activites and packages on the train? If not, I don't see what your objection is to the poster that says it.

[LifeDuringWartime]

27. the style and wording/tone of the poster is INHERENTLY totalitatian

a simple "if you see any suspicious packages, please report it" would do JUST FINE thanks!

[Internut]

28. Please explain, how

"report any unusual activites of packages to the nearest conductor"

is totalitarian, but

"if you see any suspicious packages, please report it"

is not. Seriously, I would like to know what your train of thought is that objects to one but not to the other. Is it the "nearest conductor" that is the "totalitarian" content of the first message? Or is it "activities"? Would "suspicious activites or packages" have been better wording?

[robertpaulsen]

30. Oh please.

Whether it was deliberate or not, progressively ironic or wingnut straightforward, the style reflects the spirit. And as for the content, we've all seen how highways in this country have been shut down in pursuit of American citizens whose "unusual activities" consisted of being guilty of eating in a public restaurant while being Arab. Posters like these only exacerbate that level of tension. Simply asking for unattended packages to be reported would have sufficed.

If you really think that this was just an "extremely practical and useful suggestion" then I have nothing more to say to you. Hope you enjoy the view under the sand. And I still don't know what you think of the Patriot Act, TIA and why you think this poster has absolutely nothing to do with it, "stylistically" or "spiritually".

[Internut]

31. We're talking about a poster that urges train riders

to report "unusual activites or packages" - not the Patriot act. I have my (not positive) opinions about the Patriot act but that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. For some reason you are objecting either to:

* The wording of the poster - please explain what is wrong with it. How is reporting unusual activities or packages on the train "totalitarian"? It is done all over the world, from GB to Spain to Germany to Israel. Only in the United States are people so clueless as to allow unattanded stuff to be left lying around in public places.

* The style of the poster - this is the common style of 30s-40s propaganda posters, in Russia, US, UK and other countries. Here are some examples from UK, for example:


http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/prop/home_front/INF3_0136.htm
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/prop/home_front/INF3_0287.htm
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/prop/production_salvage/INF3_0219.htm

or Canada




or US




http://snuffy.lib.umn.edu/image/srch/bin/Dispatcher?mode=600&id=msp02218


Note the use of red in a lot of those posters - it is a very effective colors.

[mcg]

5. This might be for real, see this...

http://pages.prodigy.net/thomasn528/blog/newsrackblog.html

"UPDATE, later on 6/10: Not a prank. "glassfrequency" posts an e-mail from MTA saying the poster was distributed by the Jacksonville, FL based CSX Corporation, explaining that "MARC contracts with CSX for its commuter rail service on the Brunswick & Camden Lines." Additional digging by glassfrequency suggests that the ad was developed by Robin Shepherd Group, also of Jacksonville, FL."

http://artiloop.blogspot.com/2005/06/soviet-america.html

"I spoke with someone higher up in the Maryland Transit Authority regarding this earlier this afternoon. While the poster is in fact legitimate, it's neither a MTA or a MARC product.

According to the person I spoke with at MTA it's the product of a campaign being run by CSX, the freight transportation company which owns the rail lines MARC operates on."

[yewberry]

6. Seen this passed around.

It's a piece created by the Robin Shepherd Agency--I think it won an Addy. I think I saw something about it at kos, too.

http://glassfrequency.blogspot.com/2005/06/watch-ride-report.html

[robertpaulsen]

8. Thanks for the additional info.

I thought perhaps it was a Nazi or Soviet spoof by Micah Wright:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1583225846/104-3863675-8985538?v=glance

Probably was stolen from the Soviets, sans irony.

[LibDemAlways]

7. self-delete

[thrift_store_angel]

9. The Poster.......

Has the MARC emblem on it so it probably comes directly from MARC. This ad campaign really isn't all that unusual for the DC metro area, Metrorail has been running the same ads since right after 9/11. I believe I have heard/seen similar things in other buildings in DC too.

[chalky]

18. Re: your Articulatory Loop link--I love this reply:

"Report the poster to the conductor because you feel it represents an unusual activity."

and this one:

"Well, I guess {COMMENT REDACTED BY HOMELAND SECURITY DIVREALITYCONTROL REF THOUGHTCRIME DOUBLEPLUSUNGOOD}

{SIG REDACTED BY HOMELAND SECURITY REF UNPERSON}"

[robertpaulsen]

20. Made me laugh too.

And what falls within the parameters of "unusual activity"? Sitting on a train while being openly Arabian?

[NoSheep]

21. However "real" or not this poster is, I think this is something to ponder:

I have often thought of putting ironic signs, art, etc in public places in order to draw attention to what I, we, most of my associates feel is obvious, that unfortunately so many do not see. There was a thread the other day about a sign on the back of an SUV that read: "This SUV Loves Iraqi Oil". Now folks read that post and got all upset because someone could be that insensitive as to put such a sticker on their gas guzzler. I'd be willing to bet that it was a good Democrat trying to make a point. A prank. This poster may be real, hell I wouldn't doubt it, in that it could have been designed by some government backed agency to ask "good citizens" to keep their eyes open to "danger". But what if...Just What If! this sign was posted by someone who was trying to make a point about the current level of fascism present in our society right now. And how you and I are really the ones who had better be paying attention to the evil in our midst....Y'know? Irony? Whadaya think?:think:

[NoSheep]

23. And another thing:

(Thank you for your attention) :+
If it is real, and it probably is, it is soooo reminiscent of totalitarianism then maybe it will jar some people into waking the fuck up and realizing what a disaster this country has become.

[robertpaulsen]

25. You make some excellent points.

Check out my link on post 8. I think the creator of this poster might be Micah Wright. Just guessing.

[NoSheep]

26. Check out this that we just found on the "mysterious artist KC"

http://www.mdrails.com/about.html

[NoSheep]

29. Here's something else-scroll down to June 8th-

http://pages.prodigy.net/thomasn528/blog/newsrackblog.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. I think it's real

I've heard announcements to this effect in various cities around the country.