Evil CBC Propaganda
Via commenter Arianna at Canadian Cynic, Pandagon is having some fun at the expense of our own (*sigh*) Small Dead Braincells for a typically idiotic time-waster of a post "uncovering!" the CBC's scandalous use of Photoshop to convince people that, um, what? I guess that Toronto is engulfed in a thick brown peasoup-like haze. The photo on the left accompanied an article on Kyoto, uncaptioned, as a space filler.
After some hotshot detective work, SDA uncoverred the original uncropped photo on the right, pre-sepiatone, with stacks. YIKES! PROOF that CBC is a purveyor of Evil Liberal Propaganda! Um, really? When I saw the sepiatone version in its' original context with the article, my first thought wasn't "Ohmyfuckingod! Toronto's engulfed in a thick brown peasoup-like haze!" Who would look at that photo and think it means "Holy shit, Toronto's in a permanent state of brown-out!"? Most people (other than feces-flinging wingnuts, I guess) would look at it and think "Hmm, sepiatone." Or nothing at all.
Anyone who's lived in Toronto is aware that there is indeed a brownish haze of waxy particulate shit that hovers over the city at times; it's quite visible looking downhill from north Yonge Street. However, the air itself is not yet sepiatoned (it just smells that way), and it's ludicrous to suggest that's what the CBC is tryinig to say with this photo. Tweaking an old photo to use in a new context isn't propagandizing: it's *gasp* recycling.
Personally, I think time spent trying to raise suspicion and provoke hysteria where there's nothing to be suspicious or hysterical about would be better spent on other things. Like just about anything. Reading? Crocheting? Masturbating? Buuuuut... that's just me.
After some hotshot detective work, SDA uncoverred the original uncropped photo on the right, pre-sepiatone, with stacks. YIKES! PROOF that CBC is a purveyor of Evil Liberal Propaganda! Um, really? When I saw the sepiatone version in its' original context with the article, my first thought wasn't "Ohmyfuckingod! Toronto's engulfed in a thick brown peasoup-like haze!" Who would look at that photo and think it means "Holy shit, Toronto's in a permanent state of brown-out!"? Most people (other than feces-flinging wingnuts, I guess) would look at it and think "Hmm, sepiatone." Or nothing at all.
Anyone who's lived in Toronto is aware that there is indeed a brownish haze of waxy particulate shit that hovers over the city at times; it's quite visible looking downhill from north Yonge Street. However, the air itself is not yet sepiatoned (it just smells that way), and it's ludicrous to suggest that's what the CBC is tryinig to say with this photo. Tweaking an old photo to use in a new context isn't propagandizing: it's *gasp* recycling.
Personally, I think time spent trying to raise suspicion and provoke hysteria where there's nothing to be suspicious or hysterical about would be better spent on other things. Like just about anything. Reading? Crocheting? Masturbating? Buuuuut... that's just me.
|