You may not recognise the gentleman hanging here. This is what happened to Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator, after the political tides turned against him. He and his mistress, along with five other Fascists, were hanged on the grounds of a gas station on April 29, 1945.Since ancient times, Italians have hanged traitors upside down, usually by one foot. (Now you know the origin of the tarot's "Hanged Man.")
My question is a simple one. Did any Democrat make political use of this gruesome photo in any election that took place after that date? I may be wrong, but I seem to recall reading -- somewhere -- that photos of Mussolini's body did not recieve wide play in the newspapers of the time. At any rate, I feel pretty certain that no image of this sort ever appeared in any candidate's campaign materials.
Today, in the "constant campaign" waged by Republicans, we continually see the image of the corpse of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (Let us here presume that those images are genuine, although everyone understands that Photoshop can work wonders.) I am not sorry to see Zarqawi go, although I do believe that he was, in essence, a scarecrow -- what Britain's General Kitson might have called the pseudo-leader of a pseudo-gang.
By any standard, Mussolini was a far worse monster -- yet in 1945, the gloating over his demise was more circumspect. At that time, no politician, and no supporter of any political cause, would have dared to use the image of a bloodied corpse to rally the faithful. What has happened to the American citizenry? How did our political dialogue become so coarsened?
3 comments:
I frequent open message boards for discussion with Bush supporters. They have always been blood-lusty with respect to terrorists and "ragheads;" now their gruesome fantasies are applied to the 9/11 widows ("traitors") and Marla Ruzicka ("insurgent").
joe, what we are witnessing from the right is the repeat performance - not of the response pattern of the US in times past - but of the very fascist regimes that mussolini represents.
such fear tactics, such abandon, such rejection of common decency, all these things are symptoms of extreme desperation in individuals - and groups - who are dripping with fear themselves.
this is why it is of the utmost importance that we do NOT resort to those same tactics. to do so will only perpetuate the endless battle of revenge, just as michael berg has emphasized with such wisdom.
it is of the utmost importance that we 'keep our heads when all about us are losing theirs and blaming it on [us]' (forgive the ultimate point of that poem - 'then you will be a man, my son,' but that line is perfect). when we lose touch with the overarching principles that bring us to this place of aghast horror at the behavior of our fellow citizens, if we become that desperate ourselves and resort to desperate tactics, then we will have lost as surely as they have.
what am i saying here? not intentional, i assure you, but implicit in my position is the directive to have faith in the principles of justice and good will, regardless of how much experience flies in the face of them.
i cannot think of anything else that will keep anyone above the fray. extremely tall order, but we certainly must strive toward it, not for survival, not to overcome the fascists and mussolinis and rightwingnuts, but to attain justice and good will.
all i know to tell ya. now we have to get to it.
Ah, a Kipling reference.
Are you sure you don't want to turn Cannonfire into a poetry blog, Joseph? :-)
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