Barack Obama, Syria and Hollywood
Published in Diário de Notícias
(Portugal) on 8 Sep 2013
by João Lopes (link to original)
The possibility of a U.S. military intervention in Syria seems to me like something that is just as symbolically disturbing as it is politically useless. I’m not alone, obviously, but if I refer to it as such from the beginning, I must also ask the reader not to read between these lines any complicity with the anti-Americanism created in the imagination of the left. This sentiment circulates throughout the media like arson constantly rekindled and blistered. It happens that beyond the political-diplomatic web that is at stake is the discussion of the possibility [of an intervention], revealing an image of the world in which we live, and more specifically, [the forces] that can expose an object or keep it concealed. A simple example — perhaps crude, but quite symptomatic [of the problem] — is how in the fashion world the position of a global figure such as Madonna goes (un)noticed. Only a few months back, she expressed her support for Barack Obama, tattooing the word “Obama” on her nude back (in some shows of the MDNA tour). The journalistic stupidity [of this act], along with its sexist violence, proclaimed that the woman was limited to merely staging a publicity stunt. Nevertheless, last week, Madonna placed an image on her Instagram account that reads: “U.S. STAY OUT OF SYRIA! For humanity’s sake.” And we are all lying in wait for the militant anti-Madonna camp to do us the favor of showing some democratic decency, or at least, break the news. Apart from such antics, there are very disturbing and fundamental questions that a position in opposition to the Obama administration may involve for certain personalities. Signals of this can even be found in the declarations of Ed Asner and Mike Farrell to The Hollywood Reporter, the flagship publication of the entertainment community. Asner and Farrell are far from being marginal figures, having played legendary television roles in the series "Lou Grant" (1977-82) and "MASH" (1975-83), respectively; more recently, Asner gave voice to the old adventurer of the animated film "Up" (2009) produced by Pixar. Beyond their defending the action of the international community (U.S.A. included) against the crimes of the Bashar Assad regime, this position reflects a paradoxical contention. Asner himself says, first and foremost, referring to Hollywood: "A lot of people don't want to feel anti-black by being opposed to Obama.” This opinion is a perverse example of the value of iconography: On one hand, the determined image (a black man in the White House) possesses an extremely strong symbolic, infectious and liberating value; on the other hand, this image can limit the complexity of the political reflection. Decidedly, the world is never a matter of black and white.
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