If "RATS" Was News In 2000

This is brilliant pot-stirring from Ann Althouse., who picks up on a question from a commenter about the Hillary "It's 3 AM, DO You Know Where Bill Is" commercial:

"Why are the letters 'NIG' on the child's pajamas?"

I can't wait to see the nuanced responses from the media and the Clinton and Obama sides if/when they tackle this.  However, there is no Republican involved and the topic is racially charged, so I predict a Move On moment. 

Let's just be grateful this didn't happen in an ad run by McCain, or sidewalks would be unsafe as libs leapt from tall buildings and psychologists lined up to explain that media professionals don't make mistakes like this.

NOTE TO SELF: File this under "Media Double Standards And Political Hypocrisy / Future Use".

It's a big file.

Comments

[huggy]

I love her tit blogging. Her writing is delightful and second only to yours.

[vanderleun]

Althouse is rolling around in her favorite mire: "Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?"

[capitano]

The sheriff is near?

[dick]

This kinda reminds me of the Willie Horton ad brouhaha. Strange that the fact that Willie Horton walked off his work release, escaped to New jersey, terrorized a family there and stole their car and cash, went on into Maryland, terrorized another family there and stole their car before he was captured and sent back to Massachusetts. After all that the governor of Massachusetts decided that his program was right to give Willie a work release chit and the governor has to this day not apologized to the families terrorized by this escaped murderer.

What was the political cost of all this? Bush, who was not even the first one to bring the subject up (thank your, Algore) gets blamed for being a racist because he rightly showed Willie Horton who is black as being black.

This is no more than the same thing all over again. How niggardly (oops, can't say that, it is racist).

[sammy small]

I finally saw it, the NIC, but I also saw an upside down GO. Now what could that mean?

[Syl]

Such silliness. So those who made the ad had to go out and buy a pair of pj's that had 'Good Night' written on them. Then make the child lie in a certain position. etc.

At least with big lettering that is superimposed in a layer as part of a frame, manipulation is possible.

This is just nuts and shows people haven't a clue how to do these things.

[Elroy Jetson]

This is an outrage. I've never been more ashamed to be an American in my life. It's a vast white-wing conspiracy, I tell you!

[Oblivious]

Can we put a few more posts between this one and the "What's the big deal with saying 'Hussein' post?"

[Dan]

I thought the whole idea was that we're not as thumb-sucking dumb as the liberals.

[sbw]

I finally saw it, the NIC, but I also saw an upside down GO.

"Go Knicks!"? I find that hard to believe.

[Elroy Jetson]

Dan,
If you were refering to my comment, I was just kidding. I was just trying to pile on the silliness of it all. I think that was McGuire's purpose for posting this.

[Gregory Koster]

Dear Mr. Maguire: It has gotten even better. As of 5:16 PM, Ms. Althouse has doubled down and added this comment to her original post:

"With the screen capture, one can see that the child in the "good night" pajamas appears to be black.

Those of you who think it's an accident: I'm sorry, but I think you are naive. Those of you who think it's an accident and not even a problem: You are dangerously naive."

How on earth is anyone to combat this admittedly stylish paranoia? Characteristically, Ms. Althouse has done no reporting, e.g. getting in touch with the Clinton campaign to find out who has made the ad. The reasons seem obvious:

a) Ms. Althouse is seldom inclined to heave up off the couch and research, as her 2 March 07 post about the Leonard Kaplan imbroglio at her law school showed.

b) it is naive and hence most uncool to even question the superior wisdom and insight needed to come up with stuff that should be on the EPA's Superfund site Index.

I suppose it is silly, but it's unsettling too. Because this Althousian sibyll idyl can't be falsified, it puts her in the position of all those fine women who bawled that there were witches about back in Puritan Salem days. Such women can be dangerous if the right climate strikes. For now, laugh heartily. God knows this bunkum deserves it. Sooner or later, the sorcerer's apprentice at Madison/Brooklyn will unleash a broom that will create a whirlwind.

Sincerely yours,
Gregory Koster

[Ralph L]

If this had been a Republican ad against Obama, you know darn well the MSM would be all over those letters.

[Jim Hu]

Now that I know to look for them, those subliminal messages are everywhere.

[Elroy Jetson]

I can't take it anymore. I'm moving to Pyongyang. At least the propaganda there is straight-forward without all the reading between the lines stuff.

[Ohio grannie]

How did everyone miss the fact that at 3 seconds into the commercial there is a sleeping blonde girl who has STARS on her jammies and STRIPES on her pillow case. Subliminal? Naaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

[William R. Casey,PE]

It's too bad the media doesn't pay this much attention to what Obama's ideas are, if they can indeed be deciphered.

[syn]

These Political Identity campaigns are giving me a bigger headache than is the billion mercury blubs in America campaign and I can't turned any of them off.

[dick]

I just find it so strange that people think that you go out and buy those Good Night pajamas for the kids just so you can pose them exactly right and have NIG showing up but not quite. I would bet that those making the ad saw Good Night on the pajamas because they knew that was what was there. It took someone who could take something out of context, then blame those making the ad for meeting their expectations as to just how racist they could be. I think it is just so much BS about absolutely nothing - and that is from someone who thinks Ann Althouse has it right most times. She messed up big time on this one IMNSHO.

[Arthur]

Ann Althouse and Drew Westen are plagiarizers of my original research and literary property on "deconstructing" (the tetranalysis -- methodology) subliminal racism in the media. The mass confusion such as that over the NIG ad is a result of "double speak" to derail the substance, cultural sources and analogues that may give a more credible explanation of what is taking place in the media through deliberate symbolism.
It is regretable, indeed, that these two liars and dunces, along with others such as Henry Louis Gates Jr. at Harvard, Brian Lowery at Stanford, and Barny Pityana in South Africa, have been misleading the public on the cause and effect of "racial" images/memory in association with RAT and NIG.
Arthur Graham who coined the term "subliminal racism" from him 1980 UCSD dissertation "The Manichean Leitmotif" first brought the RAT ad to the attention of grassroot folks in LA ... word does get around to suckers who want to pimp and criminalnize you for what they do not fully understand or comprehend in the first place. Ann Althouse was recently confronted by phone on the question of her intellectual integrity ... she quickly hung up! You, Miss "Ann," can run but you can't hide, you damn cheat.
For the history of this seminal idea, "subliminal racism," its meaning and use, please click the licks here and be the judge ... experience the "whirlwind" for self:
http://www.subliminalracism.com/G5SubscribersClub-JiveTurkey.html

For youTube interview, see "The Book Beat" 1994, a "tetranalysis" coverage on "Schindler's List":
http://www.subliminalracism.com/Archives.html

See related post RE
"Sus generic 'ape' as subliminal 'death's-head' icon."
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/comment/reply/15428/27562

http://www.azauthors.com/2005.html
For info on book "Subliminal Racism Essays" 2005, by Arthur J. Graham.