TIME magazine reveals its Person of the Year 2011

[Bjorn Against]

51. As I think about this more I am actually bothered by this cover

While I celebrated this cover at first as I think more about how this is meant to look to people who are not on our side it becomes far more bothersome. We don't notice the propaganda because we are not the bigots it is aimed at, but look at the person on the cover and tell me what she is protesting. Now many of us assume the Arab Spring but there is no indication of that aside from the fact she appears Muslim, we only assume we know what she is standing for because we are educated about the nature of the protests in that part of the world. Now think of what an uneducated person who is bigoted against Muslims would think when they saw this cover, "Scary Muslim terrorists". This is very effective propaganda because it makes our side celebrate while simutaneously sending a subtle message to the many bigots in America that makes the associate us with terrorists right as the NDAA is being voted on which would allow our government to label protesters as terrorists and lock us up without charges. The more I think about this cover the more it bothers me, I have no problem being associated with the Arab Spring but I do have a problem with subtle propaganda that is designed to make the bigots see something else.