There is a line. This crosses it. Not only is the actual global atmosphere laden with toxic dust, the political atmosphere, domestic and international, has the quality of mercury mixed with lead. Under such conditions, this is dangerous stuff.
President Clinton, over the past few days, has been speaking about the responsibility prominent people have to keep their messages argumentative rather than demonizing the opposition. (Reminder: You can hear him on this and other topics tomorrow on “This Week” with Jake Tapper.)
Everyone here knows how much I love pictures of our very photogenic and lovely Secretary of State. This is one picture I not only do not want to see. I do not even want to imagine it!
Published Date: 18 April 2010By Simon Romero
CANVASSING for support has acquired a more literal meaning in the crucible of Venezuelan politics.While western politicians debate the pros and cons of billboard advertising against online tweeting president Hugo Chavez has taken his popularity campaign to the streets and licensed some graffiti artists.
Of all the murals and graffiti that adorn this anarchic capital’s rubbish-strewn centre, one creation by the street artist Carlos Zerpa fills the artist with special pride: a stencilled reinterpretation of Caravaggio’s David with the Head of Goliath, in which a warrior grasps the severed head of US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Zerpa, 26, shrugged at the possibility that American visitors to Caracas — or Clinton herself for that matter — might find the mural offensive. “It’s a metaphor for an empire that is being defeated,” he said nonchalantly in an interview. “My critics can take it or leave it, but I remain loyal to my ideas.”
Uh, YEAH! As an American and a Hillary Clinton loyalist, I do find it offensive even if it is a metaphor since I know that the “delirious” and “unhinged” to which her husband referred do not necessarily understand metaphors.
Ironically(?), this comes on the heels of this very sincere comment by Secretary Clinton.
“And I want to thank Venezuela, who is represented here, for the support that you have given to Haiti in supplying energy to the people of Haiti.”
Seems to me that she extended a hand – personally – if not in the name of the administration. There is a new Broadway play entitled “A Behanding in Spokane.” Well, if Caracas, or Chavez want to “behand” her extended hand that would be one mural. But to behead her? It is beyond overreaction and metaphor. It crosses the line. Nobody here is painting government approved murals of Chavez being harmed. There is a line. It is a line of decency. You permit this public display about a person you have encountered? It is wrong!
And before I get any remarks about how she is a strong leader who knows the risks and puts herself out there voluntarily, is well-protected, and yadda-yadda-yadda, she is also our flesh, blood, and bone Secretary of State serving selflessly. Nothing about this reflects positively on Chavez. Nothing Hillary has said or done merits this.
Still4Hill 
This is very upsetting. I don’t understand how somebody could actually wan’t something like that displayed anywhere.
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Yes, it is. I don’t think the use of metaphor excuses it – at all!
We prefer our Secretary of State in one awesome, gorgeous piece ATTACHED to the head containing her brilliant brain and manifesting her smile to the world – so sunny, bright, and sincere.
We’re in dangerous political waters. I have lost before. JFK, MLK, RFK. I do not want to lose our HRC. I love her more than I ever loved the others, and I loved them deeply.
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Of course she’s offended Chavez. She’s had the gall to be American, healthy, wealthy, and wise all at the same time. The fact that she’s a female probably doesn’t help either. When Chavez is confronted by ideas he doesn’t like, he has them dealt with. Dissidents are jailed or intimidated, ect. He, figuratively, beheads the opposition this way and he had to come up with a way to “silence” her – another voice of reason – in a figurative manner because she’s too strong. He wants her to be afraid, but I’d venture to guess she thinks he’s a nut bar and that’s about it. She doesn’t seem to fear anything.
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Maybe she doesn’t fear anything – maybe somewhere in the night she does. I bet, though, even if she is fearless, her family can’t help but be a little afraid every time she leaves.
Sometimes this world really, really scares me. I don’t know what has happened to people to make them so mean, so violent.
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I don’t think she goes around fearing the nut around the next corner any more than the rest of us go around worrying that we still are living in code orange. You can’t live your life that way. I do worry a little every time she leaves. Some destinations more than others. I’m sure her family does too. I think people have always been violent. We haven’t evolved much.
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Fear, lack of work, and economic instability seem to have done a lot to make people the world over more hostile, usually to their own government and its officials, but sometimes to others. The recent events in both Kyrgyzstan and Thailand are two of the most prominent international examples.
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No she doesn’t show fear, and in the picture above it seems clear she thinks of him as the class clown. But what Bill has been talking about, and what I am here, is not that Hugo or the artist are the immediate danger any more than Sarah Palin is. The danger is the nut case who hears the words, views the mural, or the map with cross hairs and acts on it.
I understand he would like to be taken seriously on the world stage (as he clearly is not by Hillary above). World leaders need to take ownership of their words and other messages, and they should be constructive.
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely with you in saying that anyone commissioning a piece like this, particularly the leader of a country, is doing something beyond the pail as far as rhetoric goes. We should all be mindful of our words and their power, even as anonymous or semi-anonymous bloggers. Someone who you have insulted is far less likely to take your ideas seriously no matter how valid they are. I am also quite sure that the family of Secretary Clinton feels more strongly about this than I do.
Speaking of her family, I wish people would stop saying Bill Clinton’s a fear-monger or whatever and start looking at what the man had to say. I am not afraid of someone taking Hugo Chavez too seriously. I get a little twitchy when reasonable people start saying very unreasonable things like actually lamenting a nuclear drawdown, not turning various countries, all full of people, mind you – not warriors, just people – into parking lots. Stuff like that out of the mouths of “normal” reasonable men and women. That I find more unsettling than the rantings of any despot.
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When I started reading your comment I immediately thought of President Clinton this morning on “This Week” saying “words mean something.” Yes, we all need to be careful with our words, and there are people much closer to home than Venezuela – actually here at home – who are saying and doing scary things. That’s why I said this is a really bad atmosphere.
Here at home it is not Hillary who is threatened. There is a great deal of vitriol for legislators. Those in the public eye should be very careful of how they speak and what metaphors they use, Rush is wrong about who will be at fault if someone gets hurt. It will not be President Clinton who warned against careless language. It will be the folks who are using all the weaponry language.
I think you know who I mean.
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I remember as a child being told not to do or say anything that I would be ashamed of my parents seeing or hearing. It made sense then and it makes sense now. It isn’t just those in the public eye, in my opinion, but everyone who has created a public forum – a blog or page of some kind – upon which they editorialize all aspects of life who need to be aware of the power of their own words. You and I and bloggers the world over are, in essence, our own publishing outfits. Ted Koppel did an interview on the BBC last week – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8616838.stm – on the news industry in the internet age in which he mentions blogging and the effect on news. It’s worth checking out.
I, sadly, don’t feel that any official is ever guaranteed safety here or abroad – the danger varies in level and type but, to a certain extent, it is omnipresent. There will always be someone wishing them harm no matter how many are wishing them well. Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography opens with the statement “I didn’t choose this life; it chose me,” and I assume it is like that for many, if not all, politicians, no matter what side of the aisle – now almost a physical line of demarcation – they happen to occupy.
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Yes, it’s sad. I think of her often, and especially the past week when the U.N. report came out. I think we can all say that – that our lives chose us. If that life happens to be very public there are risks. On the other hand, I hve personally known 5 people who were murdered over the years. That’s a lot – most of them ordinary people.
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Perhaps Chavez might offer his apology; in person, it would be better as Hillary can put her case forward quite competently herself!
She is the most conciliatory member of the administration and has been known for her “debate first, agree to disagree” policy handling international affairs. Witness how successful she was to get the Turks who committed genocide against 2 million Armenians (well documented by ambassadors and historians) to shake hands with the Armenians.
She’s an incredible world leader and just having her there on the international world stage lends girls and women all over esteem…..and gives us Hope for a better world.
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That would be nice, Mary. I am sure that in the photo above, she was beginning to establish a relationship. Even though you can’t see her face from the front, you can tell that she was trying to break the ice.
I don’t know if he would do that, but it would be nice.
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