On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ and Pop Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-10T14:50:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Bartlett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Bartlett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/\",\"name\":\"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-10T14:50:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-10T14:50:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be\"},\"description\":\"\\\"The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/\",\"name\":\"Christ and Pop Culture\",\"description\":\"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be\",\"name\":\"Ben Bartlett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Bartlett\"},\"description\":\"Ben Bartlett lives in Louisville, Ky., with his wife and two terrific kids. His degree is in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy from Michigan State University, and he has a bunch of education from a bunch of other places with nothing official to show for it. He has taught high school speech and debate, worked for a congressman in Washington DC, and worked in the health and energy industries. He is interested in how pop culture, history, politics, and theology interact with the inner and community lives of individuals... which is weird because he now works as a business analyst. Few things make him happier than reading, discussing, and recommending books.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/bbartlett\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images","description":"\"The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images","og_description":"\"The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/","og_site_name":"Christ and Pop Culture","article_published_time":"2011-05-10T14:50:22+00:00","author":"Ben Bartlett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Bartlett","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/","name":"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-10T14:50:22+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-10T14:50:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be"},"description":"\"The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/","name":"Christ and Pop Culture","description":"Where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/38a345f7247251389553b101df6da1be","name":"Ben Bartlett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9659c38983e5ec1e812fdcb7586e7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ben Bartlett"},"description":"Ben Bartlett lives in Louisville, Ky., with his wife and two terrific kids. His degree is in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy from Michigan State University, and he has a bunch of education from a bunch of other places with nothing official to show for it. He has taught high school speech and debate, worked for a congressman in Washington DC, and worked in the health and energy industries. He is interested in how pop culture, history, politics, and theology interact with the inner and community lives of individuals... which is weird because he now works as a business analyst. Few things make him happier than reading, discussing, and recommending books.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/author\/bbartlett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":11051,"date":"2011-05-10T10:50:22","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T14:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=11051"},"modified":"2011-05-10T10:50:22","modified_gmt":"2011-05-10T14:50:22","slug":"on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/05\/on-the-other-hand-obamas-picture-and-the-danger-of-images\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Other Hand: Obama's Picture and the Danger of Images"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/span><\/span>The television show, \u201cJack and Bobby\u201d did a good job, in its pilot episode, of pointing out a funny thing about people in general and Americans in particular. We love iconic images, pictures that allow us to tell the stories we want to hear. In the show, a photo of the future President becomes hugely popular as a descriptor of his fight, character and responsibility. But as the show tells us, he was actually an asthmatic stopping to catch his breath.<\/p>\n

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe so. The problem and the question is this: are those 1000 words true?<\/p>\n

This week, there has been all sorts of discussion <\/a>about the, \u201chistoric,\u201d picture of the White House national security team following the raid on Osama Bin Laden. Discussions about the picture have ranged from questions about Hillary Clinton\u2019s emotionalism to whether Obama seemed in command or not to gratefulness and basic thankfulness that a national security photo even included an African American and a woman.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if people are forgetting that even before the picture, we already had a black president and a female secretary of state.<\/p>\n

The thing that bugs me is how desperately people want to have iconic images divorced of context. Frankly, Obama looks really awkward in the picture and Clinton really does look overly emotional. The truth is that Obama is an incredibly graceful and physically confident man,\u00a0but in this shot he had just come onto the scene and was sitting awkwardly. Clinton has shown plenty of moxie and no unnecessary emotionalism in her career, and in this picture she was merely supressing a cough. Why are we even having this conversation?<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s pictures of Kennedy leaning on his desk because of the burden of responsibility (actually he had a bad back<\/a>), an iconic photo of a slain Civil War sniper (set up by a photographer), or talk of inherent chauvinism in a national security photo, we need to be careful that our use of pictures to tell stories doesn\u2019t become<\/em> the story, because it is all too easy for a picture divorced of context to tell a lie.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"