There are several reasons this picture from Haiti is disturbing.
1. There’s a dead guy in it. That’s never good. Pictures of dead people are like pornography: you sit there and wonder what choices the subjects made in their life that led them to this. I don’t know what the circumstances were that resulted in this gentleman being made dead, but I’ll assume he had assumed a pro- or anti- Aristide stance in front of people who thought differently and had an inclination towards resolving disputes by discharging firearms.
2. He was killed in front of a kindergarten. That’s absolutely tasteless. Nothing good can come from killing people in front of a kindergarten. It’s hard enough choosing the right school for your child. When you’ve finally made such a monumental decision, you’d like to think that folks wouldn’t be getting killed in front of the school you finally chose.
3. There’s a guy casually walking by with soda. Coca Cola, to be exact. Personally, if I were walking down the street with soda, in any quantity, and I saw a man dead in front of the kindergarten, casual behavior would be out the door. I’d drop the soda and I’d run. I’m certainly not going to stick around and find out what led to someone being dead in front of a kindergarten. Obviously such people are uncivil. What if they’re still in the area? What if they prefer Pepsi?
4. It makes an absolute mockery of the Coke Adds Life advertising campaign.
5. From the dead guy’s perspective, I’d be upset that my demise was being handled so casually. If any one of us were unlucky enough to wind up deceased in front of a kindergarten, Ray’s Pizza, or wherever, we all deserve a little freaking out. At the very least, we would expect to shock you just a little bit while you’re nurturing your sugar & caffeine fix. This guy seems to be treating it with the same measure of detachment reserved for discarded bike frames chained to parking meters.
6. There’s a horrific irony about happy cartoon characters presiding over your dead body. We’d all like to think that when our time comes we’ll have a little dignity. We hope we won’t be dressed as clowns, in bed with a Bishop, or practicing auto-erotic asphyxiation in our parents’ closet. There’s a reason I stopped wearing boxers with smiley faces on them. This reminds me of a picture of a dead drug dealer I saw; shot dead in his doorway, wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. Disney’s starting to freak me out.
7. The deceased’s shoes were removed. Again, a little dignity would be nice. You’ve already killed a guy on the street, in front of a kindergarten, under the gaze of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Big Bird and a yellow, bi-pedal elephant with pox; people don’t seem to care and are enjoying soda – can’t you please leave the shoes? And what’s more tasteless, looting a body or wearing a dead guy’s sport sandals?
8. This is a flagrant violation of copyright law. If contempt for trademarks and patents starts at such an early age, it’s no wonder they emigrate here and sell bootleg copies of The Matrix on the sidewalk.
Hi!
I think this feature is in very bad taste. I’m generally not the type of person to take the “moral high ground”, but I am of the opinion that poking fun at one of the many to lose their lives in the coup in Haita is pretty despicable and quite low.
What do you think? I’d be interested to hear.
Oli
I tend to think you’re missing the point but I’ll defer to John.
John, am I despicable?
Brian,
You’re not despicable! I generally really enjoy your site but, on this one occasion, I thought the feature was in bad taste. It’s not a personal slight against you! I understand the point you are trying to convey, but making comedic capital out of an intensely sad situation isn’t right, in my opinion.
Solemnity and wisdom should not be confused. Humour, especially of the macabre, dark variety as per this piece is often both the funniest and the most painful because it is essentially reflecting such a dreadful hopeless world – one in this case that most of us in the first world will never have to confront. I appreciate that many will find it neither funny nor in good taste (as ever defined by the reader) but I would say that I believe the intent of the article is to taunt us, the living, not the unfortunate dead.
I can, however, testify that Brian is indeed despicable but not for this reason.
John, I hope by humour of a dark variety, you were not implying any racial undertones with reference to the ethnicity of the deceased? I’m just kidding. Human life is seemingly of lesser value in the media these days, we even had the Gulf War played out on television like some half time spectacular at a global sporting event. Perhaps the juxtaposition of the corpse in the photo can serve as a poignant reminder of the situation in Haiti. You can’t please everyone all of the time Brian but err, just don’t start making jokes about Zimbabwe, I’m not sure I can take my own medicine.
If you don’t take the medicine the “war veterans” might lay claim to it.
Brian, congratulations. You may have just grabbed hold of the third rail of web blogging. Your buddy at White Castle can’t touch this. Good Luck!
w.
As usual, you are on. Just wanted to say something about point #3, There’s a guy casually walking by with soda.
I’m surprised he even looked at the dead man. When you are mired in this kind of situation—live with it, know your neighbors are the type of men who will kill you the moment it seems convenient enough—you know better than to even look. To look at that dead man is to mourn for him. To mourn for him is to admit sympathy, to take his side, and to invite his fate.
The living can be so oversensitive.
I think that anytime I see a picture of someone dead, “that is not good!” I have to preach so many funerals, that I am scared to even “look” at anyone dead.
Alternative Explanations:
1) The guy on the ground is not dead he is prostrating himself on the the altar of the Great Lord God Disney.
The other guy is bring the coke as an altar offering to pray for Disneys deliverance from Pixar.
2) This a Coke advert trying to muscle in on the Jim Jones Coolaid Empire with their new product
“Die(t) -‘day – Coke”.
3) Soles of Feet pointing to reader, Cola, Disney, Its looks like a Wolfowitz hearts and minds poster for the Middle East.
I think that this website is funny and awesome!
I think that this Jordan Dolese kid is completely insane. This website is not funny at all and it is actually quite scary. If I ever find this Dolese freak I will talk some sence into him and tell him to stop sending this picture to people. It is wrong and it does not need to be seen by children.
I LOVE THIS SITE!!
I think that this picture is symbolizing today’s world in every spiritual aspect. The man on the ground is dead because of a sacrifice (religious sacrifice) to his god Mizzanara (very little is known about this god but he the god of sacrificing yourself to have a man holding Coke bottles pass by and not even care). Yes, that is what this is EXACTLY. So Mizzanara, your work is done here and you have completed your mission of sinister righteousness.
-Demonsthenes
this site is AWSOME!!! I think that this is so cool. If all sites like this were this cool then I would try to visit EVERYONE of them. Oh yea if I saw a guy lying dead in front of a kindergarden then I would go in and inspect all the kids for weapons. LOL Then I would drag the bod to the side of the kindergarden and tell a little kid to go and call the police.
I just don’t know if I can even begin to tell you how angry, outraged, miffed, taken aback, inscensed, disappointed, and downright mad that those ignorant, stupid, oblivious, good for nothing, brainless, worthless, godless owners of that kindergarden didn’t paint Mickey’s shoes the right color.
boring boring and more boring that was crap
The words “falling”, “ears”, “deaf” and “on” come to mind, in no particular order.
Why don’t you put up pictures of violence in America instead of this crap. It does exist here too you know? You people always want to make yourselves feel better than everyone else around the world. If you can’t find anything nice to say, keep your fu….g thoughts to yourself dumb ass! Worry about the misery in your own freeking country.
Fabi- If haiti is so awesome, what the hell are you doing here? go home.
“a yellow, bi-pedal elephant with pox” I do believe you are refering to Baby Bop, who, in other circles, is known as “Barney, the large purple pedophilic dinosaur’s bitch”. An elephant Baby Bop is not, but her status as disease ridden is not something I would question. Leprosy anybody?
No it isn’t Baby Bop it’s BJ. I don’t like Barney anymore.
I’ve seen this – it’s hilarious. Ashton just lays there, like all dead, and then sits bolt upright as the guy passes, and asks “Jesus, what happened?”
Oh, and he uses stage blood to simulate blood.
And, of course, the guy wigs and drops the soda, which, although I’ve seen it pulled a hundred times, still makes me laugh until I almost pee.
Then the indignant gather about and say “That’s not really funny” at various volumes to indicate various levels of moral outrage.
And that’s when I think, when will those bastards get their sense of humor back from the ethnic cleanser?
one of the funniest things ive ever seen
If this website were “havepity.com” then the above comments should be considered inappropriate. Since this is Banterist.com, the people who find the above comments offensive should consider this little piece of advise: “Tact is for people not witty enough for sarcasm.”
That guy isn’t dead! Look, he peed himself, a sure sign of drunkeness. That explains the no shoes and the casual pedestrian. I’ve been there myself, but in my case, I get drunk, black out, and wake up with extra shoes! Who knows, maybe I took his flip flops. And since the pee hasn’t dried yet and that’s why it’s still dark on the ground, he must have JUST laid down to take a nap on the long walk home. Maybe he was coming from Cola Mans house?
Actually, I think this is a retouched version of a newspaper article. I have the original, how do I post a picture?
Brian – I first fell in love with (scratch that, in adoration of) you when I recieved the link to your ‘leather pants for sale’ posting on ebay. Are you married? Wanna be?
There shoud be a bootleg toy of barney instead of a dead man, and the goverment unaproved figure should have a decapitated head.
it is sad what people do to each other these days