This is today’s edition of the New York Times. My question is, was the use of a green tinted image on St. Patrick’s Day intentional? I don’t believe the image was Photoshopped — it was selected by the page one editors. Could this have been an accident? Was it possible to overlook this? Given that this is one of the most serious covers in the history of the newspaper — which is saying a lot — could they really be in a joking mood? I wonder what you think.
hey sorry for the intrusion,
I’m still not sure who the target audience is(Was)……
now, in terms of this newspaper, and you saving a copy, I warn danger, Will Robinson, Danger! let us remember the energetics of Feng Shui and the placement of images in your surroundings.. we can’t have the captain of PW not being in optimal form during these strange times…I for one can say PW is my cyber home-away-from-home, traveling the sometimes turbulent seas of Life….
in the Spirit of encouraging a mentally&emotionally balanced Full Moon….
peace.
You know Eric, all day long I’ve not been able to let go of this line that you wrote: “the whole concept is skewed in the direction of irish. it might be seen as a blessing, splashing that green luck all over them as protection.”
Something happened last night by way of illustrating to me how some people, who are not Irish,seem to connect with the strong mystical affiliation with the spirit world many Irish people have, along with deep compassion for others who suffer tragic life or death circumstances, especially if it’s on a collective, cultural scale — this from having experienced a devastating famine. By reflecting on your suggestion that something like the “luck of the Irish”, through the timing of the photo’s publication, that indeed some sort of blessing could be invoked as protection for the Japanese? I know this is a stretch perhaps but I’ve made *some* allowance that it might have been presented in such a fashion.
At the poetry reading I attended last night on St. Patrick’s Day, someone got up to the mike to recite a poem and in his preamble he mentioned that although being Indian and had no obvious blood connection to the Irish, he had lost a niece in the tragic Air India plane crash of June 1985, which was bombed out of the sky and landed in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Ireland, around Cork. He said he’s always thought that St. Patrick had taken care of his niece and that gave him a great deal of comfort. That kind of thinking, that the spirit of St. Patrick could provide protection for the dead is very much Irish. Perhaps there *was* someone on the NYT editorial board whose Irish heritage was stirred to persuade the use of the picture, as some sort of blessing as you say.
Ah sure, who knows the truth of the decision but I’ve toned down my initial visceral reaction — just a bit mind you — and made some allowance that someone on the NYT editorial board might have been working along those lines. At least part of me is hoping that was the case.
We learned in this discussion that the same photo appeared a few days earlier down in Oz. That tells me that the Times editors were saving it for St Patrick’s Day, which I will officially now rate as crass on historic proportions. I will be saving my copy for my presumptive grand kids.
I was wondering if the radiation scan people were now doing it under a temporary awning made of green tarps, and that with daylight/sunlight falling upon them it would be very green underneath?
If that is the cause for the green coloring, I still find it crass that the NYT would run it on Paddy’s day, pretty much for all the reasons that everyone has written already.
One quarter Irish ethnicity here, and I didn’t partake in any alcohol yesterday. I simply wasn’t all that interested in drinking, period, and this was not an exception for me either. I usually don’t get blotto for Saint Padraig, and when it has become as fake as it has, there is even less justification for drinking for me. When I read Len’s advice not to yesterday, that just reinforced my initial plan.
That may stem from the fact that my Irish-American grandmother did not drink herself, mostly as a reaction to her own full Irish father and his probable alcoholism. I say probable, because he died over 70 years ago and my father is literally the last person on earth with any memory of him – and he cannot say for sure either way.
Erin go breagh!
interesting.
while i admit my my first thought was, “black humor!” my next thought was that if the photo was a conscious tie-in to St. Patrick’s day, it was not so much a “joke” or a way to sell papers, but a bit of jarring juxtaposition between the focus many had yesterday in the US (that being getting as drunk as possible, whether irish or not, as a means of “honoring” a culture) versus something very REAL and very important to acknowledge (that being the tremendous tragedy that has occurred and which is not over and may get much worse).
i mean…. it seems sobering to me (pun intended, yet intended in all seriousness) to draw a comparison between those two things in a visual way. maybe many will not get it or choose to ignore/deny it. but i like to think on some level a bit of uneasiness or cognitive dissonance was generated in those who would not normally make the connection and went about their soggy revelry.
this is not to say i’m against drinking; just that perspective is in short order these days in the US.
Great point gwind:
“Green papers? Greening rivers, fountains, and beer? All seems odd to me. Talk about pollution without thought. I prefer to go sit and look at the real thing, like in the grass, trees, frogs, etc.” Ya, natural green is my preference too. I’ve had to tolerate the marketing of our national holiday for quite some time now and its crass commercialization leaves me feeling exploited and empty.
Eric, I heard a similar conversation in my head imaging the discussion over the use of this picture on March 17th and it closely followed yours. I definitely thought there was cheekiness in the choice as well. However, I doubt there was any seeking of an Irish blessing, though who knows, there is that dark streak in us as you say and we do tend to have those “boisterous funerals” — known in Ireland as a wake, by virtue of the fact that we celebrate a person’s life when they die and look at it full on, but the choice of this picture, again on March 17th, with the people of Japan living the nightmare they are experiencing is more than ghoulish. Juvenile and thoughtless are bundled in there as well, all tied up with a commercial decision that don’t show an ounce of integrity but was driven by pure greed which brings on that “disruption of communication” which Gwind mentioned in that quote from the Course of Miracles. That was spot on.
It’s as good at time as any to expose the “dark and the devious” by shining the light of an illuminating conversation such as this one and begin to defuse that kind of mind control that has many of us sleepwalking through life.
I was thinking yesterday about how corporations / businesses dictate public policy, not the people or government. The events of the past week in Japan give us glimpses of what may be going on behind the scenes and only when the sleepy public starts to get upset, does anyone pay much attention. At that point, the response is symbolic of a pat on the head, to placate the ignorant children, or worse yet, to dismiss the silly fretting women, we all must be.
hmmm.
My work around this is to try to unravel it at the core where healing can occur. Today I read: “You who speak in dark and devious symbols do not understand the language you have made. It HAS no meaning, for its purpose is not communication, but rather the DISRUPTION of communication.” (A Course in Miracles CH14, p.278)
Green papers? Greening rivers, fountains, and beer? All seems odd to me. Talk about pollution without thought. I prefer to go sit and look at the real thing, like in the grass, trees, frogs, etc.
What a week.
The same picture appeared here in Italy a couple of days ago, same green. I think it must have been taken in a place – sort of laboratory or similar, where they were cheking the radiations – that had a green light.
If I were the editor who was signing off on the page, I would have asked around and in my mind the discussion would go something like this —
it might be perceived as inappropriate. It’s easy to pass it off as a coincidence. Or the cover simply works in all directions, and okay it’s a little cheeky. comic relief is necessary and I really wonder how many people noticed consciously.
also the whole concept is skewed in the direction of irish. it might be seen as a blessing, splashing that green luck all over them as protection. also the irish are a little dark in their humor; and they can have boisterous funerals at home.
Either way, it’s striking. And I bet it sold newspapers. I’m still on side for hard cold choice all the way. And I’m willing to bet there was at least one person in that room that said: No, don’t. Me? I would have been on the optics side and held up my hand up for the no vote.
It IS certainly as surreal as the situation it illustrates feels. Which, as we know, is a real situation. SO, yeah, that would not have been my choice.
I’m with Michele and see the choosing of this image as a purely commercial decision to increase sales. As someone who is Irish I find that decision crass beyond belief.
I think the photo is taken from a monitor in a “safe room”, the image being sent from a closed circuit security-type camera mounted in the “hot room”. the color on those monitors can be greenish….
..I would bet it was the only way to get an image of those exact goings-on…
now as to IF the photo should have been published….I guess that depends on how hell-bent you are to get EXCLUSIVE photos out there….or what have you. this would fall under journalism ethics 101?
I dunno, it seems that common decency is low on the priority list but damn, that’s a wonderful shade of Sea Green….. it goes great with my Manolo’s ,right??
Maybe if they were in Japan or West Coast right now they’d have realized that’s a pretty sick shade of green.
Green newspapers about a nuclear disaster. The photo illustrates the story headlined above it. NYT photo = story when not separated by a line. And both are about the nuke situation.
My husband works in radiology and says that when radiation hits phosphorus it emits a green glow. Of course, it all happens inside the machine, part of exposing the film.
Possibly this was done to illustrate the invisible radiation for dramatic effect. And, perhaps, they figured with St. Patrick’s Day, they’d have a two-for, but I don’t think so. Probably a Mary Shelley of editors.
Photoshopped or not, someone chose to go ahead with a green image for the front page. I have no doubt there were several/many images to choose from to illustrate the topics on the page. (I can’t figure out if it’s a stand-alone or illustrates a story. But, after a cursory look, I’m not seeing the green picture actually illustrate a story on the website.) Call me cynical, but I’ve heard the conversations. Someone saw the green picture, someone knew the date and pointed it out, there was probably a deep debate, and someone said the final word to go ahead regardless of the nature of the material on the page. I doubt it was meant as a joke. Probably an attract-the-eye, paper-selling decision. Tasteless, but what are you gonna do? It’s St. Pat’s Day. People drink green beer. And wear green hats. And paint their nails green. And buy green newspapers.