WGN Marks Yom Kippur with Nazi Imagery [UPDATED]
[guest post by JVW]
What may well be the most watched news program in America’s third-largest city ran a segment celebrating Yom Kippur earlier today with this unfortunate choice of a stock photo:
If you are wondering where you have seen that symbol before, this might provide a refresher:
Next time you hear how hard our media strives for accuracy and full context, keep in mind that this happened probably because some ignorant young production assistant pulled this out of some image bank and had no idea what it meant. To be fair to him or her, it probably wasn’t covered at all in college, what with the important journalistic focus on multicultural perspectives and comforting the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable.
H/T Powerline.
UPDATE: I know that some of you think this was intentional. I do not. Here’s how I see this whole thing coming about:
Brittney, the 23-year-old production assistant: “Like, we need a graphic for the segment on the Jewish day, Yummy Caper or whatever.”
Devon, the 24-year-old production assistant: “OK. What are you thinking?”
Brittney: “Like, I’m thinking we should have that, like, star made from two of those triangle things, but I’m having trouble finding them ’cause I can’t remember what it is called.”
Devon: “Just Google on ‘Jewish star.'”
Brittney: “OK, I did that and, like, here’s what I got.”
Devon: “The ones that are yellow are really cool, especially with ‘Jude’ in them. Jude is my girlfriend’s older brother’s name.”
Brittney: “Yeah, I like that one too, but I want to find it on a more colorful background. I’ll, like, see what else I can find with that particular one.”
Devon: “Cool.”
– JVW
Allow me to extend my best wishes to all of our Jewish readers who observe this holy day.
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/23/2015 @ 10:13 pmAnd, come to think of it, the stripes in the background of the image probably represent a garment commonly issued to prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp. Pathetic.
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/23/2015 @ 10:17 pmMy high school students would recognize this….
gahrie (12cc0f) — 9/23/2015 @ 10:36 pmYep, the background is the same material as the uniform Jews were made to wear in Nazi concentration camps. Here’s their apology.
I hate weaselly PC speach that really has no meaning.
Tanny O'Haley (c674c7) — 9/23/2015 @ 11:01 pmI didn’t recognize it but I could tell by looking at it what its source was.
Yellow Star with “Jew” in Germanic – how much of a hint is needed? Do they not teach Nazi History at all in schools?
What did seem familiar was the prison garb (as noted in #2). The Israeli flag goes across not upa dn down so that couldn’t be a simple mistake either.
seeRpea (45e014) — 9/23/2015 @ 11:05 pmre #4: it is far more than an “offensive symbol”. You are identifying people by using the apparatus enforced by a ideology that not only wanted to purge their country of the ‘offending people’ but wanted to find and destroy them throughout the world. to the extent that supplies needed for maintaining a war effort or the extermination went to the extermination process.
seeRpea (45e014) — 9/23/2015 @ 11:10 pmBarbaric
mg (31009b) — 9/23/2015 @ 11:12 pmprobably because some ignorant young production assistant pulled this out of some image bank
Actually, even worse, he or she may be among the many idiotic liberals out there who — as was true of Franklin D Roosevelt in the past or a variety of black leftists or college intellectuals today– think that Jews have it coming to them, are cruel, evil menaces hectoring the poor unwashed Palestinians, and therefore was fully aware of what that symbol is all about.
Mark (f05207) — 9/23/2015 @ 11:26 pmActually, even worse, he or she may be among the many idiotic liberals out there who — as was true of Franklin D Roosevelt in the past or a variety of black leftists or college intellectuals today– think that Jews have it coming to them, are cruel, evil menaces hectoring the poor unwashed Palestinians, and therefore was fully aware of what that symbol is all about.
Well, I won’t entirely discount the possibility, though I like to fall back on the old saying “never attribute to malice that which is far more likely done out of stupidity.”
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/23/2015 @ 11:37 pmI don’t believe that they did it intentionally, but I do believe that this is indicative of the ignorance of most of the left.
Some woman was on the news protesting the canonization of Father Serra. She said he’s from Spain, he’s not even Hispanic.
The ignorant are easily led to their destruction.
Tanny O'Haley (c674c7) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:03 amA long time ago, when my “kid” sister was a teenager, and living with me, some guy came to the door wanting to take her out on a date. He was wearing a jacket with a whole bunch of patches and trinkets and among them was a swastika. I basically told him my sister wasn’t going out with someone wearing one of those and shut the door.
An hour later he came back, wearing something else and apologized — he said he hadn’t realized that it was “about Communism.” So I relented and sent them on their way.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:11 amShe said he’s from Spain, he’s not even Hispanic.
Not sure how you mean that, as Serra was from Spain. Are you saying that she denied he was from Spain because he wasn’t Mexican?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:14 amI’m not willing to be so charitable. Smartass probably DID know what it was and wanted to get what he/she/it thought was a sly dig at dem Joooos.
Bill H (2a858c) — 9/24/2015 @ 1:04 amre #12: hard to be from Spain and not be Hispanic.
seeRpea (45e014) — 9/24/2015 @ 1:34 amWGN stands for World’s Greatest Newspaper and is owned by … (suspenseful pause) … Tribune Media. Do you need to know more?
Ok, I give you little hint: Is same people own the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
nk (dbc370) — 9/24/2015 @ 2:42 amAnd these people inform the masses, the better fraction at any rate.
DNF (68d659) — 9/24/2015 @ 3:22 amOT: We have once again gone roughly 6 mos. without the US Treasury raising the national debt.
Just avoiding bad publicity or is the Fed directly infusing digital cash in the coffer off the books?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-23/here-we-go-citi-officially-calls-monetary-paradrops-government-literally-paying-itse
When we begin hearing it is a good idea, its prolly post fact.
DNF (68d659) — 9/24/2015 @ 3:30 amSorry, but this image was selected deliberately, if not by the station management (who probably wouldn’t be that dumb) then by some low-level production technician with an axe to grind. You can’t look at that image and not at least wonder about it enough to do more research.
The Dana who doesn't believe that this was unintentional (f6a568) — 9/24/2015 @ 3:49 amthis is why we need collections of historic artifacts, debbie dumpsterc-word
happyfeet (831175) — 9/24/2015 @ 4:15 amStarting the pool on whether the guilty “assistant” will end up having a non-Jewish middle-eastern name.
Dan S (94f399) — 9/24/2015 @ 4:48 amYeah, it’s not possible to do something that ignorant without demanding the right to be ignorant. Whoever did this needs to be named in prime time and fired in prime time, his or her photo prominently displayed.
But it does prove one thing: The Jews don’t have control of Tribune, so the whole “Jews own the media” hogwash goes right down the drain.
John Hitchcock (e5f961) — 9/24/2015 @ 4:51 amMr Hitchcock wrote:
We will be told that:
The Dana who understands responsibility (f6a568) — 9/24/2015 @ 4:56 amMr S wrote:
Alas! Anti-Semitism is becoming so rampant among Americans who are not of Middle Eastern descent that such a conclusion is not one I’d take. It’d be just as likely to be the scion of a well-to-do white liberal family as anyone else.
The sadly realistic Dana (f6a568) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:00 amI have no doubt that my strongly-written suggestion will be ignored. I’m nobody special, and besides, my strong opinions are on the wrong side of the fence. And I am with you, realistic Dana, on the anti-Semitism being rampant among the Left (and even some of the Right).
John Hitchcock (e5f961) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:07 amThen it must be a really stupid anti-Semite because this image only invokes sympathy for Jews Jews from people who know what it means.
nk (dbc370) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:29 amStormfront and CAIR know what it means and are not sympathetic toward Jews.
John Hitchcock (e5f961) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:37 amAnd yet the Jews stay liberal and keep voting democrap. Go figure.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie (f4eb27) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:56 amThis was not an accident. Someone there knew exactly what they were doing. Maybe we can get the name of the intern.
AZ Bob (34bb80) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:05 amAllow me to extend my best wishes to all of our Jewish readers who observe this holy day.
Thank you.
I vote for the ignorance option as the explanation.
kishnevi (31ba4e) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:42 amAnd yet the Jews stay liberal and keep voting democrap. Go figure
Judaism is a very communal-oriented religion not only in ritual but in social values. And wealth is something G-d gives you for the sake of helping others with your money.
It is iow much easier to reconcile progressiive ideals with Judaism than it is classical liberalism. So Jews sart with a default position that favors the Left.
kishnevi (9cb6b5) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:48 amHere’s how I think it went down:
Brittney, the 23-year-old production assistant: “Like, we need a graphic for the segment on the Jewish day, Yummy Caper or whatever.”
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/24/2015 @ 8:26 amDevon, the 24-year-old production assistant: “OK. What are you thinking?”
Brittney: “Like, I’m thinking we should have that, like, star made from two of those triangle things, but I’m having trouble finding them ’cause I can’t remember what it is called.”
Devon: “Just Google on ‘Jewish star.'”
Brittney: “OK, I did that and, like, here’s what I got.”
Devon: “The ones that are yellow are really cool, especially with ‘Jude’ in them. Jude is my girlfriend’s older brother’s name.”
Brittney: “Yeah, I like that one too, but I want to find it on a more colorful background. I’ll, like, see what else I can find with that particular one.”
Devon: “Cool.”
JVW, I agree. Except the name might be spelled Devawn.
kishnevi (28fa9f) — 9/24/2015 @ 8:28 amAnd yet the Jews stay liberal and keep voting democrap. Go figure.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie (f4eb27) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:56 am
Two words: Helsinki Syndrome.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/24/2015 @ 8:35 amThis is why I subscribe ignorance and not intentionality. I agree anti-semitism is increasing.
Tanny O'Haley (c674c7) — 9/24/2015 @ 9:15 amJVW: I concur with the Brittney & Devon hypothesis, and suggest further that both have university degrees. In the humanities, yet.
Eric Wilner (3936fd) — 9/24/2015 @ 10:39 amkishnevi (9cb6b5) — 9/24/2015 @ 7:48 am
Thanks, Kishnevi. I find your comment persuasive. Much better than my silly comment.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/24/2015 @ 11:36 amfelipe,
I agree with kishnevi’s comment, too, but that only explains why Jews philosophically identify with the Left. It doesn’t explain why they support the Left even though the Left’s policies don’t work.
Feeling good about yourself is nice but actually accomplishing something is what matters. At some point, American Jews should accept that the Left’s policies don’t help the poor and disadvantaged.
DRJ (521990) — 9/24/2015 @ 11:44 amDRJ, I forget who said: “There are no solutions;just hard choices”. Perhaps the left are convinced that there is a solution out there that makes hard choices unnecessary.
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/24/2015 @ 11:55 amWe all do that at some points in life, don’t we? But responsible adults deal with reality, not wishful thinking.
DRJ (521990) — 9/24/2015 @ 11:57 amMan, it’s a good thing no one from the Greatest Generation ever did something stupid. Otherwise (since we have no information about whose mistake this actually was) we’d have to consider the possibility that the production assistant was actually an old person. Luckily, that’s impossible, because old people don’t make mistakes about stuff.
Leviticus (f9a067) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:05 pmthis is the station, that runs a show, taking the witches point of view, and condemning the citizens of Salem, the prospects they would disrespectful of religion, confidence is high,
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:09 pmYes, DRJ, each of us must grow up and leave behind childish things.
Emphasis mine
Sometimes we need to excercise tough love. I feel the left (generally speaking)is confused about charity. What is the charitable thing to do concerning the poor? We will have th
1 Corinthians 13King James Version (KJV)
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
I think the left, generally speaking, like most people, are confused about charity. What is the charitable thing to do with respect to the poor? After all, we will have the poor with us always. Are they to be used as a constant reproach to the rich? or should they serve as a provokation to our compassion?
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:15 pmWhat the heck? Honestly, I proofread my comment before I submitted it. I spent all that time and the gremlins destroyed my formatting! Sorry the blockquote came in twice. It cannot be human error!
I, I, I, me, me, me!
felipe (b5e0f4) — 9/24/2015 @ 12:18 pm@JVW MOre like this:
Sammy Finkelman (2972ba) — 9/24/2015 @ 1:20 pmBrittney: “You don’t need to tell me that.
Anyway, I got it from a website that contains only material in the public domain. I always do that.”
Sammy Finkelman (2972ba) — 9/24/2015 @ 1:29 pmMan, it’s a good thing no one from the Greatest Generation ever did something stupid. Otherwise (since we have no information about whose mistake this actually was) we’d have to consider the possibility that the production assistant was actually an old person.
Well, someone from the Greatest Generation would be around 90 years old now, and even given the dismal Obama economy I doubt too many of them are working jobs at news stations. However, I fully stipulate that it is entirely possible that some utterly shallow dingbat from the Baby Boomer generation or Generation X or Generation Y (do we still call them that, or were they wholly subsumed as senior members of the Millennials?) might have made the mistake. Even though I am blaming Brittney and Devon the production assistants, for all we know the image could have been chosen by the senior producer or even the newscaster himself. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
And my larger point was really the sheer historical ignorance of those who bring us our news.
JVW (ba78f9) — 9/24/2015 @ 1:30 pmHmm, WWII, Holocaust, Nazi symbolism…yeah, no offense Leviticus, but If I was a betting man, I’m thinking the money is with JVW’s hypothesis.
Pons Asinorum (e0a90d) — 9/24/2015 @ 2:03 pmJVW
Normally i would agree with you. But this is not some small TV station in the middle of nowhere. This is WGN run out of chicago. Chicago and its suburbs have a big Jewish population. You know, the mayor and all.
jeffreyL (7032ed) — 9/24/2015 @ 2:24 pmI agree that God blesses one with wealth to help others. How does that square with progressivism which believes in taking other people’s money to help the poor? Progressive “ideals” ( that’s a reach ) require stealing the hard earned money from those who earned it and “giving” it to those they choose. You and the progressives may call that an ideal, I call it theft. If one wants to give away his own wealth that’s his prerogative. It’s not the prerogative of the progressive.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie (f4eb27) — 9/24/2015 @ 4:00 pmKeep going and you will face the ultimate punishment- being elected POTUS.
Bill H (2a858c) — 9/24/2015 @ 4:23 pmI have to go with ignorance and not anti-semitism.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Vox. Hoo boy, you want to get your daily dose of ignorance, read vox. Actually I just wait for some conservative blogger to point and laugh at their stupidity.
http://twitchy.com/2015/08/27/vox-fails-again-screenshot/
The were attempting to take a shot (pun intended) at the National Rifle Association. Somehow they instead used a graphic from FDR’s Depression-era National Recovery Administration.
I don’t know how anyone could make that mistake, just like I don’t see how no one in the entire newsroom would know a yellow star of David with the word “Jude” was a Nazi symbol.
The NRA graphic even says “Cocoa and chocolate manufacturing” which to me would be a huge hint that this particular NRA had nothing to do with firearms ownship. So I guess there has to be something about going to J school that makes you stooopider.
http://realfunny.net/picture-1695-cnn-thinks-hong-kong-is-in-south-america-.html
By the way, the CNN newsbabe went through the entire report and never figured out they had put Hong Kong on the wrong continent. Nobody, not a cameraman or a producer, nobody figured it out.
Steve57 (4eba9c) — 9/24/2015 @ 5:56 pm