During the battle of Iwo Jima (WWII), US Marines and a Navy member raise the US flag. The same image, was re-enacted in Fort Lauderdale, FL - with a rainbow flag. The Iwo Jima flag raise is probably one of the most parodied (and Photoshopped) pictures in history. There's lots of Americans who are upset by this, claiming that it's a mockery of the US Military... These of course are majority the same people who find issues with Jenner winning the ESPY Courage Award. (You know, because the only brave and courageous people in the world are those in Military uniform.) Personally, I don't have a real problem with it. The LGBT community fought hard for equal rights for years, just as the US Military did for freedom. At the same time, I do find it mildly distasteful that we compare our struggle with those who risked their lives every waking moment. I guess I see both sides..... What's your stance on this? Do you find it distasteful? No problem with it?
That image has been remade time and time again over in pop culture. I don't see why so many people, especially military people, have a problem with this. Yes, the military fought to uphold our First Amendment rights, they should like that people are actually using them instead of getting angry and trying to conform everybody to groupthink...
I agree that that image has been parodied over and over again and it shouldn't be a concern here. However I find it unfair that they are claiming it's disrespectful because the LGBT community fought just like the US military did. Some LGBT people are killed throughout the fight due to close minded individuals like Leelah Alcorn. To put the cherry on top let's not forget that we obviously have had LGBT veterans in the past and also fought an died for the country and are just now getting their equal rights. The people that call this disrespectful or distasteful to me aren't seeing that our community ha also had deaths in the military but we have also had domestic deaths as well. In short it's not disrespectful...
This! Exactly this! The background story about the original picture can be read in the book "Flags of Our Fathers" and goes into the story of each of those men, which ones died, which ones went on to be used (willingly or not) to promote the sale of war bonds back home to fund the war effort, and their not always happy endings. For those who say using the iconic pose for LGBT purposes is in some way negative because of the very different situations.... meh. The story behind the photo is more complicated than people realize. It signified that the American forces reached the top of Mt. Suribachi after a hellish ordeal costing many lives but there were still plenty of enemy soldiers in the mountain tunnels and throughout the island. It took weeks (and many casualties) to "win" the island. The flag raised in the photo was actually the second flag put up there, simply because the first flag had been much smaller and was not as visible across the island. At best, for the moment it was raised, it was a symbolic victory to show both American and Japanese forces that progress was being made to win control of the island. The US government used the photo to full propaganda effect, knocking it out of the regular realm of just another photo documenting a war moment into a kind of mythological moment, a symbol for the perseverance of those who struggle great odds to achieve victory. None of the soldiers in that photo ever thought the actual moment meant anything more than it did (the raising of the flag) but when they saw the effect it had on the folks at home, they understood how powerful a symbol it could, and did, become. The "reality" of the photo didn't matter as much as what people believed what it represented. So no, I don't think the LGBT version shows any disrespect to the original because if using the original image to sell cans of Ol' Glory beer is deemed acceptable, then using a clever redo of it to symbolize the struggle and victory of an entire section of society (that includes those in the military as well) is just fine. I would quibble that only men are in the LGBT version though.
It sounds strange, but wars are fought to achieve peace. Ultimate peace is when everybody can live together in harmony. That's why many, many people strive for world peace. Wars aren't only fought through violence. Wars are messages, with ideas behind every party, who's fighting and who isn't. Especially in a world war. Honestly, I think we're fighting a world war right now. A year ago, Russia made those anti-propaganda laws, and other countries decided to pitch in their opinions through protests on their territory. No matter where you come from, this is not an easy topic to bring to the table. The same was with each war fought with weapons. And in either case, winning said war was not easy, for either victor. As mentioned before, there was still lots of ground to cover when Iwo Jima was taken. We still have a long way to go, ourselves. And it won't be easy. My point here is that both pictures symbolize the same thing: Advancement toward a better future, and toward world peace. One is simply taken decades after the other, and in a different location, but still on Ground Zero.
