The Gift That Keeps On Giving
You may remember that last year, I went to the Philadelphia pathetic hissy fit Tea Bag Party, and had some fun at the expense of the lunatics. One of the shots my brother Ray took may have even ended up on Bill O’Reilly’s show, described as “so cile I can’t show it” or some such whiney crybaby nonsense.
Well, apparently it’s the gift that keeps on giving, because the New Republic (presumably without permission or payment) used one of those shots in an article on the Tea Bagger Pity Party, which led to a freakout by conservative law professor and noted boxed wine enthusiast Ann Althouse, who is VERY upset about “the childishness of evoking the term “teabagger” and creating a image [sic] to convey the term.”
Um. How to explain this: the shot was MEANT to be childish, because the teabaggers themselves are childish. And ignorant. And being manipulated. Also, use “an” when the noun starts with a vowel. And hey, put my face up all you want: it’s an honor to be making fun of a bunch of goons who show up for community events toting guns and misspelled signs accusing the so-moderate-he’s-practically-a-conservative president of being a Nazi, a Communist, and an Islamofascist who watches battlestar Galactica 1980 and actually enjoys it.
Making fun of morans aside, what’s troubling here is that The New Republic didn’t ask my brother’s permission to use the shot: I know, because I just got off the phone with him. According to Althouse, “TNR has swapped in a different photograph, so it’s good that I got the screen capture. The “teabagger” picture also went out in TNR’s email alert titled “The New Republic Politics Weekly Newsletter: The Tea Party’s frustrated moderates.”" Sounds to me like TNR owes Ray a few bucks, at least: there’s a prominent announcement at ray’s site reading “Unless indicated otherwise, all images presented on this site are the sole property of Ray Skwire and may not be copied, reproduced, altered, or displayed in any fashion without prior consent from the author.”
That’s pretty clear and direct language, and TNR should know better.
So enjoy the laughs over at Althouse’s place (there’s nothing funnier than a conservative in high dudgeon: it’s like watching angry chickens fighting over a beetle), but if you’re a subscriber, ask the New Republic is stealing photos is how they roll, and whether they’re gonna pay my brother.
UPDATE: from Althouse’s comments, I want this on a teeshirt:
Based on the age of the person in the picture, the nasty, patchy facial hair, the black-framed rectangular-format glasses and the evidently gleeful willingness to assume a revolting pseudo-sexual pose, I just assumed it was your run-of-the-mill post-ironic hipster douchebag.
Oh if you only knew, “Palladian”, if you only knew.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:26 am
“Sounds to me like TNR owes Ray a few bucks, at least: there’s a prominent announcement at ray’s site reading “Unless indicated otherwise, all images presented on this site are the sole property of Ray Skwire and may not be copied, reproduced, altered, or displayed in any fashion without prior consent from the author.”
That’s pretty clear and direct language, and TNR should know better.”
Ahh… remember the Stephen Glass debacle? Not the first time that TNR hasn’t really been on top of the details.
I do think that Ray should pursue it though, just for kicks. Maybe Alex would be willing to send a lawyer letter… (haven’t discussed it with him though).
You hipster douchebag, you! (musses hair)
March 17th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Brendan, you are definitely not an “run-of-the-mill post-ironic hipster douchebag.” You are a most exceptional post-ironic hipster douchebag.