Who is a Threat?

Unfortunately, the photo I wish to use is copyrighted by CNN, so I can't display it directlyon the blog site. The photo is in this photo-stream. It is the third photo in the series. It will stand out because a tank cannon will be pointed directly at you.

The photo is not very cluttered, but every image displayed is powerful. We see a gray sky, with a barren landscape dotted by sandbags. There are two men of the Afghanistan Northern Alliance who have been fighting against the Taliban for years. What stands out the most is a huge tank barrel aiming out of the photo at the viewer.

I think most people (and especially most Americans) will feel intimidated by this photo, primarily due to the way we have begun to classify a person from the middle east as a threat to our way of life. A Muslim community center at "ground zero" never would have caused controversy before 9/11, but now people are afraid that there way of life is being taken over. The men displayed are already very intimidating. They are in full Army uniforms, and ignoring the camera. But the man in the center of the photo is the most intimidating. I instantly associated him with Saddam Hussein because of his beard (who wasn't even from Afghanistan, but his image is still seen in the man). Those long dark beards are now mapped, thanks to notorious Taliban leaders and "enemies" of the United States.

My initial bodily reaction was fear, and that was only because of the man I saw and the cultural constructions his appearance carries. Unfortunately, these men are not backed up by how the photographer oriented his photo. Why would he display this cannon pointing at the viewer? It is a threat; nothing is more threatening than a gun to the head. But these men are fighting against the Taliban. To us, these people are still a threat to our way of life. That is the rhetoric of the cannon. The men are placed far away, signifying their cultural distance from us as they don't face us. The gray sky and barren landscape give subliminal warnings of what will happen to our country if we allow these people in.

I finally read the caption, and realized these were good guys. But my mind still felt threatened. I realized how my body really was a docile body in this case. Why couldn't the photographer have been up close to these men if they are allies? Why did he position himself in front of the cannon barrel? Do we fear these people because of past examples like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, or do we fear them because of the constant display of them as threatening in the media?