December 18, 2011
We suck as a species.
Stop and think for a second about how our society functions right now - it's essentially a cash-fueled heap of people trying to step on others based on whatever warped sense of entitlement they've locked onto for their situation. Some people think they're better because they have money. Others think that they're better because of the color of their skin. Personal goals notwithstanding, I'm always particularly sad to see evidence in our society of the dismissal (and in other cases outright hatred) of different societies based on those kinds of differences. It's even more saddening to see such hatred directed at others based on ignorance and misunderstanding.
This, you'll find, results in a pattern.
I saw a post earlier today on Facebook - a heavily-compressed jpeg photograph of an Arabic Pepsi can, depicting a modern cityscape. You may have seen it yourself:
The caption from my friend posted along with this photo was as follows:
Can't believe they actually put that on the can
Confused, I looked at the photo. Thanks to the jpeg compression, it was hard to make out much of the detail but everything seemed to be innocuous. I mean it's a Pepsi can after all, it just happened to be an Arabic version. I'd seen many of them like it when I went to Egypt. So this being on Facebook, I commented on the post:
I see nothing wrong with putting a city skyline on the side of a can.
I suspected I knew what was happening here. Similar to the Starbucks "Collapse into Cool" fiasco from many years ago, it seemed people were again starting to read a bit too heavily into a simple image. The "No look closer." response I received seemed to lean in that direction. So I clarified:
I've looked at it. Other than a futuristic city scene with an airplane flying above - something that happens in every major city at every hour of every day - there's nothing to see.
Finally, I was given an interpretation of the image which, while not surprising, was already a pretty big reach even with the jpeg compression:
The plane is headed to the WTC. And the WTC is on fire.
And a follow-up note 3 minutes later: "Well smoking not on fire."
Let's stop right here for a second and consider a few things. First, personal preferences aside there's no denying that Pepsi-Cola (originally from North Carolina and created in the late 1800s) is pretty fucking American regardless of its current market reach. Second, we all know that the largest Pepsi-Cola market is the United States, bar none. Third, the Internet exists, which means that any shitty thing a company could do would get reported all over the world within a day or two. Fourth, the United States has plenty of soldiers stationed overseas, many of whom are within the distribution channels of where Pepsi Arabia would end up retailing these particular cans. Taking all of that into consideration, I want you to stop and wonder whether any American-based company would let slide any actual, intentional commercial jab at something as sensitive to our collective hearts as September 11th, risking alienating your largest commercial market and homeland as well as your patriotic representatives overseas. Really? Would that actually ever happen? Of course not. Common sense tells us that's absolutely ridiculous.
But common sense is irrelevant, in an alarmingly ever-increasing number of situations these days. And that makes me sad. Feeling as I do, and seeing the confident insistence that this was in fact Pepsi's artist-depiction of 9/11 on a cola can, I decided to go ahead and make an effort in this situation and try to explain things.
No. You seem to be thinking that you're seeing what you think you're supposed to see, and not what's actually there. It doesn't help that the photo you posted is of horrible quality. Let me help you with that - here's a higher-resolution photo:
First, there's no fire. There's abstract stars and bubbles. Second, the plane is not only above the skyline, it's heading in the OPPOSITE direction. Third, as someone who was born and raised in New York City I can say with more authority than necessary that the skyline and the buildings bear absolutely no resemblance to the World Trade Center.
Quick, concise, and to-the-point. I didn't want to dwell on what may be misinterpreted as political opinions or offer any kind of viewpoint that could be misconstrued as some kind of terrorist sympathies. NYC being my hometown means I have a special and particular hate of the things that were done on September 11, 2001. So my goal here was to simply try and clarify that what happened on 9/11 was not what was being depicted on this can of Pepsi, and that it was actually just a simple cityscape. I wanted to emphasize that this was a knee-jerk reaction to fear and misunderstanding that should not be embraced or acknowledged, and unknowing, patriotic sympathetic types are the exact audience for these kinds of chain-fear forwards - anything to keep the chain moving, however possible. Working in Internet security I see this kind of thing constantly.
But no. Just as some graphic artist with Pepsi without any intent has been doomed to have their image permanently branded as a remembrance of a disgusting terrorist act on the United States, my simple words of clarification were quickly doomed to be twisted and misinterpreted in a similarly unreasonable manner. Shortly after the above post and comment thread reached its completion, its original author deleted it in is entirety and replaced it with a follow-up post containing the following:
UGH!! People LOVE messing up a pregnant womans WONDERFUL day!! Thank for ticking me off!! Its amazing how 10 minutes after posting something I have to delete it because if I dont I will say whats on this southern belles mind and you yankees wont like it. Thank you and have a wonderful day!!
Saying I was shocked at this reaction would be an understatement. While the deletion of the post was a welcome resolution for the reasons I'd already mentioned, the motivation behind its deletion upsets me greatly. Instead of the "oh hey, that makes sense" reaction for which I was hoping, even expecting, it was instead an assumption of some kind of personal attack from a "yankee" toward a "pregnant woman" out of nowhere - despite the fact that my last contact with this person was me emailing her (and her family) some old photos of her and her family that I'd dug up and wanted to happily share. So I was wrongly and unfairly attacked based on an incorrect interpretation.
See the pattern?
Sad and frustrated, I commented on the new post:
I'm sorry you feel that way. But aside from the fact that by posting things on Facebook you are inviting the conversation, if you post things that are a matter of societal paranoia based on misinformation and fear, you probably shouldn't get upset or angry if someone offers a simple clarification. Closed-mindedness only serves to hinder understanding and compassion for others. Beyond that, facts are not insults so please don't take them as such.
She deleted my comment less than a minute after I submitted it.
Humans have a depressingly long way to go.
(20:01)
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