gitana1
Verified Attorney
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The exploitation of the images of kids. I have been thinking a lot about this... Discussions about FB, our image only conscious SM society. The celebrities who make a gazillion dollars on nothing but image and the exploitation of their kids because after all, they are truly unaware they have gone global or what that means.
Many have expressed discomfort with the famous 2014 viral hug image and the usury of Devonte, free hugs slung around his neck... Did it serve someone else's image (J&S) of themselves, projected onto a community that viewed them (J&S) in the image they wanted, actively sought to project? Devonte was 11 years old when that hugs photo was taken.
Were these kids rolled out, at dress up costumed events, and exploited in film, music videos, and images that served more an image of two women that hid cruelty, without question. Why? Hindsight, in this case is very cruel. And, their community may or may not be jolted into self reflection. But it begs the Q; would they (J&S) have projected the same facade if they never adopted children? Would they have stood out like they did? No, I don't think so.
Are there fallacies as factors in the underlying truths that get lost in translation?
It struck me that I have a problem with their moniker - The Hart Tribe. But that's just me.
I also have a problem with the Free Hugs as a movement. I have never seen it, nor can I imagine it ever flying in my east coast world...
Without knowing these women's childhood, upbringing, their neighborhoods, but knowing they were estranged from their families, I speculate their choices seem to reflect little experience with the many dynamics they were taking on. Or, worse yet, a chip on their shoulder experience, one that only served as a continuation of anger & rage behind the facade.
There have been so many tragic injustices in history, but in modern times, this is one of the most complex tragedies I have ever come to know. And six beautiful kids paid the price.
And how did the perhaps the exploitation of these children's images orbiting the earth factor into their destiny, unbeknownst to them? And tragically, how did one famous photograph factor into the conscious, or subconscious decision to make a run from the law and silence six beautiful souls?
Excellent post. Your thoughts resonate with me. I don't have a problem with the Free Hugs movement. As long as ADULTS are the ones offering to hug strangers. Children should not be made or asked to hug a bunch of strangers, nor engage in the highly charged, emotionally intense moments with adults that Devonte engaged in on a couple occasions.
This is especially so when the kids in question come form troubled or abusive backgrounds.
Early on in this case I got a sense of narcissism from the couple and exploitation of the children using them as props to fulfill the narrative of the parents as super progressive and oppressed people with the specific, personal need to fight hard against the establishment.
A bunch of little black children helped fulfill that narrative.
Someone mentioned Rachel Dolezal, who was addicted to being seen as an oppressed black woman who was justified in raging against the machine. I had the same thought.
And listen, I'm a raging progressive liberal. And I live with the knowledge that various populations experience very real and systemic oppression in our nation.
But that doesn't mean a couple of narcissists can't latch on to a cause and exploit it and their children for attention and accolades.
I;m sadly certain that happened here and led to what you so profoundly described in your last paragraph.