Photoshopped propaganda

The last few days on Facebook, I've seen pictures people have either been acclaimed by the people who have shared them, or the person felt the picture to be an embarassment.  The thing I feel these pictures have in common, is that they were digitally manipulated.  Unfortunately, we have so many things to watch out for that closely examining images is just something else to put on the to-do list.

The giveaway in these pictures is the pixellation and differences in background shading.  Copy and paste the full-size images into a graphics program and increase the size of the image.  See the pixels?  D'you figure someone's playing you?

I find this one funny, but it's still been worked.

 

I find this annoying.  The intent of this image is that homeschooling parents and kids are numnutzes for not being able to spell their own 'name,' and the numnutzes are supporting Governor Perry.  I don't support Governor Perry in the least, but I find this connection to be offensive to both of us.

 

I hope this young man lived.  Whether he did or not, putting any tattoo on his body and using it for propaganda is disgusting.

 

This one puts out the vibe that the sign is hanging on a building or barracks in a combat zone -- it just has that look.  I seriously doubt (but could be wrong) that this sign would be allowed.  Officially proselytizing isn't condoned by the regs.

Air Force reviewing all ethics training,  14 Aug 2011, Air Force Times

The Air Force is reviewing all training materials related to ethics, core values and character development after more Christian-themed course work surfaced.

The problem isn't with the content, per se, it's with undue command influence on personal beliefs.  Servicemembers swear to protect and defend the Constitution, not a specific religious viewpoint.

 

Now if you think I've got hold of the wrong end of photo manipulation and am just annoyed at the messages in the above images, here's another example, one I hope makes readers laugh:

Click on the image, copy it, paste it into the graphics program and enlarge it.  See the pixels around the penguins and the cymbals?  Manipulation.

We all probably see images similar in tone to these images, and may nod in agreement with them, feel irritated, or laugh; that's normal.  But once you think about it, please, do take the time to see if someone's playing you and playing to your confirmation bias.

Remembers Benjamin Franklin's advice:  "Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see."

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Note:  I found out that the photo of the injured soldier is authentic.  I'm assuming the pixellation of his tattoo came from whoever publicized the version of the photo that I saw, and that that image had the tatoo 'sharpened' for legibility.  I was relieved to read that the young man survived.

Comments

[Navhelowife]

Thanks Val. I get so tired of the manipulation of pictures...and the endless stories that no one bothers to check out...I should have a commission from Snopes!

[Valerie]

Now, if only Snopes were more well-used.