What is this billboard supposed to mean?

[Projbalance]

Found this story here: http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=442.
Someone explain this to me, please.

[Projbalance]

Gee thanks Tony, I feel so much better now that you've explained the most obvious surface meaning behind the image. Alas, as far as I know America does not have a history of rendering bilboards on national highways with visages of it's elected leaders. Things like that are usually reserved for the types of countries that we attempt to liberate from extremists governments. So again I ask, what is this supposed to mean? I am, of course, asking about the meaning behind the existance of the billboard, not the text depicted.

[Ziggy]

Well, considering this is still a relatively free country, the obvious answer is that someone paid to place a billboard up stating the obvious.

As long as a private citizen or company, not a government entity, paid for the billboard, who cares?



Doesn't seem offensive to me.

[KitFisto]

All I saw was this

[nomad]

someone should assassinate george w bush - hasn't been a good assassination in a long while, at the least an attempt would spice up the media.

[Projbalance]

I just worry that this is going to be the start of some kind of national trend that is going to put the face of the GOP on street corners around the country much like Hitlers Germany or Husseins Iraq. Do we really need to se images of the president bearing the words "Our Leader" on them? And why use the wor leader instead of president? I find this pretty fucking scary myself, and I would think anyone with a functioning knowledge of history would be pretty unnerved by it as well. I hope it's not real.

[Ziggy]

This is a total non-issue. I severely doubt these things are going to pop up throughout the country.

Don't like it? Ignore it like every other obnoxious billboard out there. Or better yet, buy space on the next billboard down to mock the president if you want.

[Projbalance]

Or why don't we just watch the outcome of the Peterson trial? Or spend time worrying about the impact of a naked female back at the head of Monday Night Football? Sure, why spend any time fretting about the future of our nation when there are so many other distractions, like the battle between which chicken sandwich is more popular at Burger King, that are so much more important to deal with.

I wonder what the reaction would be if this was a billboard of John Kerry, or better, Hillary Clinton?

[Ziggy]

About the same, except maybe someone else would start the thread commenting on it.

[Projbalance]

I'm talking about the national reaction, not just here. I'm just wondering aloud.

[Ziggy]

About the same. A vast wave of indifference.

[Ayatollah Krispies]

Looks fake to me, and the article linked to doesn't strike me as particularly convincing either.

[KitFisto]

But the Internet said so it must be true.


The USA is becoming a fascist state slowly, don't fight it, you will like it. It's like the Empire. Join the SS/National Guard, they get pussy.

[freeman]

At least this appears to be a private billboard. One of our democratic governors spent a ton of money putting signs that said "Welcome to Georgia from Governor Roy Barnes." Looks a lot like a political ad at the expense of the taxpayers.

[KitFisto]

At least this appears to be a private billboard. One of our democratic governors spent a ton of money putting signs that said "Welcome to Georgia from Governor Roy Barnes." Looks a lot like a political ad at the expense of the taxpayers.

In Canada, every vote cast for a party increases their funding for the next election!

So it is okay if Parties get funding from private corporations, so the parties owe the companies favors ?

[Projbalance]

Part of the discussion is baout the use of the word leader instead of president. The president is an elected official, that means he works for us. The word leader carries a different way of thinking with it. I've never seen the president as a leader, not any of them in my lifetime at least. I've always seen them as someone who does a job. Juvenile as it may be, I've always seen a leader as someone like Optimus Prime in the Transformers. Someone who just inspires others, and someone whom others would readily place their lives in harms way for a cause. The difference between a good leader, like Prime, and a bad one like Megatron is their intent. I don't see a president this way.

[freeman]

I'm sorry, but every President is a leader. They issue executive orders, lead our armies into battle (commander-in-chief), appoint heads of the major federal departments, appoint judges, recommend legislation and ultimately sign legislation into law or veto it. Further, through his speeches and directions, he inspires others and clearly the army and secret service place themselves in harms way because of him. By every definition, that makes him a leader.

[Projbalance]

The army and secret service do a job, and they do it regardless of whether or not they are inspired by the person they protect. The position of commander in chief my be to issue orders, but I would hardly cal the president a man who leads in battle. He makes hard decisions, but he doesnt share the danger with the troops. In my way of viewing things that doesnt make him a leader. The president can issue executive orders, but it doesnt give him absolute power. And there is a generous amount of executive priveledge, but it does not put him above reproach. The president can make policy, but he cannot make law. And there is no order a president can sign that cannot be repealed. Leadership is a quality of a person, not an aspect of an elected position.

I am simply saying that the use of the word leader instead of president seems markedly intentional. If the word president had been used it would not inspire the same debate because the word president does not carry the same emotional weight as leader.

Maybe it was unintentional, done without an understanding of what it would feel like to see the word "leader" used, but to me it just conjures up images that are just uncomfortable to associate with the country I live in. I fear that if we get too comfortable referring to our president as "Our Leader" that it will change the public perception that the government is supposed to work for us, therefore we lead it, not vice versa.

[Ziggy]

I think you're reading way too much into this billboard. It's just a word.

From Dictionary.com

lead·er Audio pronunciation of "leader" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ldr)
n.

1. One that leads or guides.
2. One who is in charge or in command of others.
3.
a. One who heads a political party or organization.
b. One who has influence or power, especially of a political nature.
4. Music.
a. A conductor, especially of orchestra, band, or choral group.
b. The principal performer in an orchestral section or a group.
5. The foremost animal, such as a horse or dog, in a harnessed team.
6. A loss leader.
7. Chiefly British. The main editorial in a newspaper.
8. leaders Printing. Dots or dashes in a row leading the eye across a page, as in an index entry.
9. A pipe for conducting liquid.
10. A short length of gut, wire, or similar material by which a hook is attached to a fishing line.
11. A blank strip at the end or beginning of a film or tape used in threading or winding.
12. Botany. The growing apex or main shoot of a shrub or tree.
13. An economic indicator.

[Ayatollah Krispies]

I could find no other mention of this billboard online, but here's an interesting, slightly-related story:

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/5519/1/224

[Projbalance]

Maybe I'm reading to deeply into it, it's possible. But if that's the case, you have to admit the possibility that you are not reading deeply enough into it. I would rather over-analyze something than not look closely enough at it.

[Ziggy]

Just because you don't see them doesn't mean thay aren't watching you.



Paranoid much?

[Projbalance]

Since day one.

[Projbalance]

It's existance has been verified by CC and attributed to their Orlando market people. Apperently they just chose to put something up on a billboard that was empty.

Yeah, and I can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

But yeah, it's real. Believe it, or not.

[yarq]

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[yarq]

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