Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate is outraged that her image was cropped out of a photo of child climate change activists who attended Davos. There is no suggestion Greta Thunberg was aware of or endorsed the modification of the image.
A Ugandan Climate Activist Was Cropped Out Of A News Agency Photo Of Greta Thunberg At Davos
Vanessa Nakate told BuzzFeed News she was heartbroken to see websites use a photo featuring four white activists but not her.
Ikran Dahir BuzzFeed News Reporter
LONDON — Vanessa Nakate is a 23-year-old climate activist from Uganda who this week attended the World Economic Forum in Davos.
On Friday, she took part in a news conference with Greta Thunberg and other activists ahead of a Fridays for Future protest in the Swiss town.
However, she was dismayed to find that in news coverage of the event, she had been cropped out of a photo issued by the Associated Press news agency featuring Thunberg and fellow activists Luisa Neubauer, Isabelle Axelsson, and Loukina Tille. AP later changed the photo that appeared as the thumbnail on Twitter for the story Nakate tweeted.
I was cropped out of this photo!
— Vanessa Nakate (@vanessa_vash) January 24, 2020
Why? https://t.co/HJsjMRRb5Z…
Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ikrd/vanessa-nakate-greta-thunberg-davos
As a climate skeptic I obviously don’t agree with the goals of Vanessa and the other climate activists. But she doesn’t deserve to be excluded in this way. Cropping the African girl out of the image, for who knows what reason, is simply unacceptable.
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Who is paying for all the children and young adults to attend Davos?
I assume it’s the same people who paid for Greta and Vanessa et al to attend COP25.
Redge, another Climate Mystery.
It’s about CO₂. Then why ain’t it COₚ₂₅.
She was smiling and looking happy. The other four were in worry-appearance mode. So, cut!
Sad world we live in…
And what on earth is Greta carrying, a fire extinguisher? To show here CO2-vision capabilities?
Scarface, seems just a convenient thermos flask.
Dear Vanessa,
I urge you to read what Paul Ralph Ehrlich thinks about African people in his book “The Population bomb” and what he suggests to do to you and your people in order to solve what he believes to be a problem.
You have to know that John Holdren, an Ehrlich Malthusian disciple was Obama’s science advisor :
– they are all Malthusian. The climate swindle they are pushing is just a pretext to make people accept their Malthusian agenda.
You have to know, for instance, that the WWF was founded by Prince Philip who is also a Malthusian and that
also is Prince Charles, Ted Turner (the founder of CNN) among many others Malthusians who have infested the MSM, NGOs, the UN, etc. and pretend to be your friends :
– you will understand what kind of disgusting agenda they have.
You should be terrified by these Malthusians and their agenda, not by the gentle climate we are enjoying since decades.
Good post.
Also, add to the list David Attenborough and Population Matters AKA Optimum Trust (who had a spreadsheet buried in their website stating exactly where the cull would begin – the funny brown and yellow people, not the white people)
climate activists want the entire world to be like Africa!
That’s just weird. Obviously these Global Warming activists need to be forced into Diversity training or they will be attacked by Social Warriors. (<– I really wish that was sarcasm, but I am pretty sure it isn't)
Diversity is a color judgment (e.g. racism, sexism, classicism, and other low information attributes) that progresses through affirmative discrimination. They need to run, not walk, away from the bigotry and its advocates. That said, social justice (relativistic) anywhere is injustice everywhere.
I did follow this, and have forwarded to many others.
So, is Greta Thunberg a fraud?
Is her entire climate change crusade based on a lie?
Click here or visit GretaInc.com now to see the world premiere of our exclusive documentary, Greta Inc. — you won’t want to miss it!
Yours truly,
Ezra Levant
https://rebeldonations.com/greta-thunberg-inc-rebel-news-keean-bexte-documentary/
Reminds me of how the media used to deliberately crop out the hammer and sickle flags when the ANC was “marching against apartheid” in South Africa.
So at 23, Vanessa is still a ‘child’ activist? Does this speak to the immaturity of warmists?
And as to the charge of racism in the movement- don’t you realize there are no ethics in activism? You can do or say anything circumstances required because right and wrong, truth and lie, are all fluid concepts to be adjusted as needed.
Nothing new.
The totalitarian dictators of the world have been doing this for years.
“Cropping the African girl out of the image, for who knows what reason, is simply unacceptable.”
Even for a legitimate reason one it becomes unacceptable?
You now have 0 credibility on this subject…
And Aston erii IS the epitome of credibility, of course… run along, your mother’s calling you.
Why do I have zero credibility, Aston?
Nothing new in the pro-AGW alarmists ignoring the bigger picture
Let us not forget that media platforms are stages, just like in dancing, acting, cheer leading.
Artistic decisions are made. I’ve been there. Everybody does not make the cut.
The cropped photo is a better photo — it removes some of the distracting foreground-building structure, enables chopping out lots of the sky up top, gets a tighter clustering of faces, produces a more close-up effect, with a more consistent cast of faces, placing Greta at a more favorable focal point in the frame.
The photo is composed to place Greta in a “sweeter spot” of the overall composition. No other crop would keep out unwanted arms or hands or body parts, or frame Greta as the focus as well. If this was the best photo they had, then they had to make it work the best they could.
Let’s not play the racism card too quickly here.
A more politically correct choice would have been NOT use the photo at all. But they might not have had another photo to use for the purpose of capturing Greta.
It’s not racism — it’s Greta mania. Vanessa was at the wrong location in the scene at the wrong time.
I failed to get cast in a dance commercial once, because I was too tall and too old, in comparison to the other more youthful-looking people auditioning. I simply looked too different, too overpowering, not the right look.
Consistency, balance, and focus are important aesthetic considerations in creating a fantasy. It’s not just about using any old picture you might snap.
When you are around stars, you need to be prepared to get cropped out for such reasons.
Eric writes;
“There is no suggestion Greta Thunberg was aware of or endorsed the modification of the image.”
Well considering there is plenty of suggestion that Greta Thunberg neither writes or is aware of her own Facebook page I would offer that what Greta is or isn’t aware of is a bit of a moot point.
Vanessa was smiling, the others were not.
The picture was probably cropped to better frame Greta. I just don’t believe that the cropper did it for any other reason. The poor guy (girl?) figured that no one would see the original, and got sandbagged when Vanessa made a big deal about it.
Here’s an interesting assignment for anyone who’s interested: Ask Google how tall Greta is, and he is ha no opinion. Ask Google how tall any other celebrity is, and you immediately get a boxed, bold font answer, so why the reticence about Greta’s height?
I have a theory abut that which I’m also confident is incorrect, but I nourish it anyway. It is this: Greta’s height is the result of giving her braking hormones to forestall puberty. (Accusations of this practice have been made in women’s gymnastics, to keep girls short.) Much of Greta’s appeal is in her childlike appearance, which her handlers would like to preserve, so she has been medicated to keep her prepubescent. (Yes, I know. This theory is whimsical to the point of idiocy. I just thought somebody might be interested.)
her prior admitted and ongoing( as far as I personally see it) self starvation/anorexia due to not wanting to grow up and have to BE an adult, also encouraged by the parents and the rest who are using her, is quite enough to delay or cease hormonal growth without meds to do so.
We mustn’t forget that this would not have been the only photo taken. It must be one of many. Any professional or even amateur photographer today has a digital device that is not limited like old-fashioned film. The cameraman undoubtedly took several if not dozens of snaps, from several angles and compositions. This is the one that was chosen for publication? Awkward poses, awkward expressions. Maybe that AP or other photographer needs to find a new line of work. It also means that Vanessa was clearly intended to be part of the composition __ it was no accident. The published version did not crop itself, so some editor had to make that decision. However, poor Vanessa needs to understand that newsy photo-ops and news editors don’t care about peripheral, uninteresting bystanders when reframing photos for effect. I’m sure many WUWT readers have been in such situations, eased aside or excluded. I have been. That’s life, get used to it. Our lives and our worth are measured by more than whether or not we get our “15 minutes of fame.” We needn’t start hurling accusations of racism or any other -ism to explain this editor’s decision, and the AP should not have to explain or apologize to the perpetually offended.
As an extra in a movie, you can go to great lengths to travel to the audition site, get hired, go through the grueling day of waiting for hours on end for technicians to get the lights and set right, wait for the director to finally call you in and cue “action”, … do multiple takes over and over again to get the perfect sequence filmed, and then when the movie comes out, you see that your twenty-seconds of fame on the big screen were cut, because, … well, that’s how creative editing works.
So, sorry, Vanessa, it’s not about you. It’s about Greta and Greta ambiance, and about every way to emphasize this ambiance. As someone pointed out, Vanessa looks happier than the others, for one thing, which is an inconsistency.
Also, in the pre-cropped shot, Greta is dead center, which any photography book will tell you is usually not the best place for your subject of focus. The cropped shot, on the other hand, puts Greta closer to the left 1/3 of the shot, where here face is closer to the top-left intersection of vertical/horizontal thirds, which is a much stronger composition.
Who knows where that original shot came from. Who knows under what circumstances it arose. I’m doubting that a pro even took it.
In the photo Nakate tweeted, it’s interesting to see the sitting arrangement. People who form a panel tend to center themselves as a group, often toward the center point of where the moderator is located. In the photo Greta has her back turned from Nakate and her bottle resting on the stool next to her left hand. No idea if she is left handed, but the positioning looks exclusionary. The two on the far right are not turning toward the camera but toward something to left outside of the photo, causing Greta to twist her hid away from her body. Hard to tell from a brief snapshot but it does make one wonder about the social dynamics in this group.
Sorry – it should be twist her “head” – couldn’t find a way to edit. My guess is that it is less overt racism and more attempting to make Greta the center of attention, leader of the pack. She is a constructed activist meant to message, shame the western world. That the media was unreflective about who they cut out in this effort: unsurprising.
Sorry – it should be twist her “head” – couldn’t find a way to edit. My guess is that it is less overt racism and more attempting to make Greta the center of attention, leader of the pack. She is a constructed activist meant to message, shame the western world. That the media was unreflective about who they cut out in this effort: unsurprising.
http://www2.csudh.edu/ccauthen/576f12/frankfurt__harry_-_on_bullshit.pdf
Is it because I is 23 she asked. Because no one really listens to someone that old in the climate debate
What is revealed about Greta’s subconscious state by that vivid and artificial red water bottle? What is she signaling so clearly yet as if accidentally?
Mark Shulgasser, she is signaling so clearly yet as if accidentally
that vivid and artificial red water bottle in fact is a convenient thermosflask that she won’t let go of.
You can retrace that, Mark – think of a cold Shulgasse in winter and the only warm beverage you get in Shul is in that red thermosflask.
Fits perfectly to Davos, Mark / if not only:
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-huawei&sxsrf=ACYBGNT592IMsbiqSTe2azzA8rJWw_PPeA:1580993488839&q=Shulgasse&nfpr=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEiq3a-7znAhVHUZoKHV2FCiQQvgUoAXoECAoQAw&biw=360&bih=518
Eric, think.
Eric, what has an “Ugandan Climate Activist”, at snowy Davos, to fear from “climate change”. Earnest.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Google+maps+Uganda&oq=Google+maps+Uganda+&aqs=chrome.
Landlocked Uganda, where’s the sea level rise!
Landlocked Uganda, enclosing ever mild Victoria Lake!
Capital Kampala, 1.200 m above sea level !
https://www.google.com/search?q=kampala+uganda+above+sea+level&oq=Kampala+sea+level&aqs=chrome.
Ain’t there something very weird going on inside “climate activism”!