Semiotic Weapons
Barbara Kruger, "Untitled" (Questions), 66" by 93", photographic silkscreen/vinyl, 1991. © Barbara Kruger. Image source: Mary Boone Gallery. “We know that the war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense.”
—Roland Barthes, Mythologies
“Here’s your sign.”
—Bill Engval, The Blue Collar Comedy Tour
How do you tell someone they’re reading a YouTube video wrong? How do you reveal, without offending or seeming pretentious, that they’re trapped in a myth constructed with ulterior—even malicious—motives?
That’s what kept me up one night after a comment war with a relative regarding a recent NRA recruitment video. The ad, called “The Violence of Lies,” drew criticism from people who claimed it incited violence, and support from those who perceived a counter narrative to the “Resistance.” But the argument left me rhetorically disarmed, unable to convince or concede. I wondered what good my education had been if I couldn’t negate propaganda, or expose such obvious media biases, with what I’d learned.
The ad seemed to operate on two levels simultaneously:
A woman, attractive, dark haired, strong jawline, stares into the camera. To me, she looks like a stern mother, wife, and authority figure. To NRA members, she’s Dana Loesch, talk-radio host, television host at TheBlaze, and author of two books: Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to and . She’s the ideal woman, a spokesperson selected to arouse conservative US males seeking a partner who can defend herself, and a beautiful (white) woman under siege. She speaks directly to us, as a portentous string arrangement plays:
