Friday, March 09, 2012

Getting your illustration wrong

This is the photo art that accompanied Ruben Navarette's column in today's Express-News:



Notice anything not quite right?

3 comments:

Dave said...

I'm not really a gun guy so sue me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't look like two AK-47's to me.

This is a sad story. My mother-in-law actually brought this up to me and asked for my opinion. She felt that the Marine in question was not being considered for the Purple Heart because he was Mexican. She tends to play the discrimination card rather quickly. I was outraged because she said Purple Heart. When I read the column, it is clear to me that there is not clear and convincing evidence to support the award of the Medal of Honor.

I was not there, but some of his fellow Marines say that in spite of being shot in the head, Sgt Peralta made a move to grab the grenade and pull it into his chest. You are under fire and 7 guys all have the same story. To them, Peralta deserves the Medal of Honor. I can understand wanting to honor the memory of their fallen comrade in such a way.

It is a sad story either way.

Albatross said...

Bingo. Those are not AK-47s.

As for the story itself, I haven't delved into the details, so I don't feel that I can offer a real opinion on it. (You know, I don't want to confuse my Purple Hearts with my Medals of Honor). But from what I gathered from surface reading I thought the problem wasn't that he was of Mexican descent (a racial consideration) but rather that he was an actual Mexican (a matter of immigration law). But I could be wrong, since I haven't read on the matter in depth.

In any case, regarding the Medal of Honor, that is one award that should be exceedingly difficult to earn, and candidates should be carefully scrutinized. I can understand some differences of opinion on whether or not a particular soldier's actions warrant the award, but I seriously doubt race ever comes into consideration.

Legal immigration status, maybe. But not race.

AlanDP said...

Mainstream media calls every long gun of semi- or full- auto nature an AK-47. No matter what. That's just one of the many stupid things they do.