Cancel Culture, Feeling the Love

@wildgrass said

I heard somewhere that this dude's wife is in this photo but it's not the girl he's kissing! Is that true?

@vivify said
You're right. It's an iconic photo that became famous when societal values were less progressive than they are now. We can acknowledge both its historical significance and the moral failing of the sailor in the pic.

Same with slave-owning presidents.

@vivify said
It's a bad idea to ban the photo.

I'm all for properly contextualizing such content, like if the public wants to remove statues of confederate generals and put them in a museum where it's clear they were fighting on the side of slaver owners. But banning them from being displayed at all is a bad idea.

Understanding where we've come from as a society is important for moving forward.

@wildgrass said - "No I think this is times square after V-J day."
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EoT: Of course it is, and I never said any differently. Check your glasses, dude.

@wildgrass said - "They've done interviews with the soldier, the wife, and the other woman and none of them saw it as a moral failing or embarrassing moment.
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EoT: Yes. So WHY try to smash this picture??? it's beautiful

@wildgrass said - "It's fine.. apparently no one cares except the pearl clutching conservatives looking for every opportunity to complain about libs. I'll bet this nothing of a story got a million clicks on Breitbart. What a world.
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EoT: You have it bass-ackwards, Wild
Conservatives (normal people) are content with the status quo. It's the woke liberals that are
trying to raise a stink over nothing. the conservatives merely reacted.

@vivify said
That's also a point to consider. Despite contemporary values we have to consider whether his actions were considered immoral at the time. Maybe it was considered a "boys will be boys" kind of act and perhaps she wasn't particularly bothered by the act.

Then again, it's also possible the woman didn't want to sully the man's reputation or the legacy of the event by stating her true feelings on the matter. We'll never truly know.

@cliff-mashburn said
Yes:
https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/us-news/fascinating-tale-behind-famed-wwii-kiss-photo-from-times-square/

It looked like a great kiss to be fair.

@earl-of-trumps said
This is an important passage here:

{George Mendonsa, 23, had just come back from the Philippines on leave as a Navy quartermaster and was on a date with Rita Petry, 20, when the pair joined the throngs of thousands flocking to the Crossroads of the World in Manhattan on Aug. 14, 1945, to celebrate V-J, or Victory over Japan, Day."

But as the future husband and wi ...[text shortened]... ll, killing hundreds.[/b]

We cannot properly judge people of that era, under those circumstances.

@divegeester said
It looked like a great kiss to be fair.

@kevcvs57 said
Rape might look like a great shag in a snapshot moment but it’s not is it

@mott-the-hoople said
😂 you people are hopeless

@kevcvs57
Nah, make that DELIBERATELY stupid.