PrintOctober 13, 2010
Government unions gone wild
Campaign advertising can be annoying, even disgusting. But sometimes an ad comes along that is so disturbing, it suggests derangement. Such an ad is brought to us by a government employees union, the American Federation of Government Employees (afge.com), the largest union representing federal workers, and an AFL-CIO affiliate.
The ASFGE's ad shows a hooded, bare-chested executioner, axe in hand, in front of a grandstand featuring actual Republicans (Michael Steele, Michelle Bachman, Sharron Angle, John Boehner, and what looks like Eric Cantor), photos of whose heads have been pasted onto cartoon bodies, seated in a "tea baggers section."
A narrator intones, "Ladies and gentlemen, in the grandstands we've got a great selection of chopping block options today." The narrator then list issues, which appear to be cylindrical objects (the animation is very crude) flying out to the chopping block: "jobs, veterans benefits, social security, services for Americans, and last but not least, federal employee pay."
Aside from the vulgarity of the tea bagger slur, the juxtaposition of an executioner with heads of actual Republicans pasted onto cartoon bodies is extremely disturbing. Governments have been known to turn on their people, executing opponents. To have government employees engaging in this sort of imagery suggests an implied threat to turn the armed force government monopolizes against poltiitcal opponents.
See for yourself, and note that the firm which produced the ad proudly displays its telephone number at the end:
