Hassan Nasrallah

New York writer Adam Shatz gives this short overview of Hassan Nasrallah by (All Things Considered, 7/17/06 - 4:30), the leader of the Lebonaese terrorist, paramilitary, and policitical party known as Hezbollah ("Party of God"). You can also read an article by Shatz, "Nasrallah's Game" from The Nation (7/31/2006). Guy Raz has also posted this written profile of Nasrallah at NPR; also on this same page is a piece by Jennifer Lunden entitled, "Hezbollah's Changing Mission."

In March 2005, Ivan Watson filed this report, Hezbollah's Political Wing Flexes Muscle (4:48), on the changing status in Lebanon in the face of Syria's withdrawal from the country. There's a longer, detailed discussion (with transcript), "Who Is Hezbollah?", including a 1st-person account of Nasrallah on Talk of the Nation (7/19/2006 - 33:58).

One important element of the discussion here is the role of villains in political discourse--what has become a significent since 9/11 and what is now called the global war or terror. The notion of villain (Wikipedia), however, comes not from politics, but from theater, and one can legitimately raise the issue of the benefits and possible problems of such a theatrical understanding politics.

One might also want to look at the Nasrallah entry at Wikipedia to see the problems in trying to produce "objective" account of such a controversial figure.

The Marlboro Man

In 2002, NPR began a series entitled Present at the Creation--a look at a series of American icons, many drawn from popular culture. One wonders if students today even know of the Marlboro Man ads that began in the 1950s. The NPR piece, The Marlboro Man (7:03) is a model of historical reconstruction, covering a signiicant moment of American culture in capsule form.

Musings

• This topic also deals with the power of one specific image: that of the rugged cowboy. How do you explain the effectiveness of this particular image? Does it appeal more to men or women, the old or the young ? Why? Here's an aside: One of the most recognizable photographs from the Iraq war is the Marine at Fallujah, not surprisingly known as the "Marlboro Soldier." The soldier was Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller and a little bit of research will reveal the great distance that often separates images from reality.
  
  
• The NPR web page has links to a number of articles relating to Marlboro, Philip Morris, and anti-smoking campaigns. One particular sub-area of this campaign has been the largely unsuccessful effort to ban the use of all pictures in magazine, poster, and billboard ads for cigarettes--that is, the kind of advertising that made Marlboro so popular and seems still to have a real appeal. Here's a summary of the history of cigarette advertising. What are your thoughts about not allowing cigarette companies to use pictures in their billboards and magazine ads? Here's a link to some background on Camel's Joe Camel campaign.
  
  
• A related matter here is the movement to ban or control other sorts of ads: for instance, beer commercials on TV or in college arenas, or junk foods aimed at kids. Identify some commercial images used in commercials for these products that you think have been especially effective. Here's an aside that may prove of interest to some: an article on the move in Sao Paolo, Brazil to ban all outdoor picture ads (that is, billboards).