Is something wrong with this picture?
I believe so. I can't really articulate why this bothers me so much. When a book is signed by an author, illustrator or editor it is appropriate because that person is responsible (by way of his action, e.g. illustrating) for the content of that book. By signing a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, Barack Obama has claimed somekind of responsibility for its content. Wikipedia says this about signature:
The traditional function of a signature is evidential: it is to give evidence of:
- The provenance of the document (identity)
- The intention (will) of an individual with regard to that document
Because President Obama is not the owner of this book, the function of his signature is not to identify the book as his own. So I can't quite figure out the intention behind his signing it. If you click on the picture you will be directed to the site where this book is being sold. The seller certainly believes that Obama's signature on the book somehow identifies the President with the wrongly accused black man in the book. For whatever reason, this disturbs me.
Hey Dave,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a reflection more on the seller than Obama - I agree, it's a little bit...disturbing.
I know someone who wanted a band member to sign something but he didn't have anything except a textbook. So he asked the band member to sign that. Famous people get asked to sign the weirdest things (body parts, t-shirts, and books). Perhaps this was a case like that. Although, the seller may have intended to do what he is doing now. In which case...the seller is disturbing, not Obama.
Just a thought.
And Math...ugh. We started right off where I'm worst - Trig. Functions & Geometry Theorems. Sigh. Between you and Michael, however, hopefully I will be able to pass the class!!!
I never would would have thought that. I would have simply thought that the seller said, "May I have your autograph?". Would we think that Obama would have had anything to do with a man who is black and got laid off at the Hanes Company if he were asked to sign a Hanes T-shirt?
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