Was Rothstein FSA picture of cow skull a fake? Errol Morris plumbs history deeply in Zoom (via @nytimes)

 
The bleached skull of a steer on the dry sun-baked earth of the South Dakota Badlands. By Arthur Rothstein, FSA.

http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/the-case-of-the-inappropriate-alarm-clock-part-1/

A deep dive discussion on the origins and political heat resulting from a picture by Arthur Rothstein of the Farm Security Administration. One tiny excerpt:

"...What makes these accusations of photo-fakery utterly perverse is the claim that they unfairly portrayed a drought. The photographs led the viewer to infer that the Dakotas were experiencing a drought. But the Dakotas were experiencing a drought. One of the worst droughts in American history. Was the real issue that the cow had died of old age rather than drought? Or that the cow skull had been moved less than 10 feet, as Rothstein later claimed? Or had been moved at all? Or that multiple photographs had been taken? Or was it merely an attempt to shift the nature of the debate from the agricultural problems facing the country to an argument about photography and propaganda?..."

Library of Congress URL of image above: http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/fsa/8b27000/8b27700/8b27761v.jpg

Bibliography info: http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?fsaall:1:./temp/~ammem_HECK::

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Comments

[Aaliyah Aldaco]

I still can't comprehend why there are some people who think global warming is not real. We can clearly see and feel that our climate is changing. Farmers are suffering from the lack of rain. Droughts are happening in places that never experienced drought before. Unless we act now, this trend will continue and there will be no more left for our kids.