Friday 19 January 2024

Virtue Signalling

In the district of Budapest variously called the party district, the Jewish quarter and district VII,  this mural appeared in 2022. 
It was commissioned by the United Nations (your taxes at work) and shows a refugee, a dove at her left shoulder, two children in tow.


What I find nauseating about it is how insulting it is to the actual refugee from whom it takes its inspiration:
Why does the woman in the mural not look like an actual woman under great duress, but instead resemble a catwalk model? Is the implication that refugees must not only be desperate but also fulfil the requirements of the fashion and beauty world's adjudicators?

More importantly, why is the UNHCR wasting money on this kind of thing? If you donated to them, would you expect them to use your cash for propaganda?
 

PS How interesting - I just walked past and saw that the explanatory plaque which showed the original photograph on which the mural was based has now been taken down. 

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