http://modblog.bmezine.com/2006/07/30/money-money-money-money-keloid/This picture of a keloid, a raised scar, depicts a dollar sign. Interestingly, according to the website, the person who got this done to them is actually from Brazil; Brazil uses the "real," which is equivolent to about $0.60.
12 comments:
WOW. Once I saw this, I immediately thought of the video that Prof. Maurer showed us of Jay-Z and the Euro. Seeing that the Euro is more valuable than the US dollar, this image it kind of...ironic.
This image conveys a lot of what our society puts faith into. It goes to show how symbolic and how big of a deal currency is. It is so much embedded into our society that people would leave a permanent mark of it on their bodies. The U.S. dollar is still very much valued around the world and is still a very common sign/symbol.
This is kind of gross...!
OMG, I wonder how he did that... because it's a really deep scar.. O_x!
Yes, pretty intense. It's interesting that someone on that website also commented on the Euro. And yet we can see by this picture the way American culture has permeated the rest of the world. I think that despite the rise of the Euro, American dominance has and continues to leave its mark.
To be that hardcore about getting a "raised scar" as they call it of a dollar sign despite it being a foreign currency just shows that even though in reality the Euro is now worth the most worldwide, the US dollar is still the traditional symbol of currency. I think it depends on the culture as well as who the person is that leads them to talk about the Euro or the US dollar. Like the Jay-Z example, black culture likes to show their "baller status" whether it be straight up flashing benjamins (or Euros in the video) to wearing gold, diamond, platinum chains and grills on their teeth. The guy from brazil with the scar probably has a different sort of culture where it is still dominated by dollar signs as a symbol of rich or gangster status.
Ouch! I can't look at that picture without cringing!
But anyway, I think the really interesting part is that the person in the picture is from Brazil. To be honest, when Professor Maurer talked about money being a sort of propaganda I thought it was a little bit ridiculous. But to see pictures like this and the sorts of extremes that people go to over a symbol...
what is the origin of that dollar sign? because to indicate price in brazilian reais (pural form of "real") it looks like this R$ as distinguished from the us dollar, which is marked like this US$. although i do agree with with ana an calvin about how american culture has permeated the rest of the world. i'm not too sure if this is an indication of it. it and indication of money as propaganda as debbie says.
I agree with Calvin, the U.S. has managed to embed its dollar sign across the world as the symbol for money. I think its natural for people around the world to recognize the US dollar symbol, but for us to recognize symbols of other countries would be a lot more difficult. Looking at this picture actually reminds me of a Transnational Gangs class I took here, where gang members would "mark" themselves (whether it be by cigarette burns or tattoos) to symbolize their loyalty to the gang. So its interesting to me, that this person would "mark" themselves with a US dollar sign, especially since as Belinda says, the Euro is more valuable.
there was a comment made on the picture by a blogger not from out class who stated somthing like wait til the world takes the euro. and i was thinking of that jay-z music video on how bling rap video would show us bills and now they are showing euros. is the all mighty dollar slowly losing it's value?
i don't know why anyone would do this, i guess whatever makes you happy! II know for instance whenever I visit India, people are intrigued that I am from America. It just goes to show how our culture manages to infiltrate every part of everyone else's culture and how our money is a recognizable symbol no matter where you go today even though its value is decreasing day by day unfortunately!
I think this is repulsive. People need to understand that it is not attractive to brand yourselves with symbols of money.
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