Disturbing Subliminal Flash Imagery in McCain "The One Ad" Am I imagining this?

[ram2008]

After watching the McCain "The One" ad for the first time on youtube I as many other's realized it was an "Obama is the anti-christ" ad. This prompted me to look back through the video frame by frame to see some subliminal messages that might be in it, and low and behold I found some. At 00:19 of the video a very disturbing image is conjured.

Take a look.



In this we see some sort of stairs or trail leading up to a burning cross on top. Take a look at the faces. The one guy I circled seems to be looking at the cross with terror. The man above him actually looks like a skeleton! Beside the path there appears to be small haunted faces, which gets lost in the image compression, but can be found by looking at the video.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I wouldn't put anything past the McCain campaign.

Am I reaching here or?

[truthisfreedom]

1. No doubt, that is indeed a burning cross, and those are haunted, crying black men's faces.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. I don't see any of what you're talking about

so yeah, I'd say it's a stretch.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Somebody shoot me please.

[grantcart]

11. lol

[eleny]

19. I wonder what it says when it's played backwards?

[Tesha]

31. "McCain buried Paul" (of course). (NT)

[FrenchieCat]

4. So what does this mean?

Because I haven't bothered to actually look at this video because it is so ridiculous.

[grantcart]

5. are we self medicating?

[nc4bo]

15. previously, no. however I am seriously reconsidering. ;) nt

[cbc5g]

6. It means the McCain campaign has some sick motherfuckers working for it

[FrenchieCat]

8. Perhaps more than just one?

And they all wear $520.00 shoes, I'm thinking.

[redstate_democrat]

7. That does look like a burning cross. And the man in the pic has a look of terror on his face

This is ridiculous.

[TwilightGardener]

9. It's an unsettling image. The cross, the fire, and the black guy are plain to see.

[nc4bo]

13. @ :18 seconds it looks like something floating face first down the stairway.

reminds me of that poltergeist scene with the souls coming down the steps :S

[nc4bo]

10. mother fuxkers - please please please - DO SOMETHING!!!!

this is the 2nd one that i've seen.

I find this extremely disturbing. we need to take a screen shot and send this out into cyberspace and KO.

[silverweb]

12. Yes and no.

I just watched that portion carefully twice in Cenk's video discussing it.

The golden light that resolves into a golden stairway is pretty obviously religious symbolism, i.e., "stairway to heaven."

However, the faces and other images that you're talking about are a stretch -- merely a distortion from fading one frame into the next.

[nc4bo]

14. well I hope you're right but that sure looks mess up to me. ugh.

pox on the lot of them.

[silverweb]

18. Maybe I'm going blind.

I've cleaned my glasses and squinted at it until I have a headache, but I still cannot see a "terrified black guy," a fire, or any of the other images mentioned.

I see the bright golden light that appears and resolves into a golden stairway leading up into the distance. At the same time, I hear the crowd chanting "O-ba-ma!" and shadowy images of the crowd fading out as the golden stairway comes into sharper focus.

Maybe others have bigger monitors with better resolution than my old clunker, but that's all I see -- a clumsy juvenile attempt to mock Obama as a would-be "savior" by using doctored quotes and quasi-religious images.

One thing I agree 100% on: a pox on the lot of them!

[TwilightGardener]

21. I couldn't see the black guy's face until I adjusted my monitor. Now

it's very clear. I don't know if this was intentional, but I do find the still image kinda creepy. But then, I find the ad creepy. Not silly, not funny--disturbing, in a way I can't put my finger on. Sinister.

[silverweb]

25. I still can't see it.

I agree, though, that the whole ad concept is creepy, but I think that's what they intended: mockery and a lingering creepy feeling.

I suspect McSame will suffer some unintended consequences, though -- blowback for the religious mockery, at least, and perhaps for the dishonesty of the doctored quotes which meant exactly the opposite of how he used them.

[ram2008]

16. yeah you're right

The only thing that caught my eye was the cross figure, and how the stairs led up to it. I found the other stuff after I paused it.

[silverweb]

20. You can make a case for the cross.

It's out of proportion from a "real" cross, but the suggestion is still strongly there. I can't tell what else it could be meant to be.

[Speck Tater]

17. I see a smiling monkey laying on it's side.

Those are teeth, not stairs. Your terrified man is the monkey's nose.

Clearly the subliminal message is McCain will be just another version of the Chimp.

[NYC_SKP]

22. Not subliminal, it's pretty overt.

I believe there may be a deliberate attempt to portray Obama as a scary cult leader, maybe even the antichrist.

Those men jumping up and down look like they're rioting, to "hard working Americans", the fire red color adds to the effect.
Also, the video is made grainy, I think to allude to the 60's race tensions.
The overdone contrast and blur seem to be alluding to video of Farrakhan and other "frightening" figures of the time.

The selection of clips and special effects are designed to make him look like a cult leader, a scary black cult leader.

It is disgusting, a new low in campaign ads, and I hope John McCain meets an appropriate consequence either while alive or in the afterlife.

[knitter4democracy]

37. I agree--chock-full of Antichrist imagery.

That frame really bothered me.

[NYC_SKP]

38. It's over the top...

It probably evokes different things for different people, all of them highly negative and charged with fear.

Race riots, uprisings, anti-Christ, maybe hell, all negative.

[cbc5g]

23. While we can't win over the brainwashed evangelicals who buy that he is the anti-christ

We should be very VERY concerned about Obama's safety because of McCain's campaign attempting to paint Obama as the anti-christ. If something happens to Obama, I swear we are going to have the largest protest in history.

[pnwmom]

24. I have no doubt that it is an "Obama is the anti-Christ" ad.

However it is analyzed frame by frame, the overall meaning is perfectly clear.

The anti-Christ is a false messiah, who comes to be worshipped by millions. The McCain ad pretends to be mocking Obama as "the one" while actually planting the idea in the minds of fundamentalists that he IS the one -- that is, the anti-Christ who will bring on the end of the world.

[nebenaube]

29. "that is, the anti-Christ who will bring on the end of the world"

Too late... Bush already did that! After all the USA is... the 'world'... That is precisely what we called it when living overseas while growing up.

[crimsonblue]

26. craZy

[woolldog]

27. I see it!

The cross and the horrible look on that man's face. Damn that's weird and disturbing. I don't know what to make of it? Wow.

[appleannie1]

28. On the left side of the cross there is a group of white men, facing away from

the cross with arms outstretched. The whole thing is like something out of a Stephen King film.

[ram2008]

35. I didn't notice that

but it did make me think of some cover from an end of the world movie.

[Celebration]

30. Can someone make this into a "video" and put it on YouTube

Then we could all go there and rate it up so people would see it.

[H2O Man]

32. The bottom left

circle is of a horseman, which fits with the ugly message.

[woo me with science]

33. Not as disturbing as all the gay sex and LSD in Disney cartoons.

But I highly recommend checking with the fundies who obsess on that stuff...They will show you how to find EVERYTHING you are looking for.

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. I see stairs and a cross. Can't make out anything in your circles but I do see two faces to the left

of the cross. No, wait, I just got a glimpse of a screaming man in your biggest circle, but the others are too dark on this computer for me to make out.

[pecwae]

36. I can see

the bit of toasted bread.

[golddigger]

40. I see a little bit of cheetos.

[golddigger]

39. Wait to you hear the video in reverse. It will really bake your noodle.

It says over and over, "tsirhcitna eht si amabO."