Thu 24 May 2012 | 
Nazi swastikas don't belong in sports magazines
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Enlarge textI’ve seen some dumb things in my time covering sport, from the plain ill advised (Michael Jordan giving up basketball to play baseball) to the straight downright gold-plated stupid (John Hopoate’s digital mischief springs to mind).
The latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is on stands now
- 14 Comments | Join the discussion
But the new Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue takes the cake. It’s not only ill advised and stupid but grossly offensive.
Normally the new SI swimsuit issue is a harmless date on the international sporting calendar; just a chance for the sport-following menfolk among us (and a few women) to gaze in wonder at a clutch of preternaturally beautiful models in bikinis.
Like the old editors of Inside Sport (and now Alpha, Australia’s new purveyors of sport smut) liked to say, “Hey, being healthy and good-looking and fit is a connection to sport, it’s legitimate.”
Brooklyn Decker, which sounds like a brand of preppy gym shoe but is actually a 22-year-old woman who is married to tennis star Andy Roddick, is the covergirl on the news stands, and she’s a prudent choice. Well, done ed. Pretty, sunny, athletic, like a cross between Charlize Theron and Elin Nordegren. Not unpleasant to look at.
Which is something I can’t say about poor South African model Genevieve Morton, whose shoot by Walter Chin is featured on the website.
In a picture not included in the magazine but freely available online, Chin and his creative team have made the rather bewildering decision to have Morton, 23, pose in front of a World War II American fighter plane in the Mojave Desert.
All well and good.
But adorning the plane are Nazi swastikas.
Now I’m not a PC prude by means – I thought Prince Harry was unfairly maligned for dressing up in a Nazi uniform for that costume party, for instance; he might be a future of King of England but he’s just a kid who did something he didn’t think through properly – but SI, one of the biggest magazines in America, should be thoroughly condemned for this provocation.
They can hardly claim it’s accidental. It’s obvious. There to see.
Someone has taken the time to enhance the image on screen, just like all magazine art directors habitually do, and someone has duly approved it, as editors normally do.
So how do they justify it? It can’t be justified.
It’s a symbol of hate and death under which tens of millions of people were slaughtered. Its power has not diminished.
What on earth is it doing being matched with a blonde in a bikini? Beats me.
Might as well put Morton in front of burning cross while they’re at it if the hard and fast rule is anything goes.
The problem is: anything doesn’t go.
Nazi swastikas don’t belong in sports magazines.
Chin’s shoot belittles the memory of those who died under the Nazis.
In the right context, swastikas should be seen and they should be understood for what they are.
But they should never be used as props in a fashion shoot.
SI has gone way too far.
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Comments (14)
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17 Feb 2010 13:49 AEST
From: Darlinghurst, NSW
Kills
Yes, all, I am aware they commemorate kills and the plane or air force wasn't glorifying Nazis. It doesn't change the fact swastikas shouldn't appear in bikini shoots.
16 Feb 2010 14:17 AEST
From: Japan
Duh
If she was holding a Nazi flag or wearing Nazi medals etc, yes that would be crossing the line. But the swastikas painted on this aircraft are acknowledging the death of a Nazi aircraft, not the superiority of Nazi ideals. What Harry did was far more offensive, yet even I (a Jew) can see the joke behind it. Get some perspective and perhaps avoid writing any articles in this vein again.
15 Feb 2010 12:52 AEST
From: Sydney
Nazi swastikas don't belong in sports magazines WEBSITES!
Ah Jesse, This constitutes news these days?
I think you enjoy the backlash. Maybe if Nicky Carle had swashtika tattoo that would be news.
14 Feb 2010 19:48 AEST
From: Sydney
We have a winner...
Of the most moronically stupid article of 2010 already. Either you are gratutitously misprepresnting the historical context of the subject to justify getting some T&A on the SBS website or you are just an over-opinionated simpleton. Your choice
13 Feb 2010 19:58 AEST
From: Tasmania, Australia
War War II American Planes
um the swastikas show how many Nazi's that plane took down it's unique to the plane and is historic. They have not gone to far only the media cares about this people in the real world don't. stop over reacting. The symbol is more than of just hate but of history. the plane is historic it would be ridiculous to remove something apart of it's history because a bunch of jurno's can't research more so it's a reminder. Least we forgot.
13 Feb 2010 17:59 AEST
From: Paddington
Agree
Totally agree that they have no place in a 'sports' magazine, period. Unnecessary. Interesting to note the editor's note on the page itself: "Editor's Note: The German swastikas painted below the fuselage on the plane represent the confirmed kills by American pilot Lt. R. H. Parker during World War II. This photo was shot at the Palm Springs Air Museum."
13 Feb 2010 17:44 AEST
From: Kew
Not so sure about that...
I think the nazi flags indicate nazi aircraft shot down by this aircraft. The WW2 airmen who flew this US aircraft would, I'm positive, be pleased to see a good-looking girl posing on it. She looks pretty good to me!!
13 Feb 2010 15:46 AEST
From: wollongong
Nazi swastikas don't belong in sports magazines
The aircraft is a preserved North American P51D. The swastikas commemorate kills, with the type of aircraft painted underneath - Me109, FW190 etc. The HARS museum at the Illawarra Regional Airport (Albion Park Rail) has a Gruneau baby in the livery of the Hitler Jugend with swastika and a Messerschidt 108 in Luftwaffe livery also with swastika. They are also available for shoots.
13 Feb 2010 13:14 AEST
From: Darlinghurst
In aggreance!
Strange choice to try & make war sexy... The photographer & creative team are a bunch of tomatoes for making the girl do this... However, she could have asked if they could move a little to the right AWAY from the swastika. From a female perspective, putting the swastika aside, I think as long as these types of photos aren't completely degrading (ie. really nude, really sweaty, degrading positions/angles) sadly they just have to be tolerated. Check out my Blog! www.girlmeetsball.blogspot.com
13 Feb 2010 12:56 AEST
From: The Real World
Jesse Fink is a PC Nazi
Mate, What a beat up. I saw the Sports Illustrated photos and there's nothing that wrong with them. You're OTT on the PC mate. Next you'll want Essondon to change their name and St Kilda to change their colours! The only Nazi problem is you. You're a PC Nazi!
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The Finktank is more of what you've come to expect from Jesse Fink, The World Game's enfant terrible, but with a bent on the big issues in sport. No sport, no personality, no subject, is off limits.
Jesse Fink Jesse Fink is one of Australia's most popular football writers and sports columnists. He is the author of the book 15 Days in June: How Australia Became a Football Nation (Hardie Grant, $29.95) and writes twice a week as "Half-Time Orange" for The World Game and weekly for ESPN Star Sports in Singapore. He lives in Sydney.
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