Cameras as guns

Seen here is a picture postcard of an execution that took place in 1916 during the Mexican Revolution. Over at Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog, William Nericcio links to a gallery of such images and comments on the notion of "camera as gun" and an "optics of war." Nericcio explores the idea in greater depth in his book, Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America.

Link to Tex[t]-Mex post, Link to gallery of Mexican Revolution Photo Postcards (Thanks, Mark Dery!)

Previously on BB:
• Leica rifle camera Link

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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JJR1971

Ambrose Bierce, I presume? ;-)
Maddy

that poor,poor dude … that was his lot in life … to face a firing squad … I mean, he could have been a bad guy, but often in revolutionary mob moments — he could have just been an unlucky guy
spazzm

Note the cloud of dust next to the condemned man.
It’s not an easy thing to shoot a fellow human being, and a lot of firing squad members ‘accidentally’ miss.