Model criticized after taking a selfie at Holocaust memorial, ‘embarrassment of a human'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Model criticized after taking a selfie at Holocaust memorial, ‘embarrassment of a human'
- 12/4/2018
- 1:32 PM
- Netanyahu
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DailyFinance.com , Filed under: Entertainment , Celebrity , Celebrity News. An English model has been accused of insensitivity for taking a selfie at a Holocaust memorial in Berlin — which she captioned with a joking reference to the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Rhian Sugden posted the controversial photo, taken at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, on Monday, adding the caption "E.T. phone home.".
“Silly pouting/duck faces at a Holocaust memorial? Narcissist,” wrote one critic.
“Your caption is inappropriate considering your setting,” added another. “It’s weird you don’t realize that.”
“Imagine having such little respect for the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust that you think this is appropriate,” read a comment. “What an embarrassment of a human.”
Others slammed her as “vacuous” and “an idiot.” But Sugden refused to back down, defending her photo as a typical tourist pic.
“Every other single person who has been there has [taken] a pic/selfie,” she shot back at a critic. “Am I smiling? Am I laughing? No.”
She told another unimpressed commenter that her caption referenced her appearance.
“Maybe don’t look into things so much,” she wrote. “It’s a selfie and I look like E.T.”
In 2013, fashion blogger Pelayo Diaz used the memorial as the backdrop for a fashion shoot , which was similarly attacked for being insensitive.
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To a normal person, when you visit a hallowed ground like that, a memorial to millions of murdered people, you realize that the occasion is not about "you", it is about them.
She doesn't understand that, and has earned the criticism.
Not Sexy...
Ugly person inside and out
Wow.
Classy.
I'm not seeing it. This isn't the first time it's been used as a backdrop for models.
I'm a little tossed up about this one too. When people visit historic places, they often take pictures of themselves while there. How, exactly, is it disrespectful to holocaust victims to visit this memorial and take a picture of yourself while there? The visiting part is actually SHOWING respect, and it could just as easily be argued that taking your picture there, especially if you are a celebrity, RAISES awareness of and respect for, the memorial.
I have to agree. I think this is much ado about nothing and could be interpreted as cultural correction gone awry.
PJ and Lenny, does the Holocaust Memorial have a purpose, or is it just a bunch of granite slabs set in rows to create an artistic geometrical pattern?
I agree with you. It is a typical tourist selfie pick.
Maybe if she had stated "Never again", or "Overwhelming the number the died"- it would have gone over better? Still not sure what the "ET phone home" was about- even after her explanation? She looked more like a female version of Howard the Duck"
Hey! how come I got top billing on your comment chastising me and Lenny?
We can find outrage in just about everything if we stop look around us and start analyzing every single thing a person does or says. e.g.
She took a selfie and tweeted out a self promoting tweet.
How are we supposed to know when it's the right time or the right issue to stand up to and for when we're constantly outraged over everything?
Ladies first?
-
Very clever John......very clever.
Its purpose is to honor the victims of a horrible war crime, no one disputes that. Do you think it's ok to take your picture at the 911 memorial?
No one cares what she thinks about the Holocaust. Why should anyone? Just like the world doesn't care what you or I think of it, as one individual.
Taking a photo and posting it on social media where any and all can possibly see it is a different matter.
I have visited the memorial in Berlin and the guid explained the intention of the architect. But this memorial -if you don't know what it stands for- basically invites to play around, jump from stone to stone and play hide and seek. It is not obvious that this is a holocaust memorial. I am sure a lot of tourists don't what it stands for and don't take the time to read the sign .
This comment is basically suggesting that people are too stupid to know where they are at. I don't think I am buying that one.
I think we've gotten so use to getting upset about these things that we automatically get upset. I understand, better than some, what the memorial is for and, why it is there but, the aesthetics are good for a photographer and, sometimes models don't have a say where they are photographed. So, in this case I have to say, "Meh, it should have been thought out better." and, leave it at that.
I've given this a lot of thought and I have to ask, would you take a selfie at a funeral?
Holocaust memorial selfies are an example of post -modernism gone awry.
Post-modernism is a philosophy of modern life that suggests that everything is relative and the only meaning that events and circumstances have is what each individual gives it.
There is an implication in this philosophy that one can take something that is not appropriate for individual gratification, a memorial to the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis in the 1940's, and change it's meaning to a celebration of one person (the selfie).
If one chooses to be post-modern or anarchistic no one can stop them of course, but that is what it is.
Absolutely and if I have a funeral I want it to be a party a celebration of life not a morbid event. I’d like it to be similar to Hunter S Thompson’s where they partied and shot his ashes out of a crazy cannon.
Dean,
It is one thing if that is your choice.. and I feel like you are purposely missing mine.
Ask yourself this do people get upset when someone takes photos of themselves at the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial? When I was there about thirty percent of the people had cameras and took photos. Probably millions of photos have been taken there at that memorial site honoring the dead. I find this whole thing totally absurd.
What can I say, Dean? I disagree. You disagree, impasse.
Is that you Dean?
No
hehehehehehehe
Dean's the one on the right. The picture was taken before his sex change; he used to be Jean!
We are now "Watching" The Bush Funeral Televised, and being drawn to all of the "Who's who" in politics !
But no one there is taking selfies by the casket, right?
TV IS the "Selfie". I don't know about you, but I've seen everyone that touched that casket.
TV is not a selfie. It is a way of making sure that our leaders are shared with the people. It is not about the self, but about the event.
Since this model didn't have the "Perk" of TV like politicians do, she did the next best thing.
Besides......Where she was.....wasn't a FUNERAL !
Folks take pictures of themselves at "Memorials" all the time. Just because this was the "Holocaust memorial", doesn't make it any more "Reverent" than any other memorial Site !
Good point Sammy. Is it ok to take your picture at a Vietnam memorial, or a 911 memorial? I see how it can be looked at as disrespectful, but I'm not ready to seriously berate anyone over doing it.
No, she only has her picture taken every day for the media because she is a supermodel. How silly of me/ sarc.
No, she was at a memorial for 6 million Jews and another 6 million of others who the Nazis found unworthy of life. Why would they be worthy of any respect?/sarc again sadly.
I have been to both memorials and I have not seen people taking photos there.
If she had taken a picture of the memorial itself, that would seem ok to me.
Taking a picture of herself with duckface and a silly caption - no.
I agree Sandy. Maybe I should have said it that way...
This really got me thinking too; still not quite sure how to feel about it. To your point, I have seen people take pictures at funerals, not during the actual service, but outside the chapel or at the graveyard. Friends and relatives who rarely see each other tend to meet at funerals and they want to take a picture sometimes.
There is a time and place Lenny. People don't take photos during the service. They might take them at gatherings after. I have never seen people take photos at memorials though. Even at the Washington Vietnam Memorial, those that it means something to, take rubbings of the stone and not photos.
I appreciate all the input because this is bugging me! At this point I would have to say that I find it in poor taste but don't think it's serious enough that we should have the right to criticize the pic takers. I'd like some veterans to weigh in here...
“I’ve got no time for this moaning generation. I’m on holiday. Sightseeing and took a pic.
Doesn't sound like it.
“I’ve got no time for this moaning generation. I’m on holiday. Sightseeing and took a pic.
“I’ve got no time for this moaning generation. I’m on holiday. Sightseeing and took a pic. Under no circumstances is this disrespectful,” the model commented.
She also responded to another user, “My name is Rhian** and why? Every other single person who has been there has took a pic/selfie. Am I smiling?? Am I laughing. No.”
She continued her defense on her Instagram stories, saying she received death threats over the selfie.
“All the decent things I do for charities, for other people and this is how I get spoken to for posting a selfie that wasn’t intended to cause any harm or disrespect,” she wrote in her Instagram stories. “Thank you to all those who took my innocent site seeing selfie to a whole different level and made me out to be some awful person. Sending me abusive bullying messages.”
The memorial was first opened in 2005 and consists of 2,711 rectangular concrete blocks arranged in a grid formation, which have led some to interpret the monument to be a graveyard.
Now I feel guilty for having a photo of myself at the Lincoln Memorial - always retained by me as a special memory of my feeling of awe, admiration and respect that I felt at the time. However, I know it is quite different from being at a Holocaust memorial - I took no photos at Yad Vashem - I don't need photos to remind me of what I saw there and how it made me feel.
Join the company.
Some years ago my ex and I had some friends from Israel here and I took pictures of them at the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Look Guys,
I feel bottom line that one should use common sense when doing these things. The Lincoln memorial is not quite the same thing as the other ones are for me. It is a way of remembering what a good man Lincoln was. Btw. while we are on the topic, Adams needs one. He got screwed.
The other ones are for those who died at or because of war. To me that is different. They suffered.
But that is just me.
I'll be honest, for better or worse, I don't feel regrets.
These 2 were cousins of my ex and no strangers to war, having fought up in the Golan.
I positioned them next to a name I know (story in and of itself) and the Lincoln Memorial had a special meaning for them, for whatever reason.
It's in the history books and not able to be undone.
Somehow I don't see a sudden rush of sentiment to build a national memorial to John Adams. You fans will have to settle for tv minseries and books.
I tend to think it was the caption she posted more than anything else.
I wonder if she had wrote how sad it was if there would have been any controversy.
Good Point.
Makes sense to me.
selfies for your personal collection or shared in small group of almost anything are fine, but, be careful what you publish with captions