That photo of Johnny Cash giving the middle finger is interesting
It’s a good photo because it is interesting
But I don’t get the sense that the photo enjoys wide circulation for the right reasons
Johnny Cash‘s middle finger is misconstrued as a heroic gesture
The photo is practically celebrated
Imitated
You want to be on that team
With Johnny Cash doing the dirty work
The desperate action of an exploited man
Flexing as such, badass
The middle finger, yours perhaps, we get it
Like an identity politic
Project onto it what have you
The middle finger
An identity politic that is neither principled or productive
The middle finger
The sharpest tool in the road rage tool kit
The devolution of good sportsmanship
A coded endearment towards an acceptance of continued dysfunction
Adults behaving badly through the ages
Just about everyone today likes the image of Johnny Cash giving the middle finger
But almost no one knows what it means
I didn’t know what it meant until I found out
The photo was taken by Jim Marshall during a performance at Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash was asked to take a picture for the Warden
You can buy a variety of merchandise with this image on it
You can find it on sweatshirts and mugs along Music Row in Nashville
It’s possible that Johnny Cash’s middle finger is more recognizable in some circles than the man himself
We romanticize and sensationalize prison, but it’s a business and a shit business at that
Lucrative for stakeholders, don’t get me wrong
But it’s wrong to be a stakeholder in a prison
And everyone likes to be right
A man giving the middle finger would seem to be free
But the United States holds a higher percentage of its population in prison than anywhere else in the civilized world
This free country holding 20% of the world’s prisoners today
The trend has only gotten worse since Johnny Cash‘s middle finger
Johnny Cash wasn’t a phony person
He recognized the situation
I hope his estate makes money off the crass exploitation of his middle finger
But it was an ineffectual protest
A small gesture at that
An interesting image none-the-less