User:Matt Deres/FPC
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This page was triggered by a couple of pictures that had been nominated for Featured Picture status on WP:FPC. Those pictures are below (clicking the caption brings you to the nomination page):
Both images were of non-Western people wearing ceremonial or particularly ethnically identifiable clothing and both were subject to criticism that the pictures were inauthentic, staged, or even anachronistic. The point of this page is to elaborate on why I feel those criticisms were unjustified and, to some extent, act as a kind of shorthand for if/when a similar situation arises again. If you've followed a link here from FPC, please understand that I didn't post this link for you because I didn't want to engage you or because I didn't want to listen to your points (I do and I will); I did it mainly because this is a fairly long text and I didn't want to soapbox in a way that disrupted the discussion. Also, if you decide I'm full of shit, you can just click the back button and not have to look at all this.
The basic formula for the criticisms was "A real X wouldn't Y." Specifically, the Amazonian Shaman shouldn't be wearing a button shirt and the Nepalese Sadhu shouldn't be wearing a wristwatch (you can see the actual arguments on the nomination links above). Incidentally, I have no problem with the other criticisms of those pictures, which were based on pretty basic elements of picture taking, such as cutting of the subject, having blown out areas, etc.
