Loyal Citizens of D.C.!

In the proud tradition of those Orwellian British posters touting London's surveillance cams, this this Articulatory Loop post shows a poster on the D.C. MARC commuter train:

Addendum: If you click through to the AL post comments, there's reason to think the poster's a prank of some sort, not produced by MARC or any other gov't agency. I'm amused either way, but there's a good chance it's bogus.

Comments

[dhex]

at least they're not pretending anymore.

[thoreau]

Is it just me, or does the dude in the foreground look like the governor of California? (I won't even try spelling his name.)

[David]

I don't know why, but I love the artwork on propaganda posters. I might have to buy one of these.

Art appreciation aside, they look like something that Stalin or Mussolini would have placed on their trains.

[David]

Actually thoreau, he reminds me more of the cover from The Fountainhead.

[m]

Geez, they even have red flags.

[matt]

Fuckin' creepy is what it is.....

[mediageek]

You know, I have to wonder if the artist is trying to be deliberately ironic.

If not...

[phocion]

Personally, I love it. I hope more government agencies start using Orwellian and Soviet-era artwork. It gets people to see things in their true light and think. Better than friendly-looking signs that don't give pause to anyone.

[Number 6]

It doesn't seem at all cleat that this is real. If not, it's a very well-done guerilla stunt.

[phocion]

#6,

Indeed, a comment on the linked page states that the transit authority claims to know nothing about the poster.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

I have to have one of these posters. I simply have to. They're magnificent.

[ed]

Dang, that's friggin' creepy. Can't be real.
Can it?

[6Gun]

I'm sorry; was that D.C. MARC or MARX?

[David]

Shouldn't it read Ride, Watch, and Report. It would be difficult to watch if you're not riding.

[phocion]

David,

I'm going to report you for questioning the poster.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

6Gun:

Brilliant. 3-pointer..

I'm in ironic nirvana. Those ads are amazing. They're amazenly-amazing. They're so stupendously amazenly-amazing, I think I'm going to steal one..

[Jennifer]

It's not fascism when WE do it.

[ed]

The guy in the foreground appears to be wielding a club in his left hand. "Watch. Ride. Attack!"

[thoreau]

When I start boarding the Metro in Rockville next month, will I have to goose-step on my way to the train?

[Stretch]

It's just too Soviet to be real, imo. Of course, the gov't could figure that the Soviet prop was very successful and is actually trying to duplicate it.

[Jim Walsh]

Good Christ, that looks like it came right off the wall of Kim Jong-il's palace...

[phocion]

Do "MARC Marshals" exist?

[ed]

"Dear Leader" to you, disrespectful American dog.

[6Gun]

But, there's more!

The precogs move to Moscow.

"These police officers have special training in psychology and physiognomy," said First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin, "they can quickly spot a person intent on committing a crime."

[Kim Jong Il]

Good Christ, that looks like it came right off the wall of Kim Jong-il's palace...

Herrooooo!

[jake]

If it's real I think it's trying to say that the RIDERS are the "MARC Marshalls". Sort of like a neighborhood watch deal. A neighborhood in Soviet Russia, but a neighborhood none the less. LOL.

[Douglas Fletcher]

On the MARC train I used to ride there were too many half-drunk people to be watching much of anything, I'd say. Suck down some brews and snooze for an hour, that was more the spirit.

[notdrum]

This is a real poster. I see it every morning at the MARC station in Germantown, MD. They have been around for about a month now.

[dagny]

I wouldn't be too quick to say "This Poster=Communism/Fascism" there are a lot of US posters from the 30's/40's that share this same style. Most of them were about getting checked for syphillis.

[Rick Barton]

Report government waste, fraud and abuse.

[chthus]

As to the posters authenticity, there's been one at the Camden Yards MARC station in Baltimore for at least six months. I assume, given it's not exactly hidden, that it would have been removed before now. I can't be certain of course. Like the midget from the Illuminatus Trilogy realized, sometimes an appropriately placed fake sign can pass for the real thing.

I haven't been taking the Camden line recently, due to the extended triptime during the summer, but I'll chaeck and see if it's still around tomorrow when I head home.

[chthus]

Another thing to note: though MARC trains run into DC, and get federal funds, they are actually run by Maryland. Amtrack and CSX get contracted out to do the labor but many of the decisions are made on the state rather than federal level.

Union Station is another story, but given that I've seen them elsewhere associated with MARC, I think they were the geniuses behind it. Haven't seen these things on the DC Metro. Yet.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

I, too, confirm that the posters are definitely, wonderfully real. There's one posted inside the window of the MARC ticket office at Rockville.

I have to say that I was disappointed about the colors. I was expecting them to be in glorious Soviet reds. They're actually a bit muted.

[Scott]

The govt owned up that they're real (according to an anonymous poster):

http://www.tpmcafe.com/comments/2005/6/7/163111/2436/26#26

[chthus]

According to the comment that Scott links above, these were the brainchild of CSX, which would explain why they haven't shown up on the Amtrack run Penn line yet. I'm wondering if the MTA has veto authority on these or not.

So it would appear these were put up by a private company on the trainline they are contracted to run by the state-run transportation board, with the whole thing greased with fed money. Not sure it makes it any better, but maybe a little funnier. Maybe CSX is uncomfortable handling human cargo in this instance and is a bit over cautious.

I think they should try a bunch of the Andre the Giant, 'OBEY' posters next. That'll scare the heck out of the terrorists and good citizens alike.