Skull masks for Democracy?

**Edited my Title

I was reading up on various news stories today and 2 stuck out to me.

The first was a story on the Democratic Protests currently taking place in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong: China Warns UK Not To 'Interfere'

The second story was about ISIS fighters closing in on Baghdad

ISIS fighters now 'at the gates of Baghdad':

In both of these seemingly unrelated stories there is a photo of someone wearing a skull face mask.
Photo 1
Photo 2
it's very prominent in the article and they are very similar. Both of these people pictured are apparently "fighting for their Democratic freedom".

Further connections are that both of these stories are hosted by news outlets from the UK, both of which are owned by big supporters of David Cameron. I don't want to get into too much conjecture but for me it's definitely something that caught my eye big time. It makes me wonder what it being said about those supporting or fighting for Democracy, effectively the subject of both of these stories

Sorry but I would go for pure coincidence . Probably mass produced in the Far East and readily available with Halloween coming up . However the rest of the story has some points

a reply to: da pickles

I guess for me the fact two people are wearing similar masks is not interesting, and i agree they are mass produced and readily available for a lot of people.

To me the interesting part is that 2 UK news outlets would feature them so prominently in their stories on the same day covering two vastly different struggles for democracy separated by 4200 miles.

a reply to: tpsreporter

I can't quite figure out why the two have chosen "skull" type "face saving" devices. One appears to be a half-mask and the other a bandana of sorts. It may be they've chosen that symbol to strike fear in their opponents.

The Hong Kong demonstrations are a tempest in a teapot. They can't have much effect on any outcome. So far the only effect they've had is to rattle the financial markets. Hopefully these demonstrations will burn themselves out over the course of the next few days.

Baghdad falling would, however, be an entirely different kettle of fish indeed. Its hard to imagine the IS fighters could take the city but if they did that would be an event that would or could change the entire Middle East calculus for the United States and the UK. Obama has staked his reputation on "No boots on the ground". Previous Presidents never made such statements because they tend to box the Executive into a corner while at the same time, encouraging opponents who then believe they an do as they please. It would take me some time to parse through the myriad possibilities for consequences if IS were to take Baghdad.

Just wanted to add more in response. Based on the videos i've seen from Hong Kong, most people are wearing surgical style masks (the kind normally seen being worn in Asia for day to day health reasons i presume) but not a lot of bandannas.

Since there is still a lot of UK influence in Hong Kong (still see people wearing shirts with UK flags on them) i wonder if showing these specific images is meant to imply the subject is in danger? Im still curious why they focused on those images over other more commonly seen ones.

My guess is they focused on them for the shock value. Nobody will care if it is just a random protester....now add a skull mask to it and suddenly you have people thinking something sinister is happening. Perhaps this is their way to vilify the subjects of each story?

Really? You're reaching with this one, come on.. it's a coincidence, want another coincidence? I just saw masks like these on Ebay not more than an hour ago.

Either way, even if it was contrived for some ominous reason it's still a pretty worthless "psyop" don't you think?

a reply to: TheLaughingGod

No correlation between the masks in my opinion.

a reply to: TheLaughingGod

LOL, ok but did that ebay posting end up on a UK based news site today? Were you buying it for democracy? I think you're misunderstanding what im pointing out is interesting.

Well OP maybe the masks are representing in some way here is another one of a soldier in the Ukraine



Here is the Link

I just found it interesting that another part of the world in a battle and here is another skull mask. Maybe it's just to create intimidation.

originally posted by: 2manyholes
Well OP maybe the masks are representing in some way here is another one of a soldier in the Ukraine

Here is the Link

I just found it interesting that another part of the world in a battle and here is another skull mask. Maybe it's just to create intimidation.

Interesting find. Also another situation where people are fighting against the "bad guys". I understand why the individual would choose to wear it, but i've seen countless pictures and videos from Ukraine, Iraq, China over these various situations and these are each the first ive seen people in those places wearing those masks. So i found it interesting. Thanks for the link!

a reply to: TonyS

Tony - no offense but Obama doesn't stake his reputation on anything. He is a puppet acting on behalf of those who profit from these contrived proxy wars. As for "no boots on the ground", he sent those in before the bombing started. And if you ask anyone returning from Iraq these days you would find out that we never left.

Actually I will go a step further and say that Obama generally does the exact opposite of what he says. So "no boots on the ground" in Obama speak is "get ready for the next Vietnam and send your children to die" interesting that the military is now taking illegal aliens as well.

originally posted by: da pickles
Sorry but I would go for pure coincidence . Probably mass produced in the Far East and readily available with Halloween coming up . However the rest of the story has some points

Mass produced for sure. I own one. So does a friend of mine. Very popular product.

MM

I've been watching the current growing emphasis on skulls in pop culture- clothes covered with them, jewelry, music videos (www.youtube.com...)... an artist I am very fond of almost always includes at least a glimpse of the skull (Aunia Kahn ). Young people seem to be very drawn to this symbol right now.

It draws attention, and for some provokes discomfort, which might be enough to make it interesting to young people.
But why? For many it provokes thoughts of death, which would explain it's use in gatherings which focus on ending some sort of system. There is a the growing urge to destroy the old systems and create new ones, and it seems to me that is world wide.

It's sort of courageous, to face and invite death and change, in any form, so it expresses courage and daring too.

It also symbolizes what we all have in common- what is underneath our masks of individual difference. The frame work we all share once stripped of the superficial. It is a pretty good symbol of unity of humanity.

I think we're not done seeing skulls, and that it is a multi-cultural phenomenon at the moment.

a reply to: tpsreporter

"WE WILL KILL YOU"

I believe is what soldiers think when they wear SCARY things
I went a different way myself. I wore SAP gloves, steel toed boots and carried 3 types of Knives
How's THAT for a "VOICE"?
I NEVER wanted them to know I was there and they didn't catch me.