A photo of First Lady Michelle Obama angrily waving red, communist flags in China has gone viral but there’s one problem: it’s out of context.
The photo has a caption, which reads: “First Lady Michelle 0bama waving red communist flags during her tax payer-funded trip to China. What would you like to say to the woman that is representing America? Think we should send her to Twatwaffle Island?”
Obama went to China to visit with the Chinese regime’s leadership earlier this month. However, she did not wave flags.
Obama gave a speech which touched upon having unrestricted access to the Internet, referring to the Chinese regime’s “great firewall.” The firewall prevents Chinese Internet users from accessing “sensitive” subject matter, including human rights, Tibet, and persecuted groups like Falun Gong.
Obama was photographed holding red banners that had no communist or political markings on them. She was just holding red banners in a parade.
“Michelle Obama was photographed holding red banners (as shown above), an image that was later widely circulated via social media out of context, accompanied by criticisms that it portrayed the First Lady ”waving red communist flags.“ Although red flags have been used as symbol of communism since the 1870s, and the national flag of China (like that of the former Communist USSR) is predominantly red in design, the red banners that Michelle Obama was pictured waving in China were not Chinese/communist flags or other overt political symbols but rather accessories employed by a troupe of traditional Chinese folk dancers,” says Snopes, a hoax-debunking website.
