---
title: Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right! (rifle used to pry a rock)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-rock-rifle-barrel-1942/
description: 'Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers: a grimacing soldier pries a rock loose with his rifle, under a verse saying the rifle will explode when he later fires'
section: Collection
---

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3. Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right! (rifle used to pry a rock)

**Content note:** Verse uses the slur 'Jap' for Japanese soldiers, in a cartoon about rifle misuse; hosted as printed. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right!, 1942 US poster: Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-rock-rifle-barrel-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-rock-rifle-barrel-1942.jpg)

# Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right! (rifle used to pry a rock)

Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers: a grimacing soldier pries a rock loose with his rifle, under a verse saying the rifle will explode when he later fires at the enemy. The tag 'Don't be a dope!' is name-calling aimed at the careless soldier, with a fear-appeal about the consequence.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
A rock to Joe Dope is a trifle
That is promptly pried loose with his rifle_
But when later the sap
Tries to shoot at a Jap
The explosion will be quite an eyeful!
Don't be a dope!
HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT !
[signature: PVT. Will Eisner, ABERDEEN PVG. GDS.]
[imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1942 O 478618
[imprint:] ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U. S. ARMY
```

[← Don't be a dope - Handle equipment right! (nut and bolt tight)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-nut-and-bolt-tight-1942/) [The tank crew is sore as a boil →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-tank-oil-1942/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
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- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
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