Ya think ?
See, the problem with this is that, well, to be quite unQuakerly about it, some people are, in fact, dumb. Especially the kinds of folks to whom this cartoon is targeted, satirically speaking. Blame it on the public schools if you want (conservatives certainly do, along with everything else), but most people, it seems, just do not get satire, or any other form of irony these days. What passes for “satire” on Corporate Talk Radio, for example, is just offensive or childish.
The problem, as noted by the author of this piece on The Huffington Post, is that lots of people – especially the Obama-haters out there, those that are convinced by the Sean Hannitys of the world that Barack Obama is some sort of loony Communist “radical” will look at this and take it at face value.
The illustration, by Barry Blitt, is called “The Politics of Fear” and, according to the NYer press release, “satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama’s campaign.” Uh-huh. What’s that they say about repeating a rumor?
Heck, how many computer screens – especially those of right-wing hate-bloggers – now have this image as their wallpaper?
Because they just don’t get it. Because they can’t, poor things.
And, pray tell, what will be the response when someone tries to satirize this cover by doing a “parody” piece of her/his own, perhaps mocking some of those now all-too-ubiquitous pictures of John McCain taken while he was a P.O.W. in North Vietnam, hmmm? (UPDATED: OR ABOUT HIS AGE ?) Will that sort of “satire” be okay, too?
Just askin’.
But you know the answer.
Filed under: Bootlicking Corporate Media, Feeble attempts at humor, General outrage, News & commentary, Politics, Testimony of equality, Tolerance & diversity
my cousin got that piece in her email, she was angry. me I just think oh well.
I watch the closer but was disapointed last night. I thought it was not up to her usually standards.
Deep
Sigh
Some people are too “smart” for their own good, so no one “gets” what they’re saying/drawing/writing. Dumb, dumb, dumb. People like my mother-in-law will take a picture like that to verify all her fears, and I always fear that she is “typical” of too many Americans.
Jan: I was thinking of a previous conversation we had when I wrote this.
As distasteful as this is, I doubt if it would have been a problem if the TV news programs hadn’t picked up the story and splashed it all over the world. I’m guessing that the kinds of people who will believe the implications of this cartoon would never in a million years have picked up “The New Yorker.”
It doesn’t surprise me at all that some people take this cover so literally. We live in a very literal culture. About a month ago, I wrote a piece called “Shocking News About Obama” (he’s a White Sox fan) and labeled it humor to make sure there was no question. I figured that everyone who usually reads my blog would get it, but was worried about the random searcher.
I can understand why Obama would be upset by this cover because there are too many people who will not look for the deeper meaning behind the picture. Save the tongue in cheek stuff for the inside of the New Yorker I guess.
Yes, the Sean Hannitys of the world do think of Obama as a loony Communist and will take the cartoon at face value. Another right wing “commentator,” Michael Savage, stated with his usual accuracy (I mean that satirically, folks) that Obama will take us down the road to “Marxism and Afro-Leninism.” View the clip at http://mediamatters.org/items/200806100014
Savage? No, thanks. I just had my lunch.
I understand the reaction to the cover (my first reaction was OMG when I saw it), but I truly hate to believe that we have to run our lives (and our humor) to constantly deflect the possible criticism (or bigotry) of those who are narrow-minded who might be exposed to it.
In the end, it doesn’t matter, since it won’t change their opinions anyway (that’s what makes them narrow-minded).
I felt the same way when I heard the reaction to Bernie Mac’s jokes at an Obama fundraiser. He’s Bernie Mac — that’s his humor. What did you really expect? If you find it offensive, he’s not the guy for you. You’re allowed to leave the room when he does his routine.
Here’s the thing about Bernie Mac:
WHY would Obama’s people have him on the same stage? Don’t they KNIOW that the Fox Noise types will just be waiting to POUNCE? He did his routine, and right away, Obama and his staff had to start cleaning up the mess. And the “jokes” were SEXIST, which is already an issue for their candidate.
To me, that was just dumb.