Re: [Marxism] The New Yorker cover cartoon of the Obamas

[Eli Stephens <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I'm not part of the "liberal-left." Here's my take:

http://lefti.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html#6379767810338827601

Racism as "satire"

You've probably all seen or heard about the latest New Yorker cover (at left) 
which the magazine defends as "satire." No, anti-black racism (Michelle Obama 
as 
an armed black militant) and anti-Arab racism (Barack Obama depicted as a 
Muslim 
burning the American flag and honoring Osama bin Laden) is not "satire," and 
it's not just "tasteless and offensive" as the Obama camp labels it. McCain 
won't even go that far, apparently doesn't think it's offensive himself, he 
just 
would "understand if Senator Obama and his supporters would find it offensive".

The whole cartoon is kind of like the scurrilous "some people say" mode of 
reporting which has overrun the national media. They never make accusations 
themselves, you understand. "Some people say, Senator, that you beat your wife. 
How do you respond?"

Some people say :-) (no, really, I heard someone on TV say it) that the cartoon 
is just "politically incorrect," and people who don't like it are just 
insensitive. But criticism of "political correctness" almost always disguises 
the real message behind it. If someone is fat, making a joke about them being 
fat could be described as "politically incorrect" (not to mention tasteless, 
offensive, insensitive, and downright bad manners). But if someone isn't fat, 
making a joke about them being fat not only isn't funny, but it reveals the 
joke-teller's prejudice against fat people.

I can't speak for the actual prejudices of the artist or the editors of this 
magazine. But for reinforcing existing prejudices, they've managed to do a heck 
of a job. The same "defender" of the cartoon I heard on TV made the argument 
that people who read the New Yorker won't believe the cartoon represents 
anything real, and anyone who does wouldn't have voted for Obama anyway. Maybe, 
maybe not, but wherever they stand, their subconscious prejudices have been 
enhanced. Maybe they won't ever make a public statement about Muslims, but deep 
down inside they might well be a little more inclined to think of all Muslims 
as 
bin Laden-loving, America-hating terrorists, and support legislation or vote 
for 
candidates who reinforce those ideas. Not to mention the effect the cover and 
its attendant publicity will have on the millions of non-New Yorker readers who 
see it and have their prejudices reinforced.

How about a cover making fun of Obama for talking out of both sides of his 
mouth 
on Iraq, or a host of other issues? How about a cover showing Obama saying 
"let's withdraw troops from Iraq" and then saying "let's send more troops to 
Afghanistan" labeled "man of peace?"? But this cover? To me, it's blatant 
racism, and I'll have none of it.

Update: I should have commented on the New Yorker's defense: the cover 
"combines 
a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious 
distortions they are." Really? How does it show them for "obvious distortions"? 
Maybe Michelle Obama really was an armed Black Panther when she was young. How 
would this cover show such an idea as an "obvious distortion"? Maybe Barack 
Obama really is a closet Muslim. Plenty of people believe it (of course, plenty 
of people still believe that there were WMD in Iraq and even that they were 
found after the invasion). How would this cover demonstrate that that idea was 
an "obvious distortion"? It does nothing of the sort.

Second update: CNN (I think) did a feature where they interviewed people in 
front of a newsstand, asking if this cover made them feel positive or negative 
about Obama. It was of course an edited piece, but everyone they showed thought 
it was negative. And the figures they gave on, e.g., how many people believe 
Obama is a Muslim, emphasized all the more that encouraging that belief with 
this cover with a gross disservice to the truth. There are lots of reasons not 
to vote for Obama (from my point of view). The "fact" that he's a Muslim, which 
he isn't, certainly isn't one of them, and it shouldn't be for anyone on the 
right (i.e., in the wrong) either. The New Yorker's reinforcing of that belief 
is truly despicable.


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