I was not going to comment on this but, you know me... I can't help myself. Late yesterday, a friend of mine made me aware of the controversial New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Michelle Obama dressed like a Black Panther and Barack Obama dressed like Osama Bin Laden! I am guessing that this is satire!
The cover is the actualization of what the folks at "Hitler's TV Station", aka Fox News, have been not so subtlety implying all along... that Michelle Obama is an "angry black radical" and her husband, Barack Obama is a Muslim. (And, to borrow a line from Jerry Seinfeld, "Not that anything is wrong with that!")
The idea here is a "code" for those whites who may be on the fence, to be afraid of the Obamas. Back away... they may seem like nice people but, they're really militant terrorists with ties to Al Queda. As silly as that sounds, if played right, you can convince part of the non-reading public that it's true. Hitler's chief of propaganda, Joseph Paul Goebbels, once said that if you tell a lie long enough and often enough, it becomes the truth.
There is a percentage of the American public that really believes that Barack Obama is in fact a Muslim, even though he has said a number of times that he isn't. (If he was, would that be a reason not to elect him as president? I keep asking that question.) The talking heads on Fox News go on and on about Michelle Obama being a "closet black militant". To a number of Americans, this isn't too far from the truth. Trite as it all is, this is enough to cost Obama the election.
The American media is guilty of fear mongering... not just in the case of this year's presidential election but, in everything they put out there. They peddle fear... just watch ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, and even (I'm sorry to say), CNN. It's all fear for sale. In order to get you to believe something, buy something, and vote the way it has been deemed you should vote, they play on your fears and insecurities. Advertisers have been doing it for years and reaping big windfall profits. Why wouldn't politicians and the press not do the same?
Look, most Americans don't read past the first paragraph, don't really watch the news past a sound bite, and definitely won't buy a book! We are just not that deep. We are busy watching Entertainment Tonight, reality shows, and dealing with indigestion, bloating, erectile dysfunction, and a myriad of other more IMPORTANT things than to be worried about our future.
We complain about how high gas is, being unable to pay our mortgages, not having health care and the like... but, we don't really demand that our leaders do anything or vote them out of office when they don't do anything. When somebody does ask these questions, they get drowned out by somebody telling us about patriotism, gay marriage, and lapels with flags on them. We worry about whether somebody is too old or too inexperienced or what kind of dress their wife wore last week instead of asking that man about his ideas, ideals, solutions, etc.
So, this cover may mean nothing to a lot of you yet, scare the hell out of some of you and in the aftermath of this, truth and decency will lie bleeding in the street. I, for one, am outraged but, not for the reasons that would seem most obvious. It's just that this type of thing has become the norm. America is supposed to be the bastion of democracy but, at times it seems to be the bastion of hypocrisy. To the Iraqis, who are having their first elections and trying to learn how to be a democratic state, is this really a good example of how the process works? It's certainly how it works here!
In closing let me be perfectly clear on this... I read the New Yorker occasionally and I know that this was done in jest. They were making fun of people who think this way. I am not at all equating the New Yorker with Fox News... there's a big, big difference. I'm not even upset about the cover. What bothers me is how easy it is to convince some people that what the cartoon depicts is real.
9 comments:
I don't blog...but I read a lot of
blogs and it seems as though you and the Feild Negro are the only ones who got it..who realized that
the New Yorker cover was done as satire and not as an insult to the Obamas...Maybe you two are the only
two who bothered to read the articles.
Actually, I haven't read the articles..but my wife made me aware of what represenatives of the
New Yorker said in their defense on
the news and I can accept that.
As I said..I read The New Yorker from time to time and I know that this is not a Right wing rag...so
I'm giving them the benefit of the
doubt that this was pure satire.
Thanks for understanding.
I got it and I have talked about it ad nausea today, because for me the cover is a very deep discussion one should have.
I think that if this cartoon would have been placed as an inset to the article, which was good, then perhaps the true satire of the cartoon would have shone through.
The cartoon is more offensive than anything and if I were a Muslim I would out and out call it racist. That's why I didn't have the ware with all to discuss it yesterday too too too many layers!
Check out WNG and Raving Black Lunatics blogs they have great discussion going on about this.
-OG
made me laugh
all i could think of was this is what he look like to the GOP slander maqchine - funny
besides we get sensitive bout the wronmg stuff
im more concerned about the rapid grwth in china, the stabalized juan and how it may make the global economy even worse, but that is just me
Anon
It's not that hard to figure out that his was satire.
Carlos Mencia is also supposed to be satire.
See where I'm going with this?
Somebody in the room at the New Yorker needed to say "You know, we might not be getting our message across clearly. We need to make sure that happens because this could be a shitstorm."
Instead they seemed to have had a convo like the one I imagined on my blog and they got their shit storm. Good for sales, bad for the mag's image and race relations in general.
wow, im not really into all of this political stuff Keith, I am not even gonna lie to you.
But i do agree with what you say about us always complaining and never doing anything about whats going wrong in this world.
Satire or not...most folks won't even read the article, but they will see the picture over and over again...it's satire yes, but what exactly is it suggesting, what is it's purpose...Well i'll say it here, to produce fear in those (like you said Keith, those fence-sitting conservatives, white folks who may have embraced his ideology but seeing a dressed up Revolutionist Michelle and head wrapped Obama...is not exactly what makes them feel warm at night when it comes to picking our very next president). No excuses, it was done in poor taste, very poor taste!
Thank You...Everyone for your love
and support and friendship!
First Keith, thank you for stopping by my blog. I come over to show you love and damn if it don't take forever for your blog to adjust. DAMN. I posted on this too and I too read the New Yorker every now and again. I am not offended by the picture, per se' because I am not one that is easily swayed, and I know how the New Yorker is knows for the sick humor they put in their mag. That'w what I love. However, I do believe that this attempt at satire missed the mark and did more to play on people's fears then poke fun at them.
Oh, and you and your wife, big time on the boat. I love that.
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