ny post cartoon

[ddr]

Re: ny post cartoon

There is a colossal difference between calling Bush a monkey and calling Obama a monkey. Given the sad history in this country of people using primate references to African-Americans as an insult, this should be obvious, and I can't believe it's necessary to point this out.

If you want to go into history, humans came from apes, eg. monkeys. By calling someone a monkey, regardless of that person's race, that is just reinforcing our evolutionary past. Am I wrong?

Moreover, if President Obama was white, I still believe that this cartoon would have been released given the circumstances of Washington, the stimulus bill, and the shooting of the chimp earlier in the week.

[toasty]

Re: ny post cartoon

i also think its hilarious that calling bush a monkey isnt racist but insulting obama on any level is immediately racist... double standard to the extreme.

There is a colossal difference between calling Bush a monkey and calling Obama a monkey. Given the sad history in this country of people using primate references to African-Americans as an insult, this should be obvious, and I can't believe it's necessary to point this out.

[Kamal]

Re: ny post cartoon

If this country is ever to break down racial barriers and what not, we are going to have to get over being so hyper-sensitive. I recognize there is a fine line because of the atrocities that occured in the past but it's going to get really tiresome hearing every criticism tied to racism...

Its very easy to expect the world to forgive and forget especially when one is the offender but from the point of view of the one who is offended, you truly don't expect them to just move on do you?

Those wounds take much longer to heal and while I do realize that eventually everyone must move on, these fucked up subtle reminders do nothing but incite the feelings of anger that many expect people to just suppress and ignore.

[floridaorange]

Re: ny post cartoon

^frankly at the end of the day an open dialogue about these kinds of sensitive issues is part of the solution. The cartoon is able to create such a dialogue on a very wide scale. The cartoonist knows exactly what he is doing. It is kind of a reverse psychology if you will.

[Erik Mitchell]

Re: ny post cartoon

If this country is ever to break down racial barriers and what not, we are going to have to get over being so hyper-sensitive. I recognize there is a fine line because of the atrocities that occured in the past but it's going to get really tiresome hearing every criticism tied to racism...

[Kamal]

Re: ny post cartoon

^^ I guess its just a means of interpretation that differs from person to person. As Miro said it, is exactly how I interpreted the cartoon. Of course if you threw a fish as opposed to a chimp, we wouldn't even be debating the issue.

[ddr]

Re: ny post cartoon

I think it's been mentioned already, but monkeys have always been seen as a derogatory term toward blacks. I'm not sure what the artist was thinking but I'm most certain he placed a monkey there because he knew he could get a rise out of people as most satires do. Solution? Just don't read it or pick it up. Reminds me of that terrorist satire that I think was on the cover of the New Yorker.

i wear cotton, does that make me a racist?

[floridaorange]

Re: ny post cartoon

decent overview of all of the above from NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100875822

[Localizer]

Re: ny post cartoon

I think it's been mentioned already, but monkeys have always been seen as a derogatory term toward blacks. I'm not sure what the artist was thinking but I'm most certain he placed a monkey there because he knew he could get a rise out of people as most satires do. Solution? Just don't read it or pick it up. Reminds me of that terrorist satire that I think was on the cover of the New Yorker.

[runningman]

Re: ny post cartoon

well we are talking about the NY Post so I guess they got what they wanted. Any publicity is good publicity I guess.

[Miroslav]

Re: ny post cartoon

Runingman has a good point, if Bush was in office this would have never been considered racist.

Well, don't you think there is room for different racial interpretation when you make APE jokes in reference to a BLACK MAN than someone who is white? I mean, you don't have to spell it out, considering the long history of poor treatment against black people in this nation.

That said, I agree with Toasty that it wasn't intended as a racist insult. But the racial interpretation of it is obvious and understandable, and that's why it was really stupid and insensitive of that guy to draw it and the NY Post to publish it.

[srbbnd]

Re: ny post cartoon

This is frickin ridiculous. There is no intention of this cartoonn being racist. This has to do with all elected officials and not just obama. Runingman has a good point, if Bush was in office this would have never been considered racist. Publicity whores are blowing this out of proportion just to get attention. If the editors and cartoonist had any intention of this being racist it would have been axed immediately. Completely accidental and people need to stop playing the race card.

[ddr]

Re: ny post cartoon

i never thought it was racist either... i thought about that news story about the chimp attacking the lady and the cops had to kill it.... basically merging two stories together.

the fact that the actual stimulus plan was written by many people (white people too might i add) i threw out the obama insinuation which many people believe.

this is just another example of al sharpton trying to get back into the spotlight.

i also think its hilarious that calling bush a monkey isnt racist but insulting obama on any level is immediately racist... double standard to the extreme.

[toasty]

Re: ny post cartoon

Not a racist remark at all. If you thought it was racist it is because you are a racist. Bush has been the monkey for 8 years.

For the record, I may be in the minority on this because I actually didn't think it was intended to be a racial statement, primarily because that would be so obviously offensive, the cartoonist couldn't possibly have intended it to read that way -- it would be tantamount to kissing your career goodbye, which is irrational behavior.

Given some of the racial epithets that unfortunately form a part of our nation's history, however, it is at a minimum pretty insensitive to create a cartoon that could be interpreted that way.

That's a different question, though, than whether it is OK to refer to W as a chimp. If anything, that's insulting to the chimp.

[Kamal]

Re: ny post cartoon

Let me get this straight. It's all fine and cute if cartoonists depict Bush as a chimp but they can't touch that if it's Obama?

"depict" bush, I thought he was being photographed.