The delusion of hatred immunity
1) hateful
2) absolves itself of hatred: by creating and printing an image, that the New Yorker would immediately abhor if printed by a right-wing blog, the McCain campaign or poor old E.D. Hill, the New Yorker is saying that it’s above the censure that it lays on others; it’s immune to being hateful.
3) classist: an opinion that was hateful when articulated by folks in poor, rural areas, is clever when articulated by someone who reads high-brow art reviews, and can differentiate between camembert and brie.
According to my favourite website Dictionary.com, central to satire is the act of exposing or unmasking hatred that simmers beneath the surface of “polite society.” What is it then, that the New Yorker is unmasking? The fact that many people are suspicious of the Obamas? The fact that some people think Obama is secretly Muslim? I hate to break it to you New Yorker, but pointing out “Osama” and “Obama” rhyme is not exactly this season’s hottest exposé.
The cover fails as satire because it fails to unveil anything new about race in America, or the perception of Barack and Michelle. Satire without the element of exposure is just replication. The New Yorker cover simply reinforces hateful ideas. It helps propagate some pretty serious misinformation not just about the Obamas, but about black folks and Muslims.
For more on the subject, see Stereotype of the Month Contest.
Below: An image from South Park's episode on Indians. Not an accurate depiction of casino-owning Indians, and not an effective satire either. Rather, a stereotypical and racist depiction of Indians.
4 comments:
Writerfella here --
One is left to ask that, though Barak Obama strictly was not forbidden to visit US military wounded in Germany, he elected to head elsewhere. It is one thing to decry the casualty toll in a war and quite another not to experience its ravages as a potential commander-in-chief...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Obama's schedule probably didn't permit him to meet the wounded. He can check out McCain's physical and mental handicaps when they meet for the debates.
P.S. You spelled "Barack" wrong, as usual.
Writerfella here --
'Barak' happens to be how a hero's name was spelled in a piss-poor and mostly-lost versions of the Conan stories. It fits...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
It fits...why? Because Obama's a hero or because he's a barbarian?
So you've come up with an excuse for your stupid misspellings. I guess that's better than admitting you're a piss-poor writer who can't spell worth beans.
You really are prejudiced against Obama and a bootlicker for McCain, aren't you? Either that or you're too incompetent to research the facts. Here's the Washington Post basically calling McCain a liar and you an idiot for believing him:
McCain Charge Against Obama Lacks Evidence
For four days, Sen. John McCain and his allies have accused Sen. Barack Obama of snubbing wounded soldiers by canceling a visit to a military hospital because he could not take reporters with him, despite no evidence that the charge is true.
The attacks are part of a newly aggressive McCain operation whose aim is to portray the Democratic presidential candidate as a craven politician more interested in his image than in ailing soldiers, a senior McCain adviser said. They come despite repeated pledges by the Republican that he will never question his rival's patriotism.
The essence of McCain's allegation is that Obama planned to take a media entourage, including television cameras, to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany during his week-long foreign trip, and that he canceled the visit when he learned he could not do so. "I know that, according to reports, that he wanted to bring media people and cameras and his campaign staffers," McCain said Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."
The Obama campaign has denied that was the reason he called off the visit. In fact, there is no evidence that he planned to take anyone to the American hospital other than a military adviser, whose status as a campaign staff member sparked last-minute concern among Pentagon officials that the visit would be an improper political event.
"Absolutely, unequivocally wrong," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in an e-mail after McCain's comments to Larry King.
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