December 31, 2010

Obama "witch doctor" is Papua New Guinean

Someone observed that the Obama witch-doctor image looked more Amazonian than African. I Googled it and found this:

Obama, a Huli warrior and the image nincompoop

By Alfredo P. HernadezThe unflattering and tasteless image of Obama’s was first flashed on news television some three weeks ago during coverage of a protest-rally against the president’s healthcare scheme. The Obama-Huli wigman’s image was one of the posters that have been used by Americans protesting the Obama healthcare scheme. I did not understand it for a while why such an image of Papua New Guinean motif was used to drumbeat their protest.

Obama’s face was superimposed on an image of a PNG Huli wigman in full traditional regalia. When I first saw it, I immediately recognised it as one of PNG. The Huli wigman is a tribal warrior from PNG’s Highlands. However, just before I could consider it as something to be proud of, having considered PNG as my second home, it dawned on me that there was something sinister in superimposing the US president’s facial image on one of PNG’s popular cultural icons.
Summing up the problem:But one thing that was totally wrong here is that Obama, in the PNG Highlands’ warrior image, has been labeled as an African witch doctor, his being of African descent. And this is an insult, as far as the Papua New Guinean people are concerned. And so the “racist’ slant has become very pronounced.Comment:  Racists are so stupid they can't even get their own prejudices right. They must think Africa, Asia, and South America are interchangeable--all filled with brown-skinned savages who dance, shake rattles, and stick bones through their noses.

So the image isn't a witch doctor but a warrior--a Papua New Guinean who resembles an Amazon Indian. It's another example of how right-wingers are trying to link Obama with the worst "savages" in history: Muslim extremists, Communists, Nazis, and Indians.

For more on the subject, see Obama's UN "Coup" Is "Chilling" and Obama Smeared as Luo Tribesman.

Below:  The original "witch doctor."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the "all dark people are the same" thing. I think many of them recognize that South America isn't Africa, preferring to conflate the Amazon (which is pretty much all South America, and there are no other rivers in South America) with the Philippines. Doesn't stop Tarzan from occasionally showing up on the banks of the Amazon, though.