I don't consider myself a "irony-challenged literalist." I love irony, and definitely am not a literalist except under certain conditions and in certain situations.
Thus, I feel free to dislike intensely the cartoon that graced the cover of The New Yorker magazine. In another time and another place, it could have been humorous. In the United States, which remains, unfortunately, a hotbed of racism and hatred, it was out of place.
Ironic it was not. Satire? Maybe. Inappropriate? For sure.
Some people, you see, including TV pundits and hosts of talk radio hate shows, thought maybe the cover was a glance at reality. Really. It also fit right into the demented theories of the mentally challenged who send emails about a conspiracy where there isn't one, while voting into office those who have conspired to destroy our democracy.
Was it helpful to the state of the Union? Definitely not. Ironic or not. Satiric or not.
So, above you find Mr. Horsey's well-executed response to people like me. For more of Horsey's cartoons, go to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here.
1 comment:
I am afraid the cover was not seen as humor by most that saw it. The overall impression was that the Obama’s are both terrorists, and flag burners. It certainly got wide coverage on TV so maybe more people will understand it was satire. Let us hope that some people actually understood that he is not a Muslim, she is not a terrorist and neither burn flags for warmth. No matter what He says, 12% or more believe he is a Muslim and that should disqualify him from running for President. It is remarkable that a black Congressman that did insist on using his Koran at his swearing in ceremony has served with no problems in the Congress. So far, no one has accused him of plotting anything. He apparently does a good job of representing his district, which was not a hotbed of Muslim fanatics’. I believe most of his constituents are white Christians.
I do not know what Obama can do to convince people he is not a Muslim. He has certainly tried and most of the media has accepted that he is a Christian. Now they can find other reasons to not vote for him.
Bob Poris
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