Political satire gone wrong?
Excessive political satire?
The New Yorker says this is political satire, but isn’t the latest cover of this magazine feeding into exactly what many Americans believe to be falsely true?
If you look at the illustration, it depicts Barack Obama as a Muslim in traditional attire, a picture of Osama bin Laden on the wall, Michelle Obama as a Black Panther extremist and the American flag burning in the fire place. And to top all of this off, the Obama’s are seen doing their infamous “terrorist fist jab” as coined by Fox News.
Although the above cartoon is satirical to some, to others sadly this is the truth. You see many Americans fear the Obama’s because little is known about them. As a consequence, the Obama’s are constantly trying to prove how patriotic they are, how they are not Muslims and secretly trying to push the agenda of terrorists.
The Obama campaign is rightly outraged with the distorted image and they are not the only ones concerned about the depiction of the Obama’s.
“We all have to watch very carefully what we say – our attempts at humour, our attempts at informing people – because some of what we say can be misinterpreted and do real damage,” says Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York.
Nevertheless the editor of the New Yorker stands behind their magazine cover which will hit stands on Monday July 21.
“I can’t speak for anyone else’s interpretations, all I can say is that it combines a number of images that have been propagated, not by everyone on the right but by some, about Obama’s supposed ‘lack of patriotism’ or his being ’soft on terrorism’ or the idiotic notion that somehow Michelle Obama is the second coming of the Weathermen or most violent Black Panthers. That somehow all this is going to come to the Oval Office,” says David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker.
Well what do you think about this image? Is it offensive or is it poking fun at the ignorance of many Americans?
The only reason that this Mr. & Mrs. Obama satire DOES have impact — and may very likely spread — is because like all good satire, or good humor for that matter, there’s more than a germ of truth in it. Otherwise, the satire would utterly roll off the Obamoids’ backs, having no impact.
I’ve heard a bit about this New Yorker cover these past few days. I think it plays up what people believe about the Obama’s and what they represent. I’m not sure what the opinions of those who created the cover represent, but it’s an image that’s put out there. Looking at it, it’s kind of offensive suggesting they are Muslim-Black Panther terrorists and on the other hand it’s showing people’s ignorance to who they really are. It’s gaining a lot of attention in the media, but why isn’t anyone paying attention to the real issues at hand??
I understand the New Yorker is trying to play up all of the misguided notions about the Obama’s, but I truly believe they missed the mark on this one. It’ll give many people the wrong ideas and even John McCains campaign believes it is tasteless.