Is This Cartoon Racist?

@chai2,

Yes - that story - but the part of it in which the chimp was shot - not the part where the woman was mauled.

I think Setanta's right - they took advantage of the part they could use.

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

Quote:

Has the artist been fired, or merely suspended? (Edit: Yes, of course he has. How silly of me to ask.)

I can't see them firing Sean Delonas. He's a conservative darling and favorite of Murdoch. It's also not his first run in with bad taste:

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/2009/02/custom_1234980113416_delonas3.jpg

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/2009/02/custom_1234980840892_delonas7.jpg

2 Replies

@djjd62,

ditto

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Yes - that story - but the part of it in which the chimp was shot - not the part where the woman was mauled.

I think Setanta's right - they took advantage of the part they could use.

Right, but if that incident hadn't happened, the cartoon would have made no sense. You would have been wondering why the police had shot the monkey.

In other words, not only is it racist, but it relies on a tragedy happening. The woman and the police shooting the chimp can't be separated, since police don't just randomly shoot chimps.

btw, off the subject, I respect primates as a living animal, but I personally think they are disgusting dirty animals and could never imagine having one as a pet or companion. They are wild and stronger than any person, and are a danger to have around.

1 Reply

@chai2,

Okay-I get what you're saying.

0 Replies

@Green Witch,

i hate when cartoonist feel they have to label the people in the cartoon, i know it's heather mills without having to be told

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Quote:
How many times was Bush portrayed as a chimp?

Good question--perhaps you could tell us precisely how many times a political cartoon appeared in the New York Post, or any publication of an equivalent respectability (not much, though, in that particular case), in which the Shrub was portrayed as a chimp. Frankly, i suspect you'd play hell coming up with any example in a major newspaper in this country.

I don't know about newspapers in the US, but Bush was routinely portrayed as a sort of half-simian in the Guardian by cartoonist Steve Bell.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/steve_bell/2008/08/29/bell-512x384.jpg

'How often does a leader of the free world come along who resembles a monkey in every particular?'

1 Reply

@djjd62,

Yes, but you have to consider the intellectual level of the choir he is preaching to.

0 Replies

Well, of course, that is not an example in a major newspaper in this country. I haven't denied it's true, but i am asking Tico to put his money where his cigar is . . .

1 Reply

@joefromchicago,

I think you really have to look at the historical context. It would be OK to call a man in the Bush cabinet a "good ol'boy", with the exception of Colin Powell. You would not call General Powell any term using the word "boy", even if he was a part of the group, because it would be in excessive bad taste.

1 Reply

Quote:

You could look at it that way - and actually I'd rather look at it that way than to believe that there's the amount of hateful and dangerous racism directed against Obama that this cartoon could be interpreted to imply.

You don't need to rely on this particular cartoon to know that there is that amount of dangerous rhetoric against Obama out there; some of it is racism, most of it is ideological.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=threats+to+obama&aq=2&oq=threats

The cartoonist cleverly used a subject matter and text that would be interpreted in severaly different ways, thus giving cover via Tico's more neutral interpretation of it. And yes, I agree that George Bush was represented as a monkey in many political cartoons and it is fair to do the same with Barack Obama. I don't recall any of the ones of George Bush being about him being killed by law enforcement people though. Anyone have some links to cartoons of similar nature about George Bush?

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@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

Quote:
Has the artist been fired, or merely suspended? (Edit: Yes, of course he has. How silly of me to ask.)

I can't see them firing Sean Delonas. He's a conservative darling and favorite of Murdoch.

My edit was related to my earlier question about whether Al Sharpton had weighed in on the matter.

But of course I see how you might have misinterpreted what I wrote as meaning something I had not intended it to mean.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Well, of course, that is not an example in a major newspaper in this country. I haven't denied it's true, but i am asking Tico to put his money where his cigar is . . .

Why don't you prove the chimp in the cartoon in question is supposed to be Obama? That's your point, isn't it? That it's racist because the NY Post just depicted Obama as a chimp?

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@djjd62,

demoKKKrats only sat there calling George W. Bush "chimpy" for the last eight years.

Memory problem or something??

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

Quote:

It appears the simple point is the chimp -- now dead -- could have written a better bill.

Even a dead chimp could write a better bill.

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anyone with half a brain would know that regardless of intent this cartoon would stir up a hornets nest of racial implications.

therefore at best this cartoonist is a stupid ******.

at worst he's a stupid ******* racist.

3 Replies

@Bi-Polar Bear,

It sure stirred up the race-baiters.

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@Bi-Polar Bear,

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

anyone with half a brain would know that regardless of intent this cartoon would stir up a hornets nest of racial implications.

therefore at best this cartoonist is a stupid ******.

at worst he's a stupid ******* racist.

That's a fair comment.

King Kong was so NOT a chimp, by the way.

He was some sort of overblown gorilla.

Well, he would have been if he had existed.

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@gungasnake,

Quote:

demoKKKrats only sat there calling George W. Bush "chimpy" for the last eight years.

Memory problem or something??

But not because of his race, but because of his perceived intellectual capacity as indicated by his actions.

I won't/can't buy into US race politics and can't talk about the intent of the cartoonist but your counter argument quoted above is ludicrous at best.

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Of course it's racist. Even Ticomaya knows it's racist, though he'll never admit it. He's just playing devil's advocate because it's a chance for him to rile up some lefties.

3 Replies

Is This Cartoon Racist?

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