Watermelon ToothPaste and the Issue Of Race

Miller, please. The reference of a watermelon with the President was just plain stupid and over the top. Just because you don't get or aren't offended about it doesn't mean jack.



















Now do you "get" it?

I agree, Watermelons are master race. Enslaving the watermelon to the president is fruitism!

If it wasn't about race or offensive, there would be no reason for the cartoon in the first place because it wouldn't be funny to the jerk audience it is intended for.

Honestly.

I'd rather people make jokes about people - instead of making threats.

I'm saying it doesn't matter whether it does or not. Jokes are nothing like threats.

I'd rather you be humorously hateful, than out-right hateful if that makes things that much better. Baby steps.

It seems more hateful to me to see emotional, self-righteous people take jokes as seriously as out-right hateful people.

Wise men hated stupid people - read their quotes. They made jokes about stupid people every chance they got. Hatred doesn't always have to be the social idea of "hatred".

@revelette2:

So,are you saying that the use of "watermelon" has some sort of racist meaning? I can remember a white woman in Chicago, who while waiting for a bus, was hit in the head by a chunk of watermelon, thrown at her from an open bus window by a black man riding the bus.

So, tell me, what racist comment was the black man trying to convey, by hitting the white woman in the head with the watermelon chunk?

A dairy in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts makes and sells watermelon ice cream. Do you think the ice cream is serving as a racist symbol?

Could the dairy be sending us a hidden racist statement?

By the way the watermelon ice cream is a pure delight to eat...

The joke may, or may not have been about White House security. You know, someone wandering around, riding in the elevator with the President, making free with the facilities. If I saw a cartoon involving a Black person and a watermelon I would probably make the same assumption as you. I would also probably consider the possibility that I was mistaken.

The wording was changed in later editions of the Newspaper.

Kind of hard to form an opinion, then. You mean the raspberry version?

yes

Oh. Well, if someone wants to judge the cartoonist, which is fair, they are going to judge what they've seen. Personally, I find his explanation plausible. He might really be that ignorant. I can see how others would think it deliberate and racist.

If there had never been a racial component, it would have been a very good cartoon.

What would be punch line in the raspberry cartoon? Why would it even be funny?

You have to ask?

Well, yeah, its just not funny with raspberry. I don't find the other funny, but at least the punch line is obvious.

Well, the punch line wouldn't make much difference. I mean, the guy entered the fenced area of the White House, wandered around awhile (apparently), and rode alone with the President in an elevator. Doesn't that make Secret Service look like a bunch of clowns? Now, the cartoonist shows the intruder having a high old time in the tub while the Pres is brushing his teeth. That's pretty much the whole joke, but the punch line has the guy casually offering inconsequential advice to an apparently very startled Obama.

The whole idea seems to be commentary on the failure of the Secret Service's ability to protect the President. It would probably would have worked without any caption at all. Whether the intent was racial or not, I've no idea.

I mean, the cartoon was a poke at the Secret Service. It just worked better with the President included.

Oh, I think I told someone I rarely get dirty jokes? Guess I should change that to, I rarely get jokes.

I am also a little confused at the timeline of the change. Apparently this cartoonist had watermelon, someone suggested changing it raspberry, so he sent it back as raspberry. So, how did end it up being watermelon?

I haven't been keeping up with the news, but I should have gotten the joke.

As I understand it, it went out on syndication as watermelon. The publishers that complained got raspberry replacement. Again, just my understanding is that it was printed both ways.