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trumi's avatar

Obama on the New Yorker?

Asked by trumi (6501points) July 16th, 2008

Am I the only person that isn’t offended? As an avid New Yorker reader AND Barack Obama supporter, I find the cartoon very amusing. The latest figure I heard was that 12% of Americans think Barack is a Muslim. Why not laugh about it? Except, its the New Yorker, so its more of a silent chuckle… What do you think?

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16 Answers

sferik's avatar

I think Jon Stewart had it about right (skip to 4:45 and watch through 14:35):
“It’s a trifle, it’s nothing. There’s so many other things to talk about: Iraq, the collapse of some of our most prestigious financial institutions…”

marinelife's avatar

You might be interested in this thread from yesterday.

I still think they missed the mark. I don’t see how parroting the Fox news line is satire. I also think extra sensitivity is called for in an election year dealing with a candidate.

Listen to this Ron Kuby piece on Ohio.

trumi's avatar

Sorry, guess I missed the thread.
But why is it that only Jon Stewart and James Kotecki seem to have a response I approve of? Not that that is unusual, just annoying.

gailcalled's avatar

Here is an op-ed piece by Timothy Egan from the NYT that takes a measured view. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/opinion/16egan.html?th&emc=th

The New Yorker mag. has done viciously satirical covers before, but this time it seems to be a really hot potato. As usual, I agree w. Marina.

Les's avatar

I guess I could say that I get the satire. However, what makes me mad about it is that there are plenty of people in this country who still honestly believe these things, and could see this not as satire, but as the truth. That scares me. I really don’t like adding fuel to the FOX Noise fire, even if it is meant to be humor.

syz's avatar

Let’s be honest – the people who don’t get the satire are not the type of people who read the New Yorker. And if the fear is that a cartoon on the front of an unread magazine could influence someone’s opinion, well, I’m pretty sure that that sort of person already believes the worst claptrap anyway (see comments by voters in West Virginia during the primaries).

Personally, I take the magazine cover for exactly what it’s worth – just another unfunny cartoon in the New Yorker.

kevbo's avatar

@sferik, that was brilliant.

I hate to sound like a raving conspiracy theorist, but this and so many other issues seem like good distractions from some other issues, such as the Terrorist Watch List, USA Patriot, FISA, and the latest coming down the pike: S. 1959: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.

I thought we were fighting them over there, so we wouldn’t have to fight them here.

kevbo's avatar

my comma usage really sucks these days

PupnTaco's avatar

I actually thought it was kind of funny, it showed how ridiculous the right-wing attack machine is and this imaginary world they want us to believe.

ariwriter's avatar

In an age of terrorist organizations with Muslim ties, Iran allegedly possessing a nuclear bomb, an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord being the closest in years, and the United States as Israel’s closest ally but also helping fix Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention a 40-year expansion of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., it’s incensing on many fronts to satirize a Muslim Obama on the liberal New Yorker.

Maybe Freud had it right and a picture is just a picture, but a picture speaks a 1,000 words, too.

marinelife's avatar

@sferik I had missed The Daily Show last night. Thanks for that link. As usual, he is brilliant especially at spoofing the media frothing at the mouth.

fuzzybunny's avatar

What I find far more offensive is all the mock outrage the mainstream press are exhibiting over this. This is the same media that is perpetuating these myths about Obama (or at best not exposing them for the BS that they are) which is exactly what the New Yorker is satirizing here.

PupnTaco's avatar

@ Ari: wait, the US is fixing Iraq and Afghanistan? When did this start?

ariwriter's avatar

@PupnTaco: I don’t know exactly when but I presume some time after Saddam Hussein was captured. The US pledged money and both American and coalition troops are fixing Iraqi infrastructure including repairing schools which I presume is very similar in Afghanistan.

trumi's avatar

@ariwriter: 1, we should have been helping in Afghanistan years ago when we fucked them up in the first place. 2, I’m pretty sure we’ve spent a hell of a lot more to destroy Iraq than we are rebuilding it. 3, if there were oil in Darfur you better believe that is where we would be right now.

- The only terrorism towards the US was from radical, crazy people who want to see the downfall of blasphemy. Sounds a bit like the KKK, eh? Radicals are in EVERY nation.
– Christians have killed millions of people throughout history, Christianity has very strong ties to our government, and the influence has been growing for hundreds of years. Christians today continue to preach of love, life, and peace, and yet we also believe in preemptive strikes?
– We have more nuclear weapons than any other nation, and could destroy the earth (literally) hundreds of times over.
– And finally, there will NEVER be peace in the middle east, although we should always struggle for it. If you think a piece of paper that America gets two people to sign is going to solve all the problems, you need to think again.

What the hell is your point man?

marinelife's avatar

To get back to the point of the thread, I thought everyone might enjoy how cartoonists have viewed the Obama cover. There are five pages to click through.

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