Takedown of NY Post's defense of controversial cartoon

I'd like to add

this video as well (from "Countdown" last night:

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

---

by: Louise @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 08:35:59 AM CST

Is anyone surprised...

...to hear such rubbish coming from a media outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch?

Besser ein ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne ende

---

by: becca @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 09:22:25 AM CST

Yes and no.

I have, at times, defended Rupert Murdoch for his role in putting black television shows in the prime time lineup (along with NBC) It was better that "In Living Color" was on TV than not (inspite of its' flaws). "Living Single" was originally a Fox product. And let's not forget 24, which did feature a black president being beamed into homes in prime time.

---

by: kevinchi @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 12:11:33 PM CST

[ Parent ]

24

Though I personally like it I think it did a lot of harm (more people supporting torture and fearing scenarios that the right-wing builds on).

---

by: Chris From Old Europe @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:17:01 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Fully agree with you

on the critique of 24.

But even the West Wing didn't put an black President before a prime time audience. Or 4 black women that were not simply black, but flaunted their blackness, as "Living Single" did.  

Sometimes I have found it useful to seperate Fox Entertainment from the Fox News Channel(though that doesn't exactly work for "Cops")

---

by: kevinchi @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:23:37 PM CST

[ Parent ]

A friend of mine in Australia

tells me that Murdoch's papers there are quite liberal, pro-gay, etc.  The reality seems to be that Murdoch, whatever his personal views, is a crass commercialite who will pander to whatever audience he thinks will give him the most money.  In America, unfortunately, that means the Benighted Right.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

---

by: QScribe @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:09:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

"...crass commercialite who will pander..."

Very true.

Murdock held a conference at Pebble Beach a few months back and the topic was a closely guarded secret. But, most of the attendees were famous Democrats (like Bill Clinton) and "liberal" journalists.

I'm willing to bet that the minute Fox News drops below a certain ratings level, Murdock will clean house and hire liberals. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked to see his network go extremely liberal.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

---

by: Fritz @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:43:44 PM CST

[ Parent ]

We're only a month into Obama's presidency.

Brace yourselves.  This isn't the first "veiled" attack on him for having the presumption to be black, though it is certainly the most blatant since the inauguration.  It will not be the last, no, not by a long shot (if you'll excuse the expression).  "Joking" calls for his assassination will only increase.

I and a lot of others predicted several months ago that Obama would have the corporate media coming after him in much uglier ways than any previous president has faced, and we're seeing that already.  Time was when "the Ugly American" was the image we projected to the rest of the world; now we're living with it at home, too.  The idea that America is post-racial, post-gay or post-anything from its ugly past is a cozy lie.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

---

by: QScribe @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 09:24:09 AM CST

Note how the white guys back away from Screamingly Obvious Racism

Here's my two cents.

---

by: David Ehrenstein @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 09:25:25 AM CST

Not just backing away

The obvious diversions upset me the most.

What about Bonzo? What about Bush being called a chimp? What about affirmative action? What about blacks calling white people honky? What about Tawana Brawley?

Well, what about mixing Pepsi and Mentos? That topic has just as much to do with this racist cartoon!

Many white people don't get it. Talking to some of my white friends about these issues makes me want to pull my hair out. They just don't have the ability to shut up and LISTEN. They resist being educated about racism and always think they have to make a counter argument.

Here's a note to them:

Fellow white people! Shut up and listen for a change. You don't have to add your opinion. Just try to understand why so many African Americans find the cartoon offensive. Their history and experiences matter.  

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

---

by: Fritz @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 11:16:32 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm actually most disturbed

by the presumption that assassination is the way to deal with political disagreements. I'm also disturbed by the fact that no real statement is being made by this cartoon. It's inchoate resentment and hatred expressed in a muddled and amateurist fashion. But even if they depicted Obama accurately instead of as an ape, and showed a couple of guys mowing him down down because they didn't like his stimulus plan, that would be disturbing.

---

by: anastasia P @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 10:43:35 AM CST

Yeah,

that was what REALLY disturbed me.

The caroonist actually gave a statement where he said Nancy Pelosi wrote the bill and not Obama.

So then is he advocating the assassination of Nancy Pelosi?

---

by: kevinchi @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 11:02:34 AM CST

[ Parent ]

me too

and it's something that hasn't come up in a lot of these media discussions.  the cartoonist and the editor are lying about the intent of this vile cartoon: first and foremost, it is a plea for violence against the president, who has OBVIOUSLY been the major force behind the stimulus.  the secondary theme of black = monkey is a nice little bonus to tie it all together and make the gun-loving neanderthals guffaw.  

calls for violence against obama have mostly been isolated, but this cartoon is one of the most visible, graphic and specific calls by a highly organized media outlet.  why in the hell is the secret service not all over this???

The gays stole my lunch money

---

by: matt in mpls @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 15:52:22 PM CST

[ Parent ]

KO had Al Sharpton on.....

And this was a great assessment..about the linking of one event, the chimp killing with the Simulus Plan being the thing that was over the top.

Their discussion finally evolved..and I had caught it too, just before they said it.

Is this a condoning of assasination of political figures...whoever they are.

(The cartoonist said it wasn't meant to be Obama, but possibly the speaker of the house, e.g. it was right to kill someone who wrote laws you dont like. ..and not just anyone should do it the POLICE should do it...That is near treasonous.) 

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

---

by: Orion45 @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 11:21:08 AM CST

Interesting reading...

AMERICAN JOURNALISM, Spring 2004
Copyright © 2004, American Journalism Historians Association

Excerpt from Drawing Swords:
War in American Editorial Cartoons by Lucy Shelton Caswell

Cartoonists cannot do their work without stereotypes, the visual shorthand understood by their readers, who are members of a shared community (however that community may be defined). The root of the word stereotype comes from a printing plate cast in metal from a mold or matrix, thus
its secondary definition is something that has no individuality and is unvarying.

The consistent and persistent interpretation by readers of stereotypical visual images enables the cartoonist to communicate complex concepts and identities quickly. As John Appel observed, "Late nineteenth century cartoonists experimented with the reduction of vital cues until one or two minimal tags-of-identity-a curved tobacco pipe with Meerschaum bowl or a dachshund for a German; a straight razor, watermelon, and chicken for African Americans-served as escutcheons affording instant recognition of a nationality or ethnic group."33 A cartoon by Ellison Hoover from the 24 August 1924 issue of Life, titled "Old Jokes Come Home," uses thirty-one cartoon stereotypes, including the absent-minded professor, a mother-inlaw, a cannibal boiling a missionary in a large pot, an angry wife with a rolling pin, and so on. These were standard gags in cartoons of the day that every reader would have understood. This widespread standardization may, in part, be traced to the fact that many publications had artists' bullpens where cartoonists, illustrators, and courtroom artists worked side by side and shared techniques, tips, and practices. Another reason for the prevalence of these visually encoded jokes may be the enormous popularity of cartoon correspondence courses that encouraged their students to use them.

As E. H. Gombrich noted, "...the artist, no less than the writer, needs a vocabulary before he can embark on a 'copy' of reality...The form of a representation cannot be divorced from its purpose and the requirements of the society in which the given visual language gains currency. . . ."34 Medhurst and DeSousa further observe that "No traits, whether physical or psychological in nature can be totally [authors' emphasis] manufactured by the cartoonist. The trait must exist to some extent in the popular consciousness or graphic tradition before it can be amplified and caricatured by the artist." 35 Many stereotypes are, at least to some extent, based on physical appearance or typical behavior patterns. For example, some Irish people have long foreheads, square jaws, and red hair.

The fact is, however, that stereotypes are effective as visual shorthand. Readers know instantly who or what the cartoonist is communicating. A disadvantage to their use, as editorial cartoonist Draper Hill commented, is that a cartoonist may learn that "what serves him as meaningful simplification of significant characterization can strike a target group as blatant stereotyping." 36 The negative connotation of the term stereotype derives from the use of racist, ethnic, and sexist images. The motivation of the cartoonist is critical to understanding the use of stereotypes-and in wartime cartoons, deprecation of the enemy with negative imagery is a prime motivator. In
fact, most of the frequently used archetypes of the enemy are stereotypes. It is inevitable that war cartoons will include these and other stereotypes that communicate complex ideas succinctly and reflect the cartoonist's view about the conflict.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

---

by: Fritz @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 12:11:57 PM CST

"...the enormous popularity of cartoon correspondence courses..."

In case anyone wants to know what the reference to the cartoon correspondence courses in the above excerpt is about.

My twin brother and used to be the staff cartoonists for our college newspaper, BTW. So, I a bit about this subject.  

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

---

by: Fritz @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 12:17:24 PM CST

[ Parent ]

The VIEW discussed the cartoon and it was unanimously condemned

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:19:11 PM CST

btw the mentioned this same cartoonist does putrid anti gay stuff too

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

---

by: peteyPornpig @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 15:31:10 PM CST

[ Parent ]

update, UCLA study

Read Baratunde's post on a UCLA study that found a link between seeing blacks as apes, monkeys, etc and treating them brutally.  

---

by: Pam Spaulding @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:42:53 PM CST

Thanks Pam

and as one of the comments on your link suggested, you can even expand this conversation and correlate Delonas's  racist and homophobic cartoons to the police treatment of other minorities as well (the treatment of Muslims, entrapment of gay guys at bookstores, etc.)

These images do mean something and they do have social consequences. That's why it is important to speak out about them.

---

by: kevinchi @ Thu Feb 19, 2009 at 13:55:54 PM CST

[ Parent ]