Opinion: Culture Elite's Protection of the Obamas »
Posted By SonOfTheMask 1 year, 4 months ago in NewsTo watch the contortions over that New Yorker cover cartoon of the Obamas is to understand whom it is impermissible to offend in the America of 2008.
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SonOfTheMask
"I often wish that I could rid the world of the tyranny of facts. What are facts but compromises? A fact merely marks the point ...
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stephen-johnson1 year, 4 months ago
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FTA:
Yet, the reaction of our cultural elites is the more interesting and instructive.
For it suggests that Obama is an untouchable to be protected. As an African American, he is not to be treated the same as other politicians. Remnick and Hertzberg obviously felt intense moral pressure to remove any suspicion that they had satirized the Obamas. No problem, however, if they were mocking the American right.
Bottom line: If you wish to stay in the good graces of the cultural elite, don't mess with Michelle and Barack.
Buchanan hit it out of the park.
Obama is the Trojan Horse that big gubmint liberals are hiding in. They're trying to fool the public that an Obama adminsitration will be something new. In fact, it will be the Great Society redux. This is the Boomer Generation's last gasp to change the world.
Let's all pray that their efforts fall short.
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SonOfTheMask1 year, 4 months ago
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"Why did progressives recoil? Because the more savvy among them sense that, like much humor, this cartoon was an exaggeration that contained no small kernel of recognizable truth." And therein lies the issue. There are some people who insist than Obama is some kind of Islamic Manchurian Candidate...and that is silly. But, below that caricature there is an underlying uneasiness about how radical Obama might really be. His past and current associations make you wonder.
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Radiofreeeuropa1 year, 4 months ago
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I like Obama, the New Yorker has every right to lampoon whatever they like. You know as well as I that a major smear campaign is being conducted via emails that paint this picture of Obama that is satirized on the cover, yes the less intelligent among us may actually not get it, yes they will think it further enforces the smear emails (I get 'em every day) they believe are real. No the New Yorker has no responsibility to ensure people don't misinterpret their cartoons. Controversy sells, that's the real issue. I bet the New Yorker seriously increased their sales with all the publicity. The MSM gives and the MSM taketh away. They create these diversions.
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gamahuche1 year, 4 months ago
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SOTM: I appreciate your posts as representing the moderate and intelligent right and actually opening the doors of discussion, unlike many of the prejudiced offerings from the rabid right .
However I think your premise that Obama is someone whom "it is impermissible to offend" is completely bogus.
The nattering nabobs of nihilism are busy dredging the gutter for filth and slime, with no regard for truth, honesty or decency, every minute of every day, in order to be offensive to Obama, including on this very media organ where we are presently gathered.
While the gloves are off on both sides I don't see any posters from the left impugning McCain's patriotism, for example.
It wouldn't be SO difficult to do that if you were a serious twister of facts and reality as many of those attacking Obama are, would it?
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MacR1 year, 4 months ago
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If you can not take the political heat or satire that comes out cause you are running for prez. Then it is time to get out of the race.
Does this mean if elected the people on late night shows like, The Tonight Show. Letterman and others can not make fun of his admin? His camp had its own gaffes about Hillary and then he complained about it being done back to him.
Now he is at it again, with everyone saying you can not say that about our guy.
Who wants to silence the free speech we have?
I am waiting?
Thought so.
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CRYMTYPHON1 year, 4 months ago
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THIS IS FORMAL NOTICE THAT POSTERS WHO ASK A QUESTION IN THEIR POSTS THEN ACT AS THOUGH NOONE HAD THE COURAGE OR HONESTY TO ANSWER IT, - IN THE SAME POST - are really annoying.
Does everyone agree?
I THOUGHT so.
Are you going to dare reply?
Ha. Losers. Knew you wouldn't.
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gamahuche1 year, 4 months ago
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"After all, 12 percent of Americans think Barack took his oath on the Koran, 26 percent think he was raised a Muslim, and 39 percent think he went to a madrassa."
And BO is supposed to not be sensitive to disinformation??
Most of his attack-hounds on propeller revel in irrelevant, false and blatantly racist trashy gossip from whatever source.
I personally found the cartoon quite funny and think that Obama's campaign would have done better to ignore this particular non-event but I'm 100% certain that, had he chosen that route, these very same critical posters on this thread would now be telling us that means that he has no answer and that therefore the implied accusations must be true.
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chevydog1 year, 4 months ago
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Personally I thought the cover was hilarious. It fits right in with the style that the New Yorker normally does; and it managed to spoof about every right-wing squawk about Obama that I've heard this season. Even Michelle's oufit coordinated well with her AK-47. The Obama campaign should hang a huge print of it on its wall.
Several other classic instances of terrorist/crime humor come to mind:
* Trudeau's BD defending Phred the Terrorist because "His parents pushed him into it."
* Woody Allen's Virgil Starkwell discussing with his wife what shirt he should wear to the robbery.
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