Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Satire or Slander? The (in)famous Obama Cartoon


During my trip I saw the controversial (and to me, racist and deeply offensive) New Yorker cover reprinted in a local newspaper. Recently, I'd read an article that researchers have shown that erroneous information is likely to pervade one's mind through repetition even when one has information proving that it is inaccurate. Therefore, they argued, Obama's web site created to dispel mis-information might do more harm than good, in that it would repeat the lies told by the G.O.P. Then I read an op-ed piece defining satire as comprised of some sort of inversion, citing "A Modest Proposal" as the quintessential example. Thus, a literal re-presentation or reproduction of something one opposes does nothing but reinforce and reproduce the alleged object of one's disapproval. (of course I am aware of the paradox here, since I am reprinting something of which I strongly disapprove!!!!!!)

Thus in the cartoon above, published in the New York Times Week In Review section last Sunday, we see an example of what satire actually is - what is funny is to reveal the absurdity of the attacks against Obama, by replacing him and his wife with Bush and Cheney, as a dysfunctional fundamentalist pair, cozily planning subversion in the White House hearth.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't find the New Yorker cover racist, but rather a caricature: a gathering of all the stupid media allegations of what the Obamas are or are not into one absurd image. That made me expel a big laugh when I saw it.

Anyone who reads the New Yorker knows the image is critical and ridiculing of the general media which are the racist ones when they call Michelle an angry black woman or Obama a muslim or whatever. Political correctness shouldn't prevent us from making such visual statements.

Petite Maoiste said...

You have a point, and surely the readers of New York are not the types that would take the cover at face value which is why they did it in the first place!

Petite Maoiste said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

sad having to assume that the rest of the country cannot evaluate an image in its proper context and distinguish between Fox News and some critical forum.

Petite Maoiste said...

Maybe I am being condescending, elitist or pessimistic in assuming something like that......