[jameswing]

Ok, So I was waiting for someone else to start this thread but what do you think about the cartoon from today?

I was wondering how long it was going to take for a political cartoon to be interpreted as racist (don't know what the intent was).

This is my major pet peve when it comes to race. I don't let race come into play in decisions, and don't even think about what race someone is, I go by how they act. I know a lot of people like myself, and how some of them are misinterpreted as racist because they don't want to be with some people, not by race but what they are doing. I don't care if your white, black, mexican, asian or purple if you are acting ghetto, and trying to be gangster I don't want anything to do with you. On the other hand if you work hard, and command respect I'll have nothing but respect from you. I grew up in some rough areas, and my wife has lived in ghetto slums since she moved to the states.

There are people (sharpton) that take anything that could have any racial connotation and make a big deal about it. These are the same people that rave about needing to break down race barriers, but are the first ones to bring race into a discussion.

How can we be color blind as a society if we have to label everyone by their ethnicity (African-American, Indian-American, Asian-American, Mexican-American) not just Americans? ???

 

[NeverEndingNinja]

They should get over it; he's not the first president to be called a chimp, and he won't be the last...

 

[Whatever Dude]

Saw it. NOT racist. Consider the source of the criticism....Al Sharpton? He calls racism if he gets two black cards playing poker.

 

[Fatass SVS]

The discussion I heard on the radio going home last night made it sound pretty overtly racist. When I finally saw it on TV, I was just left scratching my head about how the cartoonist expected anybody to make any kind of connection between the rampaging chimp and the economic legislation. If a political cartoon is supposed to make an instant connection between an idea and an image, I think it just fails as an example of that kind of communication.

BUT even if the cartoonist was having a slow day in his brain and was trying to seize on the news story about the chimp, somebody at the Post should have made the connection between that cartoon and the Obama = Curious George images seen recently, as well as the stereotypical racist depiction of Africans and African-Americans as apes. I think the Post editorial decision-makers enjoyed indulging in what they certainly knew was race-baiting.

On Hardball though, Chris Matthews was quick to point out that for the past eight years, George W. Bush's uncanny occasional resemblance to a chimp had been considered fair game.

 

[donniej]

Personaly I don't now how it couldn't be interpreted as being racial. IMO, this looks just like the sort of thing we studied in social studies about segregation in the 1960's south.
C'mon, seriously... a shot dead monkey with a refference to the executive. What would any rational person think?

 

[Whatever Dude]

Indeed. At first look, with no real thought, I took the cartoon to mean that congress was a bunch of apes, not that obama was a monkey. I guess some people see racism when the want to see it.

However I do begrudgingly agree that its open to some interpretation, and the Post ran it for publicity in the age of dying newspapers.

 

[ASCSurveyor]

For those who haven't seen the cartoon:

I think it's in bad taste. Editors should have picked up on this.

 

[VARIABLE9]

I bet it's name was actually Coco.

 

[Jawn]

Indeed. At first look, with no real thought, I took the cartoon to mean that congress was a bunch of apes, not that obama was a monkey. I guess some people see racism when the want to see it.

However I do begrudgingly agree that its open to some interpretation, and the Post ran it for publicity in the age of dying newspapers.

Pretty much how I saw it. It didn't strike me as racist personally since Obama didn't actually write the stimulus bill. I took it to mean that the bill was so sorry any monkey could have written it. However, you can't expect that it wouldn't be completely blown out of proportion and made into something it wasn't.

 

[dan46n2]

Pretty much how I saw it. It didn't strike me as racist personally since Obama didn't actually write the stimulus bill. I took it to mean that the bill was so sorry any monkey could have written it. However, you can't expect that it wouldn't be completely blown out of proportion and made into something it wasn't.

+1 to all that. I dont make any direct reference to obama in that cartoon.

I bet it's name was actually Coco.

Coco the monkey boy?

 

[Logan5]

There was a black city counsil member (I think it was in Houston) that went nuts because a white member called a particular department a "black hole" of paper work. The black guy got all upset, demanded an apology and went on TV to declair racism ... people are just stupid.

 

[VARIABLE9]

Coco the monkey boy?

Yup.

 

[Fatass SVS]

I guess some people see racism when the want to see it.

Maybe the grandchildren and grandnephews of the men who were lynched in the 30s - 60s "want" to see racism more than you. Maybe the people who were waterhosed and dog in Birmingham are just unreasonably sensitive. Why can't they all be as fair minded as you, huh?

 

[DarkMatter]

lol @ black holes being racist.

lern2science

 

[Whatever Dude]

Maybe the grandchildren and grandnephews of the men who were lynched in the 30s - 60s "want" to see racism more than you. Maybe the people who were waterhosed and dog in Birmingham are just unreasonably sensitive. Why can't they all be as fair minded as you, huh?

Exactly my point. I realize my life experiences are different than everybody else's. I've had this discussion with women and minorities numerous times. I'm always shocked that my sister (a white female) feels she has been held back in life because she's a woman, when we had substantially similar experiences and upbringings. It still surprises me that people see racism in things I don't, and when speaking of Al Sharpton, i feel he looks for racism everywhere becuase its his thing.

 

[ASCSurveyor]

Maybe the grandchildren and grandnephews of the men who were lynched in the 30s - 60s "want" to see racism more than you. Maybe the people who were waterhosed and dog in Birmingham are just unreasonably sensitive. Why can't they all be as fair minded as you, huh?

Exactly. I chose to punish myself for other's wrong doings by paying more for school.

 

[Logan5]

Maybe the grandchildren and grandnephews of the men who were lynched in the 30s - 60s "want" to see racism more than you. Maybe the people who were waterhosed and dog in Birmingham are just unreasonably sensitive. Why can't they all be as fair minded as you, huh?

That mentality just ensures racism will never end. What has been created is a never ending class of victims that will forever demand to be treated differently regardless of whether or not the rest of the country has moved on, they never will.

"Percieved" racism is a ******** (yep I said it) that only holds back race relations.

 

[Whatever Dude]

For those that didnt know (Including me): (Excerpted from Wiki).

Tar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "********" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact. The only way to solve such a situation is by separation

Although the term's provenance arose in African folklore, some Americans now consider "********" to have negative connotations revolving around pejorative images of African-Americans.[2] Specific reasons why the term developed negative racial aspects are difficult to identify. In recent years, several politicians who have publicly used the term have encountered some controversy, mocking, and censure from African-American civil rights leaders, members of the popular daily media, and other politicians.[3][4][5][6][7][8] The criticisms of the '********' as racially driven icon could be interpreted as myopic, viz. the entire criticism seems to be rooted in the fact that tar is black. Regardless, the history of 'the ********' in its original form by far precedes the accusations of its racist associations.

 

[ASCSurveyor]

That's why I just call them Nexuses.

 

[ASCSurveyor]

Who remembers this skit?

http://www.shoutfile.com/watch/k2TzZLKe/Word-Associations.html