NY cartoon appears to link Obama to dead chimp

NY cartoon appears to link Obama to dead chimp.

Nope. With the assumption that some people don't understand the history behind chimps and people, I don't get it. All I see are two 'white' humans pointing a fired-off pistol, obviously killing a chimp.

Others, say, around the Clinton era, wrote the bill; Obama 'signed' it! So there is no connection between which entities wrote the bill and who signed it. That's how I see this cartoon.

Originally posted by 27jd
How did you "not let everybody act" that way? You stated your opinion, everybody else stated theirs. Anyway, you keep fighting the good fight. Just be sure to hold YOURSELF to the same standards you would hold any other race to (being careful not to say or do anything that may or may not be able to be connected to racism by somebody, that means no white people have no butts jokes) otherwise you would be a hypocrite.

It seemed to me as if most people on this thread didn't/could see the other side of the argument. So I stated it in an understandable way.

I have been criticized by my own race for not being "black". I have no problem with racial jokes but the media should be held to a higher standard. I've seen white comedians make fun of blacks and black comedians make fun of whites. I personally can laugh at it all. You just have to do it in a sensible manner. I'm not in any kind of fight. Just stating my opinions.

If you look at what the cops are saying and think alittle then you'll see who its directed too.

"They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Nancy Polosi write the stimulus bill, Obama simply delaged it

Well it's either a representation of Obama, Congress, or Pelosi... either option would make sense to me.

I guess I really am too what for the joke. CONGRESS MADE THE MESS not Obama.

you guys who are now posting on the 13th page should go back and read from page 9.

Have any of you folks ever watched, "Planet of the Apes"?

The reason that I ask is that those who are claiming that the cartoon is racist seem to equate a chimp with a black man.

In the movie, the chimps clearly represented whites and all of the chimps were played by white actors. They even spoke with British accents to remove any doubts that they were intended to represent white people.

The gorillas represented blacks and were played by black actors.

Why do I bring this up? Because I can't grasp the idea that a chimp is automatically associated with a black guy. I don't see it and I offer the movie as evidence that the culture does not see it that way either.

Combine that with the other presidents who have been depicted as chimps and the racial angle really starts to unravel. In fact, depicting the President as a chimp is becoming a time honored tradition since it has been going on for decades if not centuries.

Of course I might be wrong and the "Planet of the Apes" might actually be the most racially charged movie in history. I don't remember it that way though, and I have watched both versions multiple times.

Finally, the cartoon is a commentary on a very bad piece of political legislation, not on any particular politician. I find it very interesting that nobody on this thread has made any attempt to defend the stimulus bill. I guess that it is so obviously a bad bill, that nobody wants to try to defend it.

dbl post

[edit on 19-2-2009 by ScRuFFy63]

reply to post by lunarminer


Why are you using a movie to judge culture. And regardless of your findings blacks will find being called any form of primate racist. The way you guys reacting here it seems like you were the butt of some racist jokes.

Just ask any black person if calling them a monkey is racist and see what they say.

Originally posted by lunarminer
Finally, the cartoon is a commentary on a very bad piece of political legislation, not on any particular politician. I find it very interesting that nobody on this thread has made any attempt to defend the stimulus bill. I guess that it is so obviously a bad bill, that nobody wants to try to defend it.

Or maybe it's because defending the stimulus bill would be totally off-topic in this thread?

I'm just going to make this argument one more time, then I'll let people who actually read the thread find it and those who don't, won't.

This cartoon comes from the NYPost. The NYPost has consistently referred to the stimulus package as "Obama's Stimulus Package". Not "Pelosi's stimulus package" or "the Democratic Stimulus Package" or "the Stimulus Package Written By An Unidentified Idiot". They have tied the stimulus package directly to President Obama himself in headlines and stories, regardless of what we know to be the truth, which is that of course he didn't write the darn thing.


The truth is not the point. The point is what the typical Post reader would think. And I submit that after reading headline upon headline about "Obama's Stimulus Package" and then seeing a cartoon of two cops having shot a chimp (with clear reference to the recent tragic incident involving a chimp who went out of control and had to be put down), with the caption "We'll have to find someone else to write a stimulus package", it would be natural for a Post reader to assume that the chimp represented Obama and the cartoon was suggesting that he needed to be put down like a crazy animal.

Which is not an okay thing for the Post to run a cartoon about. Killing the President is not cartoon material.

Regardless of the possible racial overtones (and how anyone could miss that I'm not clear) this is not okay. It would not be okay to have run a political cartoon showing President Bush as a chimp who had been "put down" by two policemen.

Ridiculous storm in a teacup. Why are some people so easily offended? The cartoon clearly says "the stimulus was so bad a chimp could have written it." Using a chimp in this manner is hardly anything new and in no way connected to race. What are we supposed to do - avoid all political satire on the off-chance it might offend? Ridiculous. And it's not like anybody thinks Obama actually wrote the stimulus himself.

Honestly, if this is what it's going to be like now that we have a black president then I'd rather have that imbecile Bush back!

reply to post by ScRuFFy63


Why would I use a movie to make a point about culture? Well, I guess that it would be because movies are part of the culture? Not only that but art is a reflection of culture. At least that is what my art and film history classes taught me.

My use of the movie was to show that there is not an automatic assumption in the culture that calling someone a chimp is a racial thing. I guess that you missed that part.

Also, considering that there has been a very long history of comparing the President of the US to a chimp, that the comparison is not a racial statement. Any more than calling him an SOB would be a racial slur. Offensive? Yes, sure, but not racial.

I would also like to point out that a chimp is not a monkey. It may be a subtle difference linguistically, but it is a very big difference biologically.

reply to post by americandingbat


Since the cartoon specifically referenced the stimulus bill, I fail to see how discussing the bill would be "off topic". It is in fact the topic.

Discussing whether or not Obama was called a chimp is actually off topic, since the cartoon made no such statement.

reply to post by Djarums


Silly me, I thought Pelosi and Reid wrote the Bill, just goes to show my lack of the separation of powers.

reply to post by americandingbat


One other thing, about the idea of depicting President Bush as a chimp who had to be put down. I would like to point out that the Left did much worse than that. Since the election in 2000, there have been statements made by persons on the Left hoping that Bush would die in office, be killed by terrorists, or that someone would do us a favor and shoot him.

Since you seem to be a person who follows current events how did you miss all of that?

More likely that you remember what I mentioned but hoped that nobody else would.

reply to post by americandingbat


One other thing, about the idea of depicting President Bush as a chimp who had to be put down. I would like to point out that the Left did much worse than that. Since the election in 2000, there have been statements made by persons on the Left hoping that Bush would die in office, be killed by terrorists, or that someone would do us a favor and shoot him.

Since you seem to be a person who follows current events how did you miss all of that?

More likely that you remember what I mentioned but hoped that nobody else would.

This is a perfect example of why racism is still a sensitive issue. What a perfect timing for this to happen right after U.S. Attorney General gives his speech calling the US a nation of cowards.

US a nation of Cowards

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
you know, i just got screamed at at lunch by a black coworker because i expressed the opinion when this matter came up that the cartoon was not racist...literally screamed at that i don't have the right to an opinion until i've walked a mile in her shoes. i guess she meant her black shoes. so let me think...hmmm...she's an umpteenth generation American. i'm first. she grew up middle class. i grew up poor.

Hey, I feel for you because I don't think this will go away any time soon for you.
Hate to tell you but you've just black-listed and word is getting out.
Don't feel bad, next time you see your coworker be sure to reminder her that not even Obama has walked a mile in her shoes.
He grew up in Hawaii, what in the world does he even know about the ghetto?

When I looked at the cartoon, I noticed that the NYPD shot the mad chimpanzee that wrote the stimulus bill. This is evidenced by NYPD cop #2's comment that they need to find someone else to write next one. No reference was ever made to Obama. Since Obama had to sign the bill you could argue that maybe there was a parallel to him. However I was not outraged I was more insensed than anything. The author clearly used bad judgement and consideration was definitely ill'advised. The cartoonist does indeed have an editor, whom was probably under a deadline. They should have some sort of moretorium for these cartoons as there are lots of sectors of society to offend. The application of political correctness is in order and although laborious and tedious at times must be maintained for everyone's sake.
Glad to be back!!!!
troylawson

reply to post by Alxandro


Hey A, enjoy your posts.

I would like to point out that Obama actually "grew up" in Indonesia. He didn't move to Hawaii until he was 11 years old. Almost all of his personality, attitudes, and worldview, would have been formed by then.

I think that it would be more accurate to say that he spent his teen years in Hawaii.