Satire or Stupidity?
The New Yorker magazine has come under intense fire for publishing this cartoon of a turban-wearing Barack and a militant, afro-toting Michelle.
On first view, I can see why. Without understanding its context, it is easy to see this as a cartoon that seeks only to confirm all of the worst rumours about Barack Obama and his wife.
But let’s find some context here, for without context there is no meaning. The New Yorker is a liberal, progressive publication. Anyone who reads it, or knows anything about it, is aware of that.
As editor-in-chief David Remnick said: “The intent of the cover is to satirize the vicious and racist attacks and rumors and misconceptions about the Obamas that have been floating around in the blogosphere and are reflected in public opinion polls. What we set out to do was to throw all these images together, which are all over the top and to shine a kind of harsh light on them, to satirize them…”
Despite the explanation, people are still angry. It seems that the real fear is that those who don’t know what the publication stands for may see the cover and think that it is an endorsement of the rumours.
However, the cover also carries the headline ‘The Politics of Fear’ which gives some idea that it is meant not to be taken on face value. Some have suggested that the publication should have added a caption. I’m with Paul Lewis at the UK’s Guardian who asks “A caption? What would it have said?”
To be honest, if the media had not made much of it, the cover may have slipped by unnoticed anyway. The New Yorker is not read by a huge amount of people. It could also be argued that the New Yorker knew exactly what it was doing when it printed this. At the end of the day, their job is to sell more publications and what better way to do so than by creating a storm?
The controversy over the cover may also have gone some way towards bringing to light some of the rumours about Obama and his wife and showing just how ridiculous they are. After all, isn’t that what the New Yorker intended to do?
Do we also really believe that people are so stupid that they are unable to read between the lines? Or is it, as one commentor wrote on a blog the case that “Context is lost over time…in months to come, this image will still be around, the editor of New Yorker’s ‘explanation’ won’t be.”
Is it simply that Obama supporters - as I suggest in a recent Guardian article - are so protective of him that they have simply lost their sense of humour?
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