15 January 2012

On senseless sensibilities

The two cases I am somewhat forcibly joining in this post are continents away and politics apart, but I consider them to be connected. To start with:



Of course, this petition is righteous, and thanks to Francis for pointing it out. In fact, only due to my lack of Photoshop skills I don't add a Judaic element to that picture. Besides, there already is a Jew in it, so let's consider the triangle being complete.

The second case is no less loaded, although its protagonist is of a more ephemeral nature, to be consigned to archives in one or five years:

Whoever follows the exploits of the first lady and her husband has had an opportunity to notice the somewhat profligate habits of the pair. Some of the facts are mentioned here, if of interest. Deservedly or not (and I tend to consider the criticism to be deserved), these facts cause considerable ire in the midst of American taxpayers. The above caricature is one of the results.

And the response, by one Christopher Knight of LA Times, was swift:
The caricature of Obama as a profligate queen relies on the racist stereotype of an "uppity Negro," which emerged among slave masters in an earlier American era.
How do you like them chickens? To my, admittedly less sensitive eye, the caricature relies on the image of Marie Antoinette, but the things you see from LA are obviously different. Should I mention that the school of thought crying "racism" every time someone criticizes the POTUS or his minions is already somewhat of an institution in American political circles? Nah...

Well, I just have to quote a part of the Bookworm's response to Mr Knight of LA Times:
Sherlock Holmes famously said that “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Since it must be impossible for a major publication such as the Los Angeles Times to have hired an idiot, the improbable truth we are dealing with is that, since being hired, you have had your brain sucked out by zombies.
Being much less delicate than Bookworm, I have to add something (related to both cases mentioned in this post). Do you know what they wish to people who can't take a joke?

Yep. Right.