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.

13 comments:

Dick Stanley said...

Mooch, as some critics call her, reminds me of a female Adam Clayton Powell. He was, in case you don't know, a famously corrupt African-American U.S. rep of the 1950s. His black constituents (of Harlem, NYC) never stopped voting for him, even after his thievery was well known. 

A few of them were candid enough to tell journalists that they saw all white politicians as crooks and so they were glad that a black one finally was getting a share of the gold. I suspect Mooch's fans feel much the same way.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Whatever Mooch's fans feel, crying "racism" is a cheap, while effective, response to everything critical of the First Family.

Shaun Downey (Jams O Donnell) said...

As a caricature the one of Obama is pretty mild compared to the genuinely offensive way the Obamas have been portrayed,

Butgiven the pathetic rabble that the Republicans have to choose  their presidential candidate from I get the feeling that caricaturists will have another four years to mock Obama.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Not only mild, but I also have a trouble to discern racism in it.

As for GOP crowd, I guess you are right at that.

yitzgood said...

Agreed, merely depicting Michelle as Marie Antoinette is not racist. But how does that muscular arm figure in?

Shaun Downey (Jams O Donnell) said...

It's not a good place to pick a fight on racism.There are plenty of  cartoons of the Obamas that are truly appalling

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Dunno. Is there a racist angle to that arm, you think? Somehow it's difficult for me to make a connection.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yeah, some of them are, but not in this case.

yitzgood said...

It doesn't go with the Marie Antoinette theme, and it is hard to discern the intent of the photoshopper in putting it there. Someone anxious to find racist angles could probably find one. Blacks are physically threatening or something like that. Hard to tell what it is supposed to mean.

Noga said...

Michelle Obama is very proud of her shapely arms. She works out very hard to get them into that condition. Her husband bragged about her "right to bare arms" at some social party. I guess the caricaturist wanted to enhance that aspect of hers, as it seems to have become something of a legend.

Incognito73 said...

You bet we were pissed at the extravagance of their Christas vacay, and at least she could pick tasteful dresses for those thousands.
and yes, some of the caricatures are def. racist and appalling as Jams mentioned, but Marie Antoinette? Please. 

Even Bush was portrayed as a monkey.

But it's maddening  to be called racist when one criticizes the Obamas.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

True.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yep, that would explain the arm.