'Racist' US cartoon causes stir

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Its pretty questionable - though it may simply be a case that the cartoonists intent didn't come across very well; though something like that should have been caught by an editor.

Likelihood is that it was trying to say that a chimp could have written a better bill than the Porkulus one written by Congress and signed by 0bama.

The moment Sharpton gets involved, you know it's much ado over trivia.

[jundp 191]

Satirical cartoons are cartoons that use irony, wit, and sarcasm visually to portray a meaning.

If the meaning was that the chimp who was shot in CT could have written the stimulus bill, well, that's irony and sarcasm (I don't know about wit)...

I don't think it's racist, but I don't think it's very successful as a satirical cartoon. And, honestly, I'd be more upset as the chimp owner or the woman mauled by the chimp than worry about it being racist.

[Y's_habibitk 2]

Is this the one?

Maybe, the cartoon is just a reference to a million monkees with typewriters eventually writing the entire works of Shakespeare.

I wouldn't say that cartoon is appropriate; however, I would also say that it falls under the category of "free speech."

I always said that a shaved monkey could have done better than Bush, and I certainly didnt mean anything racist.

[panamania79 2]

Its pretty questionable - though it may simply be a case that the cartoonists intent didn't come across very well; though something like that should have been caught by an editor.

Likelihood is that it was trying to say that a chimp could have written a better bill than the Porkulus one written by Congress and signed by 0bama.

The moment Sharpton gets involved, you know it's much ado over trivia.

Al Sharpton really needs to hang it up !

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

just heard today

what's the difference between jesus and obama?

jesus was a carpenter, and obama can't even put together a cabinet.

[Peikko 1,575]

That would be funny if Obama saw himself as the messiah, but he doesn't. I love satire, and cartoons but this is just lame.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

That would be funny if Obama saw himself as the messiah, but he doesn't. I love satire, and cartoons but this is just lame.

did jesus see himself as the messiah?

[Peikko 1,575]

He knew he was.

Seriously, I have nothing against Obama being lampooned, in fact, he needs to be. I just find the current crop of jokes embarrassingly unfunny. It's just laziness really.

I also don't even know if Obama is singularly hopeless in the D.I.Y department. A familiarity with his cackhandedness would improve this one no end.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

That would be funny if Obama saw himself as the messiah, but he doesn't. I love satire, and cartoons but this is just lame.

did jesus see himself as the messiah?

did they have mirrors back then?

[dalegg 143]

The problem of course is that if the original meaning is unclear - there's going to be a greater variance of interpretation. Comparisons to apes and monkeys are well known r*cist stereotypes - the newspaper should have known this also.

Yeah, that was dumb. Even if the cartoonist didn't mean for it to be a racial joke, the fact is that these types of jokes exist and I'm sure he knew that so he should have avoided it if he wanted to stay away from the racial inference.

However, maybe he did NOT want to stay away and wanted to test the stamina of the country under the new administration. Some people have suggested that more things than usual would be perceived at racist under the new administration and maybe he was testing that theory.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The problem of course is that if the original meaning is unclear - there's going to be a greater variance of interpretation. Comparisons to apes and monkeys are well known r*cist stereotypes - the newspaper should have known this also.

Yeah, that was dumb. Even if the cartoonist didn't mean for it to be a racial joke, the fact is that these types of jokes exist and I'm sure he knew that so he should have avoided it if he wanted to stay away from the racial inference.

However, maybe he did NOT want to stay away and wanted to test the stamina of the country under the new administration. Some people have suggested that more things than usual would be perceived at racist under the new administration and maybe he was testing that theory.

As I say if you have to think about the joke and the symbolism, it probably wasn't very well conceived. The fact that the newspaper did such a piss poor job of clarifying the intent kind of speaks to that.

[Danno 1,228]

But lets forget about this stupid cartoon for a minute, say there was a top selling movie right now which featured a lovable (or not) monkey... and someone actually cartooned the monkey in the movie with a political event currently going on in the white house.

Should cartoonist be under threat if they ran such a cartoon which in it's self had nothing to do with race?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Sure, lets dispense with concrete examples and come up with some half-baked hypotheticals.

[Danno 1,228]

Sure, lets dispense with concrete examples and come up with some half-baked hypotheticals.

Awe come one PD, "half-baked" is your specialty.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Sure, lets dispense with concrete examples and come up with some half-baked hypotheticals.

Awe come one PD, "half-baked" is your specialty.

Says you - the guy who can't seem to address a point in relation to a specific context.