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The New Yorker Plays Itself Big Time

Posted by 4PL

Magazine tries to be Funny ends up looking stupid

In their upcoming issue The New Yorker will publish what they call a “satire” ,that depicts Senator Obama dressed in Muslim-type garb and his wife Michelle dressed like a guerrilla soldier w/ giving each other pounds. The political cartoon also has a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the wall and an American flag burning in the fireplace. The magazine says the cartoon called “Politics of Fear” is supposed to highlight how conservatives have tried depict Obama and his wife over this campiagn period and his entire political career.

The Obama camp isn’t buying it. The NY Daily News has quoted the Obama camp as saying: “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree,”

The New Yorker defending itself had this to say

“Our cover … combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are,….The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall - all of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to the absurd. And that’s the spirit of this cover,”

M.T.

10 Comments »

Comment by malcolm

2008-07-14 17:58:35

It is kind of funny, but the humor of it is so subtle that I doubt that most would get it.

The humor is similar to the way that most haven’t noticed that Stephen Colbert is actually doing an insulting parody of Bill O’Reilly.

Well, it least they didn’t make Michelle’s hips too big.

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Comment by Juan

2008-07-14 17:58:54

Urban Thought (Highbrid Nation since 2006) shot me this cover earlier this afternoon but I still don’t know what to think. On one hand I immediately feel the cover is offensive but being the responsible journalist we’ve sought out to be I had to think again.

Obviously I can’t speak for true motivation and still don’t feel that its publishing is warranted. However I do feel that it speaks the truth. Its a political cartoon based on fact. Its showing Obama surrounded by elements of his campaign that have become the center of controversy with or without merit. Is it ridiculous? Sure, what political cartoon isn’t, If anything the egg is on the face of those who have spent a great amount of ink focusing on these elements that obviously have no determining influence on whether or not Sen. Obama will or won’t be a good president.

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Comment by Marcus "Dos Un" Holmes

2008-07-14 18:04:58

crazy b

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Comment by malcolm

2008-07-14 18:05:56

A better example…. It’s funny in the way that Archie Bunker was funny.

The character of Archie Bunker was bigoted, racist, and a pretty foul person. The joke was not that he was saying these things, the joke was that there were actually people in the world who believed those things.

This cover is funny because it’s a joke on all of the people that believe the crazy things about Obama.

But, as I said, the joke is extremely subtle, and you probably have to be half-crazy like me to get it.

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Comment by Juan

2008-07-14 18:12:05

I agree. I think more of a jab at the press and those politicos who actually have made a big deal out of it.

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Comment by malcolm

2008-07-14 18:14:14

Yes, it’s like a squirt gun that actually shoots at the person holding it.

It’s like meeting Abe Lincoln and saying… “yes, but how was the play up until that point?”

(Comments wont nest below this level)

Comment by Juan

2008-07-14 22:35:05

ha ha ha! It was a killer.

Comment by Urban Thought

2008-07-14 23:40:06

excellent analogy

Reply here

Comment by TheBolB

2008-07-15 12:31:41

I know the true analogy…The writer from the New Yorker’s story about it being a “satire” that depicts the way conservatives view Obama is a load of shit….That sad excuse was a way for the magazine to have it’s cake & eat it too…they wanted to put that picture on the front page of their magazine to discredit Obama’s campaign & sell magazine to the conservatives while making it seem as if they are siding with Obama @ the same time…I don’t care what their excuse is…first appearances go along way & that’s a bad look….

&&& according to them these are all views/satires, correct??? Well if you look @ the MIDDLE of the picture/cover…that pound wasn’t a satire…they actually did that @ the end of one of his speeches…for them to use that, & put it right in the middle of the picture…….just shows the length that people would go to keep us down…

-B.

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Comment by skinnygirluver

2008-07-15 12:44:50

I love the cover. There is nothing offensive about it AT ALL. I’m sick of politically correct BS, let’s expose the truth about what is in some American’s minds about Obama and maybe we can get past it but it has to be exposed first. I’m sure there are some American’s that see this when they hear Obama’s name. It actually is a funny cover and if anyone is dumb enough to believe that this cover is anything more than a tease on a racist fearful mind than you need to educate yourself.

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