So, this is what brings me back to the keyboard … (cough, cough!)
The New York Post recently ran a cartoon showing police gunning down a chimpanzee, and one of them remarks, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
Predictably, Al Sharpton has come out and accused the NYP of racism in running this ad, portraying President Obama as an ape, an old racial image that hasn’t entirely gone away.
The cartoon? Right here …
From the New York Post
So, what to make of this? Apparently, the joke is supposed to refer to an incident in Stamford, Connecticut in which an escaped chimpanzee was shot to death after attacking a neighbor. The joke, then, is that the stimulus bill is so bad it could have been written by an ape, and now we’ll need a new one.
The charge, naturally enough, is that racists see African-Americans as apes. Since this is Pres. Obama’s stimulus bill, he’s the ape.
Here’s what I think …
The joke might have been funny. But you know that little switch in your head that’s supposed to stop you from saying stupid things? It should have stopped this one.
I don’t think that there was a racist intent. However, it’s important to remember that in communication, there are two main things: What you say, and what is heard. Or, in this case, seen.
I wouldn’t have understood the joke without the full story. I hadn’t heard of this Stamford chimp. I expect that I’m not completely alone in that. Had I seen this cartoon before hearing the controversy, I would have been puzzled at what anyone was thinking in running that kind of thing. Racism wouldn’t be that far from my mind.
Even seeing the defense, I have to fall back to insensitivity.
Yes, insensitivity. At this point, I expect someone to accuse me of being politically correct. Go ahead, get it out of your system. Now, let’s move on.
Let’s grab some context here. Racism still exists. It has been a part of the campaign against Barack Obama. Do you remember the Curious George incident? Or the idea that Colin Powell only endorsed Obama because those black guys stick together? Or maybe the buttons at the Texas Republican convention asking if we’d still call it the White House if Obama was elected? Or that e-mail I received?
Racism exists, and it should have entered someone’s mind to consider whether this cartoon was appropriate. Was this deliberate? I doubt it.
Was it stupid? Absolutely.
This, of course, is going to bring up the matter of political correctness, but that’s enough of a topic change that I don’t want to deal with it comprehensively … so here’s the quick-and-dirty version: just because it’s PC doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Giving a thought to racial implications, and choosing to avoid a controversy, is a lot like good manners. Sometimes in normal conversation, you might think of something to say and then realize that it might be taken in more than one way.
Generally speaking, you’d therefore avoid saying it, right?
Or, maybe, you’d say it but make sure that you clarify what you mean. If this cartoon had contained the headline “Stamford, CT police shoot escaped Chimp,” then maybe that would have helped. Maybe not.
In this case, the Post was wrong. They committed an act of poor judgment. It’s not a deliberately-offensive act, such as the Don Imus controversy of a few years ago (By the way, who on earth thought it would be good to give him a microphone again? What is wrong with this world?), but certainly insensitive.
This was a foreseeable issue, and the Post made a bad call. Sadly, as the discussion evolves, it has further polarized a certain segment of anti-PC folks into their own kind of dogma.
It’s going to be a very long four, or eight, years if this keeps up.
February 20, 2009 at 12:39 pm
The funny thing is that I didn’t think of anything racial about this cartoon until people started to make a big fuss about it. I simply saw it in the light of the stimulus bill being so crappy that a chimp could’ve done it. I didn’t think anything about it was insensitive, but then again I don’t go looking for such things either. I suppose people will see what they want to see, which tells us all we need to know about those people.
February 20, 2009 at 1:02 pm
A. Possibly good advice for Eric Holder ? B. Perhaps one of the things wrong with this country on the whole race relations/racism issue.
I’m gonna say B. I’d also like to float out there to anyone who may care. Remember the New Yorker cover ? If there is a line where is it ? Do we have to keep being afraid of the line,honoring it like a barbed wire fence, or should we bust through it and be done with it ?
February 20, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Here’s the thing:
1. Since the Stamford chimp shooting has absolutely nothing to do with the stimulus bill, knowing about that Stamford shooting doesn’t help us understand the intent of the author.
2. My wife and I figured out the very simple thing that the cartoonist could have done to avoid the whole controversy. He could have had the chimp wear a tee shirt that said “Member of Congress” on it. This simple change to the cartoon would have nipped criticism in the bud and conveyed his true intent. That is assuming that his true intent was not to denigrate the President of the United States in one of the most traditionally racist means possible.
February 20, 2009 at 1:50 pm
This is our commentary this morning on the whole mess.
The Post should have exercised more editorial discretion over the cartoon. But everyone seems to be forgetting the real victim here- the 55 year old woman who had her face ripped apart and hands mauled by said chimpanzee.
http://tinyurl.com/bttkzy
February 20, 2009 at 1:56 pm
[...] wickle [...]
February 20, 2009 at 2:54 pm
The cracka elites think they are safely ensconced in their ivory 4th estate media towers. The Obama presidency marked a new era of racial understanding, tolerance, and respect for the darker complected races. Murdoch’s racist empire is the first sacrifice on the long road to cultural equality and eventual reparations for generations of brutal subjugation.
February 20, 2009 at 3:07 pm
@Ryan – I see what you mean … but why not NOT say something that someone else might find offensive? If you have something really important to say, great. This wasn’t.
@Alfie – I think that A is a valid option, too. As for “the line,” I’m sure that I misunderstand what you’re saying … It sounds like you’re suggesting we should just go for saying the most offensive thing that we can think of. Since that doesn’t seem like something you’d say, I don’t understand. Sorry if I’m just dense.
@Rutherford – the t-shirt might have helped. To be honest, though, I think that the connection between the chimp and the stimulus is just too obscure to have been trying to make a joke of it.
I’ve told some duds before in my life … So, I understand.
@American Heartland – Okay. True enough.
By the way, I edited the URL. I try to keep the language here as clean as possible. The link is still valid.
@Johnny – congratulations on saying something (whatever it is) that I don’t have to remove this time. I think, though, that Mr. Murdoch’s “empire” is still a long way from having been sacrificed.
February 22, 2009 at 8:21 pm
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