I dislike this Sean Delonas cartoon for several reasons, but it made news as far away as Australia after its publication Wednesday in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post.
It shows two cops who’ve just shot and killed a monkey — ostensibly a reference to the Connecticut chimp killed by police after it brutally attacked a woman — with one saying, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” President Obama signed it the day before.
And that all revived memories of the tendency of racists to equate blacks with monkeys. Of course, any issue with even a whiff of racism attracts Al Sharpton like sugar attracts fruit flies and he was on it within hours, protesting and talking of boycotts. The NAACP is also calling for a boycott of the tabloid and wants Delonas fired. The Post issued an apology of sorts, buried inside the paper, and only to some: those offended. But it went on to say:
“However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past – and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.
To them, no apology is due.”
Stay classy, guys. With equal class and sensitivity, Delonas told CNN in a brief interview, that this whole controversy is “absolutely friggin’ ridiciulous.”
Uh huh. To think that he was not depicting the president as a monkey requires a suspension of disbelief. Or blinders.
My biggest complaint about the ‘toon is that it is neither funny nor witty, not clever, incisive, thought-provoking or in any way crafted to make us say “wow” in a good way. At a time when newspapers are struggling and folding, when editorial cartoons are an endangered species, that doesn’t help anyone’s cause.
2/24 Update: Murdoch Apologizes
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Absolutely 100% agree with that last paragraph. The comic offers no insight or intelligence and the joke just falls flat.
Contrast that to the blatant depictions of George W Bush as some sort of monkey. It wasn’t my favorite light to paint him in but in a lot of ways, it was apt.
Jack’s last blog post..links for 2009-02-21
That’s an interesting point, Jack. While I never like to see anyone reduced to an animal, even as caricature, if Obama were white this controversy wouldn’t exist. If Delonas wanted to call the president a jackass, he could have drawn a donkey. It’s even the symbol of the Dem party and would have expressed his opinion two ways.
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Me thinks the reference to the monkey has to do with a creature of lower intelligence. I do not believe it has anything to do with race. There’s a saying that goes “so simple a monkey can do it”. Too many people are just too racially sensitive.
Hello, jubilee, and welcome to From Scratch. That’s an interesting perspective and one I hadn’t considered. I’m sure others share your view. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!