Thursday, February 19, 2009

Poll: Is the New York Post's Cartoon Offensive?

This post goes along with the polls in the side bar. I wrote a post yesterday called Eric Holder is Correct where I discussed an editorial cartoon that really angered me as racist. The truth is that I read a post today by an author, Peter David, whom I admire who happens to White. He did not see the same problems with the cartoon.

My response to the cartoon itself is twofold:

First, it's the New York Post. Were they attempting to slam Obama personally, associating him in a racist fashion with a monkey? Possible. Then again, there's the old notion that if you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with infinite typewriters and give them an infinite amount of time, they could produce the works of Shakespeare. So it could be argued that a dead monkey is an editorial cartoon shorthand for something that anyone could have produced, in a random fashion, and not particularly well.

Second, and more important...it's the New York Post! Why does anyone give a damn what they say about anything? Before they produce the works of Shakespeare, the infinite monkeys will probably produce an issue of the Post. It should be accorded exactly that amount of respect and concern.

He thinks that Sharpton jumps the gun attributing racism to the editorial staff and artist at the New York Post. I don't agree with how he understood the cartoon. I don't see it. It got me thinking: Do all black people see the cartoon the way I do? What do other people see when they see it?

Here is the cartoon again:


I'd like to see some comments about what you believe the cartoon is saying. If you don't want to comment and vote in my poll, please just vote. I think the results could be interesting.

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