Brilliant satire or offensive?

[MrsSpringsteen]

That looks like something Fox News would come up with (not as a satire), and that's the point. I think plenty of people have the ability to figure that out.

Personally I think Rolling Stone making him look like Superman with a glow surrounding him is more offensive.

One more thing to dominate the media so they can avoid talking about anything that actually matters.

 

[deep]

The only context,
is that it is the cover of a magazine.

It is not a stand alone billboard.


Some have said it is not as subtle as some of the other covers I posted.


What is subtle about comparing the GOP elephant being pulled down
to Saddam (the butcher) Hussien?


If the cover only had Obama in the Whitehouse with the flag burning in the fireplace,
would it be less offensive?

I think with 4-5 of the rumors, it is much less offensive because there is no way to mistake it for a serious piece, such as Bush burning the Constitution.

It is one cover.
Would it be better as four covers, with one rumor each?

 

[deep]

I don't recall any Obama fans, complaining in March about this cover.


And more importantly, I don't recall any Hillary supporter's raising a big fuss.

And was this really fair?

To label Hillary as "Custard's Last Stand"?

When the primary was far from over?

 

[INDY500]

I agree with you.

But at the same time I think the picture is too high brow for a good 50% of the population.

Here in Indiana we call that elitism.

Got some other words for it too.

 

[Liesje]

I think the picture is too high brow for a good 50% of the population. Then again, I wouldn't imagine them to be New Yorker readers in the first place.

That's how I feel. Whether or not it's good/bad, clever/stupid also depends on the audience.

Can't really compare a New Yorker cover to the Rolling Stone cover without considering the audience, who typically reads those publications...

 

[anitram]

Here in Indiana we call that elitism.

Got some other words for it too.

I like how Lies agreed, out there in the elitist snobatorium of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I guess they're just different than you Indiana folks.

 

[maycocksean]

Here in Indiana we call that elitism.

Got some other words for it too.

Spare us the populist BS.

 

[maycocksean]

I like how Lies agreed, out there in the elitist snobatorium of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I guess they're just different than you Indiana folks.

 

[maycocksean]

What is subtle about comparing the GOP elephant being pulled down
to Saddam (the butcher) Hussien?

The comparsion between the GOP and Hussein wasn't being thrown about widely. (In fact that cover was the probably the first time such a comparison had been made.)

The insinuations about Obama's "Americanism", his supposedly "Muslim past" etc however have been out there for quite some time, so the cover is hardly original or subtle.

But as I said before, it doesn't really bother me. I don't know that Obama's campaign really needed to respond to it at all. . .but then I guess they don't want to make the "Kerry mistake" of ignoring insinuations that might make him look bad.

 

[deep]

The insinuations about Obama's "Americanism", his supposedly "Muslim past" etc however have been out there for quite some time, so the cover is hardly original or subtle.

Don't you think by stacking all the rumors up together and the attention this is getting will be a 'net' gain for Obama.

This will be on Fox, Hannity and Holmes, O'Rielly and they will all say these things are not true.


And the people that keep posting that 50 % of the country won't get it.

Again, if it was just Obama with the flag in the fireplace, I might agree.

But, with all these rumors stacked up, I think most people will see it for what it is.

 

[deep]

Why do some people have the impression Obama does not like the American Flag ?

Are Obama and his campaign contributing to the American Flag issue ?


If he wants to be President, perhaps he should get the impression out there he likes the flag of the country he wants to lead?

Especially, with people that have served.

 

[A_Wanderer]

They may have served, but they haven't yet served in Obama's massively increased AmeriCorps.

 

[Bluer White]

That looks like something Fox News would come up with (not as a satire), and that's the point.

The purpose of The New Yorker cover is to sell more magazines. THAT'S the point.

Not to use FoxNews as a punching bag (...yet again).

 

[deep]

The purpose of The New Yorker cover is to sell more magazines. .

You mean the cover is to get one to pick up the magazine?

Then open to contents

 

[Bono's shades]

I guess I'm on the "It's not offensive, but not really good satire either" side of things. The only real way you can tell it's satire and not scaremongering from some ultra-right wing nutcase cartoonist is that it's on the cover of the New Yorker.

 

[deep]

Why does it have to be an "either / or" question ?

Why not ask,

What do you think of this magazine cover?


This is a bit like

Are you, with us or against us ?

 

[anitram]

Why does it have to be an "either / or" question ?

Why not ask,

What do you think of this magazine cover?


This is a bit like

Are you, with us or against us ?

Cuz that's the headline I saw and I was too lazy to change it.

 

[deep]

I know,

and I don't want to fight with you

you are too cute (and an Egoyan fan to boot)

I saw the article,
and I often use titles, too.


framing the argument,
is almost tantamount to winning it.

 

[jay canseco]

Isn't this the perfect tool for 'the opposition'?

Firstly, it encapsulates many of their voters' fears and hatred of Obama in a ready-to-send image.

Secondly, the opposition will rally around an attack of thier intelligence by 'elitist liberals'. Nothing rallies the opposition like an attack.

 

[INDY500]

Spare us the populist BS.

What, too busy looking down your nose to me?

 

[Irvine511]

i thought it was funny.

but then, i'm a gigantic elitist who does things like read the challenging articles that are often found in magazines like The New Yorker.

perhaps i should be reading People while waiting in line at The Cheesecake Factory.

 

[Irvine511]

What, too busy looking down your nose to me?

ok, but seriously, do you think it's a good thing that we have such an anti-intellectual movement in this country? the New Yorker is nothing if not outwardly and unapologetically "elite" -- in that the articles are long, sophisticated, highly literate, and meant to be read by a very well educated audience.

does this then disqualify the magazine from having an authentic point of view?

 

[deep]

This will be on Fox, Hannity and Holmes, O'Rielly and they will all say these things are not true.

I did catch part of Hannity and Colmes

Hannity and guest Ralph Reed, both said it went over the line.

Then they said it comes with the territory, Hannity complained about a cartoon Vanity Fair has of him. Then they said maybe The New Yorker is trying to garner sympathy for Obama.

 

[yolland]

I thought INDY was commenting on the notion that this particular cartoon is too impossibly sophisticated for 50% of Americans to comprehend, not on the general character of The New Yorker magazine. If large numbers of people are unable to recognize the cartoon's sarcasm and interpret it as anti-Obama because they happen to be unfamiliar with the magazine and its political slant, that in itself hardly makes the cartoon "highbrow"; on the contrary, it only underlines how heavy-handed and unimaginative it is.

Perhaps I misread what he meant.

but then, i'm a gigantic elitist who does things like read the challenging articles that are often found in magazines like The New Yorker.

perhaps i should be reading People while waiting in line at The Cheesecake Factory.

You might want to check where People is published and where Cheesecake Factory's locations are concentrated before making that juxtapositon...

 

[deep]

 

[maycocksean]

Don't you think by stacking all the rumors up together and the attention this is getting will be a 'net' gain for Obama.

This will be on Fox, Hannity and Holmes, O'Rielly and they will all say these things are not true.


And the people that keep posting that 50 % of the country won't get it.

Again, if it was just Obama with the flag in the fireplace, I might agree.

But, with all these rumors stacked up, I think most people will see it for what it is.

I hope you're right.

As I've said. . .I'm really not that bothered by this at all. It'll cause a furor for a bit, but honestly I don't think it's worth all that much fuss. It will--and should-blow over with no lasting damage or benefit to Obama.

On the other hand--and I realize this is totally off topic and yet should be absolutely appropriate given the nature of this forum--the version of "Running to Stand Still" on the Sydney ZOO TV concert is AMAZING! (sorry, I'm listening to the tape in the background while I'm posting and I just had to tell somebody. .somebody who would understand! )
/end gushing.

and then the segue into "Streets" What?!? Beautiful!!!!

/end gushing. for real this time)

 

[maycocksean]

What, too busy looking down your nose to me?

Yes, indeed. From high on my elitist perch here on this tiny little Pacific Island with my high paying elitist job as a missionary teacher. . .Yup totally looking down my nose at you.





Come on, Indy. Granted I spoke sharply (because I don't care for the kind of "we're real authentic folk down here in Indiana not like you liberal coast dwellers" reverse-elitism that I, perhaps wrongly, read into your post), but you should know me well enough to know that I do respect and appreciate you and any eye-rolling should or "nose-look-downing" should never been taken too personally.

You're a smart guy. In fact it's probably why I "snapped" at you.

 

[maycocksean]

oh snap.

 

[AchtungBono]

I think that the magazine went a bit overboard.
If they wanted to dress Obama and his wife in Muslim garb then they could have had him holding prayer beads and his wife wearing a burka. They didn't have to add fuel to the fire of suspicion and hatred that surrounds Islam by perpetuating the myth that automatically equates Islam with terrorism - which they clearly did by having Michelle in a gun belt, a picture of Bin Laden in the background and a burning American flag in the fireplace.

Since 9/11 (and even before), the word "muslim" evokes images of screaming Ayatollahs, Osama Bin Laden, hostages and beheadings, and bloodthirsty crowds burning American flags and shouting "Death to America". I'm sorry that the Islamic religion has become something to be feared rather than respected.

And if they intended it to be humorous then they should have qualified it with a caption or at least something to let people know that they don't think Obama is a terrorist.

That is my humble opinion.

 

[Mudbugfish]

Yes I saw the image on another site. Don't like it!