[Op/Ed] A political cartoon

[General Zod]

And the Post apologizes.

Spineless...

You know if they're going to give in every time Sharpton throws a bitchfit I would have much preferred them withholding the apology and just give him Murdoch instead.

It came off as more of a backhanded apology than anything else.

[Surlethe]

I have a hard time believing that anyone who'd ever gone to anything resembling a moderately sized high school hadn't at least gotten the idea of throwing around "monkey" as an insult at black people. My high-school was fairly modest with less than a thousand students but even then I'd heard people there throw around monkey as a slur at black students once or twice. (Of course it was a somewhat rural school too, that might have played a part).

Mine had a graduating class of 38. And, to CarsonPalmer, I saw Remember the Titans several times in school, but I don't remember hearing "monkey" used as a slur. In any case, I'm using myself as an illustrative example; my argument should stand on its own.

[Teleros]

So your want to go ahead and tell me that Gays outnumber Straits? And are not thus not a minority group? That's a bold claim.

Guess what? Per statistical measures if your not in the majority, your in the minority... Minority group does not mean ethnicity alone. Minority group can refer to any group that is in.... the minority if your a gay Native American in the United States for example, your in a very small minority, but if you were just Gay or just a Native America you'd still be in a minority group.

So you want to go ahead and point out where I claimed he wasn't attacking a minority? I was pointing out that the question as you phrased it was problematic precisely because "minority group" doesn't just mean ethnicity alone.

Unless you want to be a ruthless Sean Delonas appolgist you would admit the man shows a rather negative view of Gays in General(Other highlights of his are a Cartoon that Gay Marriage=Sheep Fuckers not once but twice as you'll notice from the above) and dare I say... and irrational hatred of them? (Unless you want to claim a rational hatred)

Once we accept the premise that Sea Delonas has an irrational hatred of one minority group and displays it for all to see in his art we can begin to exam other supposed hatreds in this light. If another artist had drawn this... say Bill Keane of Family Circus fame we could question his choice of figures for this comic and his linking of the two incidents and write it off as a poor choice. However that's not the person who drew this

Yes I admit that he's anti-gay (or homophobic or whatever the word is for hating them), I think that's pretty obvious. My point has been that I don't think you can draw conclusions on what racist attitudes he has / doesn't have based on his views of homosexuality. You're going for a sweeping generalisation which I why I said I'd have to pick "A" in my last post - I'm looking at this specific case.

[Covenant]

I hadn't heard of any kind of money shooting until after I'd seen the cartoon, and even then I think it makes little sense. What about a deranged chimpanzee that attacked a woman makes it similar to Congress?

If it had been a comic of a Chimp labelled "Congressional Democrats" chasing after a woman labelled "Economic Stimulus" it would have been clear, and still really unfunny and distasteful. As it stands it just seems really strange and really lame. If the cartoonist didn't suck, he could have made his point clear, or could have chosen something better. If he wanted to make it a comic about how ineptly written the bill was, why not choose something else? Anything else? The situations aren't the same, and it doesn't make any sense. People are justified in being upset when you make it possible for them to be offended. If you're a professional cartoonist, you either need to accept what happens, apologize if you fuck up, or not be such an amateur. He could have just pulled someone aside and say "Hey, does this look hugely racist to you?" If he wants to claim he never even thought that someone could make the Chimp-Obama connection, he's lying.

I doubt the comic was intentionally racist, because that's professional suicide, let's be clear. No cartoonist is that dumb. But it depends a lot on the reader catching the subtle message when there's a much more obvious and one, especially when plenty of people--I'm sure--hadn't heard of a monkey mauling.

[Axis Kast]

I hadn't heard of any kind of money shooting until after I'd seen the cartoon, and even then I think it makes little sense.

I think there was a credible presumption that if you were the type to read Post cartoons, you were also most likely familiar with the previous day's leading story.

What about a deranged chimpanzee that attacked a woman makes it similar to Congress?

I think the "joke" relied on general understandings of the stimulus bill as being barely recognizable due to "infiltration" of pork and special interests; hence, unrecognizable as the work of somebody with human faculties. In other words, "Only a monkey could have written something so incredibly stupid..."

If it had been a comic of a Chimp labelled "Congressional Democrats" chasing after a woman labelled "Economic Stimulus" it would have been clear, and still really unfunny and distasteful. As it stands it just seems really strange and really lame. If the cartoonist didn't suck, he could have made his point clear, or could have chosen something better.

This is a pointless, counterfactual speculation, and easily countered. Where do we get if I remind you that, had he wished to talk about assassination, the central role of the police officers makes no sense? The entire joke -- even as a racist contrivance -- is dependent upon prior knowledge of the chimpanzee mauling.

[Kitsune]

Am I the only one who thinks he cannot draw for being a professional cartoonist?

[Uraniun235]

Am I the only one who thinks he cannot draw for being a professional cartoonist?

There's quite a few "professional" political cartoonists who can't draw for shit. The cartoonist featured in this thread is head and shoulders above the likes of Joe Liccar or Bruce Tinsley or Ted Rall.

Of course, the real injustice is that Tim Kreider has yet to win a Pulitzer.

[Mr Bean]

Update on the story(Or side note

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NAACP Wants NY Post Editor Col Allan, Cartoonist Sean Delonas Fired

VERENA DOBNIK

NEW YORK — The head of the NAACP on Saturday urged readers to boycott the New York Post, calling a cartoon that the newspaper published an invitation to assassinate President Barack Obama.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called on the tabloid to remove editor-in-chief Col Allan, as well as longtime cartoonist Sean Delonas.

Earlier this week, the newspaper apologized to anyone who might have been offended by the image printed Wednesday, which some say likens Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police in Connecticut.

Jealous said the cartoon was "an invitation to assassination."

On Thursday, after protests by notable figures including director Spike Lee, the paper posted an editorial on its Web site saying the cartoon was meant to mock the federal economic stimulus bill, but "to those who were offended by the image, we apologize."

A spokeswoman for the newspaper referred The Associated Press to the paper's editorial when asked Saturday about the proposed NAACP boycott.

Jealous called the editorial "a half of an apology, without elaboration."

The drawing, he said, "picks off the scabs of all the racial wounds."

He spoke as the NAACP gathered for its annual meeting in New York, where it was founded a century ago.

NAACP officials said that if the Post does not take "serious disciplinary action," they would reach out to organizations across the country to join them in their efforts against the tabloid.

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond called the publication of the cartoon "thoughtlessness taken to the extreme. ... Anyone who is not offended by it does not have any sensitivity."

I'll say this right now, despite the fact I have become convinced this that the cartoon was a dump one, and I don't like the cartoonist style or his portrayal of gays. I do not support his firing nor the firing of his editor. You have to trust your editors and lets be blunt it was not the Editor nor the Cartoonist who apologized by saying "We are so sorry if you find us offensive" with strong overtones that they were not sorry and if you were offended, it was your own damn fault. It was not the cartoonist or the editor who wrote that up, but the Post leaders.

Being a bigoted insensitive fucktard is no reason to fire him unless he has a history of it. The fact he's not been fired for his gaybashing means people are fine with it.

[Duckie]

Am I the only one who thinks he cannot draw for being a professional cartoonist?

There's quite a few "professional" political cartoonists who can't draw for shit. The cartoonist featured in this thread is head and shoulders above the likes of Joe Liccar or Bruce Tinsley or Ted Rall.

Of course, the real injustice is that Tim Kreider has yet to win a Pulitzer.

I'm just wondering if political cartoons are supposed to be funny or any good. I used to think so, but after looking at every single one of these guy's cartoons from October to today, I haven't found a single example of funny.

1) Sports player wants to shoot somebody (about 200 times)
2) Boogeyman of the day is shown holding up a man labeled taxpayer (at least thrice, including two seperated by mere days with the only addition being another guy labeled 'Pork' alongside the guy labeled 'Bailout')
3) Whores whores whores (basically every other comic having to do with politicians).
4) Show clintons as secretly controlled by arab conspiracy, ACORN in league with Osama Bin Laden, or other slander of democratic politicians.

You are now a successful cartoonist.

[The Spartan]

You don't get exposed to much rightwing news do you Duckie?

Number 2 and 4 on your list, in particular, are pretty much the tactic of the lot of them, near as I can tell.

I try to avoid the lot of them but this being Texas I still get exposed to them and this is what I typically see them doing.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Not to bring up an old thread, but I saw THIS:

And thought it a good end to the argument.