2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
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TechnographDear New Yorker Editor:
By Sujay Kumar
Posted: 7/18/08 Section: Opinion Columns
Re: A letter in response to Barry Blitt's cartoon "The Politics of Fear" (July 21st, 2008)
The controversy over The New Yorker's cover depicting an anti-American Barack Obama in the Oval Office is unquestionably rooted in the darkest ideologies of scare tactics and fear mongering.
Your magazine thinks that the caricature is a satirical lampoon of the mudslinging the right-wing uses to smear Obama. The American people are not that dumb. This nation has waded through enough garbage that the media-machine has fed us during this election and seen the illustration not as harmless, biting satire, but for what it truly is: a tasteless, offensive and libelous attack.
Inevitably, the cartoon will reignite the fiery misconceptions about Obama that he has worked so hard to put out this election, centered on his possible Islamic faith, lack of patriotism and sympathy to terrorism, while fooling the American people into derailing his White House dream.
Oh wise, intelligent magazine, what will you tell the hopeful, young Americans who walk by a newsstand only to lose their fragile grasp on reality after seeing their herald of change worshipping Osama bin Laden, engaging his militant wife in an erotic terrorist fist tap and burning the American flag?
Maybe you can explain that your printing and subsequent defense of the cover show a colossal failure in editorial judgment. Shame on your journalistic enterprise for publishing something without any consideration to how a political campaign may feel about it.
If The New Yorker did not attempt to engage the public with a dry, witty commentary based on ridiculous fears, but instead abided by ethical standards used in the media today and pleased the political campaigns, these vicious rumors may have never been brought to light.
Obama, McCain and the rest of the universe give you get an F for successful satire. Unlike right-wing TV host Stephen Colbert who uses his wit and our universal hate of bears and terrorism to educate first with a splash of entertainment second, The New Yorker chooses to poke "subtle" fun at something that not everyone immediately understands. NEWSFLASH, if not everyone's laughing, it's not satire.
The controversy over The New Yorker's cover depicting an anti-American Barack Obama in the Oval Office is unquestionably rooted in the darkest ideologies of scare tactics and fear mongering.
Your magazine thinks that the caricature is a satirical lampoon of the mudslinging the right-wing uses to smear Obama. The American people are not that dumb. This nation has waded through enough garbage that the media-machine has fed us during this election and seen the illustration not as harmless, biting satire, but for what it truly is: a tasteless, offensive and libelous attack.
Inevitably, the cartoon will reignite the fiery misconceptions about Obama that he has worked so hard to put out this election, centered on his possible Islamic faith, lack of patriotism and sympathy to terrorism, while fooling the American people into derailing his White House dream.
Oh wise, intelligent magazine, what will you tell the hopeful, young Americans who walk by a newsstand only to lose their fragile grasp on reality after seeing their herald of change worshipping Osama bin Laden, engaging his militant wife in an erotic terrorist fist tap and burning the American flag?
Maybe you can explain that your printing and subsequent defense of the cover show a colossal failure in editorial judgment. Shame on your journalistic enterprise for publishing something without any consideration to how a political campaign may feel about it.
If The New Yorker did not attempt to engage the public with a dry, witty commentary based on ridiculous fears, but instead abided by ethical standards used in the media today and pleased the political campaigns, these vicious rumors may have never been brought to light.
Obama, McCain and the rest of the universe give you get an F for successful satire. Unlike right-wing TV host Stephen Colbert who uses his wit and our universal hate of bears and terrorism to educate first with a splash of entertainment second, The New Yorker chooses to poke "subtle" fun at something that not everyone immediately understands. NEWSFLASH, if not everyone's laughing, it's not satire.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 6
Chris
posted 7/18/08 @ 3:50 AM CST
fail
dave
posted 7/18/08 @ 4:09 PM CST
Excuse me, but Stephen Colbert is not right wing and perhaps, given Obama's oft repeated pledge to use "tough diplomacy" against Iran's mullah's, your hypothetical 'young American' would do well to question Obama's judgment. (Continued…)
mihir
posted 7/18/08 @ 5:03 PM CST
"...what will you tell the hopeful, young Americans who walk by a newsstand only to lose their fragile grasp on reality after seeing their herald of change worshipping Osama bin Laden. (Continued…)
Student
posted 7/20/08 @ 10:04 PM CST
If this is the DI editorial board's attempt at satire, then it is indeed an epic fail. The opinions do not read like satire, they read like the editorial board doesn't understand what The New Yorker is. (Continued…)
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