New Yorker Obama Cartoon
Seriously?
People are upset at a satirical cover on the New Yorker magazine. This seems like much more of a 24-hour media phenomenon than anything. Talking heads need something to gush about and apparently it is hot enough in all the TV studios for them to have lost all sense of humor.
I liked the damn cover. I thought it was well done and satirical. But for those who did not like it, I think Jon Stewart offered the absolute best answer to the cover the Obama campaign could have given.
Obama's campaign seems to have morphed into a rather average Democratic Party affair. He has jettisoned the idea of doing things differently (mostly - he has still refused to take money from lobbyists). But I remain convinced he is the best hope for our sad government.
Or did we ever have one? Jonathon Swift is likely turning over in his grave - after eating a few Irish babies, no doubt.
Is it even a sense of humor though? Or just a sense of proportionality. In this case, I think it is the media who has no sense of perspective or proportionality. I don't see Obama campaigning against it, it seemed like he made one comment and the media went ballistic. He should have done something closer to what Jon Stewart suggested.
Thank you New Yorker - cartoons should be provocative.
--christopher
I have come to the conclusion that there are 2 separate problems.
1. Far too many Americans are too fucking uneducated to understand satire. They think they understand it because they occasionally understand Leno or Letterman, which is not satire but some sight exaggeration for [sometimes] comic effect. But they get lost with Jon Stewart or - god forbid - Colbert.
2. The media - who consider themselves elite - can get mileage by pandering to that lack. When something comes out that would require, oh, I don't know, CRITICAL THOUGHT, they decide to interpret it for the great unwashed. And, once again god forbid, it might be something that someone somewhere could take umbrage to, they make the decision to take exception themselves. LOUDLY! And let's talk about it for 3 or 4 24 days - after all, we have to fill that time with some shit.
I recently taught up in Toronto for a number of Canadian testers. We had several really interesting conversations. It blew me away how every person in the class had a much better grasp on reality than so many of the Americans that I teach. It starts out with education that actually teaches thinking skills, and then an unfettered ability to read real newspapers (each person in the class subscribed to at least one paper.)
It is maybe that life experience that gives them such a good sense of proportionality.
daddYman