Welcome to Superfriends Political Forum 2008

[ellawella]

This is an open forum, so please feel free to comment on or suggest topic or current event. Here are some ideas:

The New Yorker Cover
Jesse Jackson’s desire to castrate Barack
Minus the castration, truth to Jesse Jackson’s comments?
Barack, the rock star
McCain, the POW
Ralph Nader, who?
The important issues of this campaign season and the candidates' stance
V.P. candidates for Obama or McCain
Who is really getting the free ride from the media, Obama or McCain?
The “Media’s” Coverage of politics
Highest sales tax in the country, Todd Stroger’s fault??
Cook County Government
The children running Illinois state government
Oak Park Parking Department

Ok, feel free to comment on one of these or suggest one of your own

[DocBee]

So I need to read the article actually attached to the attention getting cover, but a few thoughts immediately come to mind. First, most publications tend to lean either left or right. Which way does the New Yorker lean? If they lean right it would be hard to believe that they honestly only published the cover for satirical purposes. Second, claiming satire as an excuse for such an offensive image seems irresponsible. Remember Bamboozled? The modern day minstrel show was created to poke fun at our derogatory past however the satire in the message was lost and America got swept up in the actual minstrel show. Those terrible images that had been covert for years became overt. Similarly, the controversial cover runs the risk of planting the seed of doubt in some and watering the seed of doubt already planted in so many gullible Americans minds. Possibly an underhanded way of tainting one of the few seemingly pure candidates I have encountered.

[ellawella]

The cover will probably just promote the same misconceptions it is supposedly ridiculing. Most Americans do not take time to read or research. During the primaries, I saw an interview where someone said they were hesitant to vote for Obama. He was questioning if Obama was Muslim because of the photo he saw in the media?! Did he bother to learn that Obama was actually wearing traditional Somali garb. Did he bother to learn that Obama was a member of a Christian church for over 20 years? Even if most people process that illustration as satirical, it will have a lasting impact of promoting the misconceptions.
And we all know The New Yorker did this to sell magazines and bring attention to the publication.
Also, I thought it was interesting when people listed the offensives of the image and included Michelle sporting an Afro.

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