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The New Yorker: Unfunny Since 1925

MONDAY JULY 14 2008 12:00 PM

Submitted by crispy. Edited By crispy.

TAGS: The New Yorker, Obama, terrorist, Muslim

The New Yorker magazine is probably best known for its cartoons which never seem to make any sense and are rarely funny ... kind of like TheCoolerKing*.

Their latest cover, in an attempt for humor or satire or relevance or attention, portrays Barack and Michelle Obama in an illustration featuring "fantastical images" that left the Obama camp fantastically offended.

The image, drawn by Barry Blitt and featured on the front cover of this week's New Yorker, shows Mr Obama wearing traditional Muslim dress, while his wife, Michelle, is dressed in combat trousers and carrying a machine-gun.

The couple are shown standing in the Oval Office, greeting one another with a "fist bump", with an American flag burning in the fireplace, and a portrait of Osama Bin Laden on the wall.

I'm sure it seemed like a great idea at the time, but in today's politically correct society they had to have expected the fallout.

The New Yorker said the cover, called "The Politics of Fear", was a critique of unfounded allegations that have tried to portray Mr Obama, a Christian, as a closet radical Muslim.

"The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," the statement said.

The portrayal of the Obamas "fist-bumping" one another was a reference to a campaign rally in St Paul, Minnesota, back in June, at which the couple were seen to "fist-bump", an action described by one Fox News commentator as a "terrorist fist-jab".

[...]

But Obama spokesman Bill Burton dismissed the cartoon, saying: ""The New Yorker may think... that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create, but most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

Of course, it's obviously satirical to anyone with a brain in their head, but remember that we're talking about America here ... a country whose current president wouldn't know satire from a ham sandwich.

How many people are going to totally miss the true point of the cartoon and only see what is portrayed within? For how many people (West Virginia, I'm looking at you!) is this going to be a confirmation of all of their fears rather that an attempt to mock them?

Most importantly, how many copies above current circulation is this thing going to sell before the inevitable apology and removal?

Get it fresh from the newsstands, folks, and stash it away for a couple of years when it'll probably fetch a pretty penny on eBay.

*That was crispy's attempt at satire.

107 Comments

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Hooraydiation

Boston, MA

October 2005

JUL 15, 2008 02:44 PM

KING: But I've heard a lot of others comment on it. We haven't heard you speak about it yet. That "New Yorker" cover which depicts you and your wife, and you dressed in a Muslim outfit, your wife in a kind of military outfit, Osama bin Laden's picture burning, what do you make of that?

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I know it was The New Yorker's attempt at satire. I don't think they were entirely successful with it. But you know what? It's a cartoon, Larry, and that's why we've got the First Amendment.

And I think the American people are probably spending a little more time worrying about what's happening with the banking system and the housing market, and what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, than a cartoon.

So I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it.

KING: But didn't it personally sting you?

OBAMA: No. You know, we've -- one of the things when you're running for president for almost two years is, you get a pretty thick skin.

And, you know, I've seen and heard worse.

I do think that, you know, in attempting to satirize something, they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead.

Also, this is interesting:

KING: Considering that, though, there's a lot of e-mails going around. It gets rather terrible. A "Newsweek" poll shows that 12 percent of America believes that you're a Muslim, and 26 believe -- 26 percent believe you were raised in a Muslim home. A lot of misinformation.

How do you fight that?

OBAMA: Well, you know, by getting on "Larry King" and telling everybody I'm a Christian and I wasn't raised in a Muslim home. And pledge allegiance to the flag. And, you know, all the things that have been reported in these e-mails are completely untrue and have been debunked again and again and again. So, all you can do is just tell the truth and trust in the American people that over time, they're going to know what the truth is.

One last point I want to -- I do want to make about these e-mails, though. And I think this has an impact on this "New Yorker" cover.

You know, this is actually an insult against Muslim-Americans, something that we don't spend a lot of time talking about. And sometimes I've been derelict in pointing that out.

You know, there are wonderful Muslim-Americans all across the country who are doing wonderful things. And for this to be used as sort of an insult, or to raise suspicions about me, I think is unfortunate. And it's not what America's all about.

crispy

NEWSWIRE

Philadelphia, PA

JUL 15, 2008 02:48 PM

Dear Larry,

It wasn't bin Laden's picture that was burning, it was the American flag.
Please get it right.

Thanks,

The editors of The New Yorker.

RizzoFord

HOPEFUL

Wakefield, RI

JUL 15, 2008 02:58 PM

since was "giving daps" a "terrorist fist-jab"?

ahhhh Fox News, if that's not entertainment I don't know what is.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JUL 15, 2008 09:58 PM

Hooraydiation said:

Honestly, that's probably just about the best way Obama could have handled it. I love the "By the way, calling me a Muslim shouldn't be an insult" bit at the end.

If the non-news coverage I've seen of it is any indication (not that it is, but if), this might get some media people talking about the specific rumors and debunking them themselves. One can hope, anyhow.

BoxOfficePoison

New York, NY

June 2003

JUL 15, 2008 11:12 PM

Anyone else see this on the Colbert report?

"Finally a New Yorker cartoon I can understand."

emotedcreations

Germany

July 2006

JUL 15, 2008 11:19 PM

BoxOfficePoison said:
Anyone else see this on the Colbert report?

"Finally a New Yorker cartoon I can understand."

No. There's not a single person on this website or for that matter an individual who posts on the CE that watches the Colbert Report. It's a fact actually.