This cover is likely selling more magazines this week than any other…

It hit on a slow news day and every talking head on teevee used it…

BORING!

With everything going on in this country how could any day be a slow news day. This is perhaps the most vile and tasteless thing I’ve seen in this election cycle. It perpetuates a dangerous meme being passed around at present.

My personal motto is “Comedy is dangerous.” The New Yorker learned that with this magazine cover. I understand what they were TRYING to do, but in my (and many others’) opinion, the joke didn’t work as intended.

That having been said, it was useful as an exercise in pointing out the elephant in the dining room: certainly all these lies are part of the Right Wing media strategy.

Part of the reason that this joke is not funny is that humor does not favor the abuse of the weak by the strong, and the media has consistently amplified Obama’s perceived flaws while ignoring or downplaying those of McCain. One thing the New Yorker cover shows is how insular the “media class” is from the working class perception of their behaviors. The New Yorker editors obviously thought this was funny and clever, while the working class felt like it was simply one more insulting message delivered from on high.

The corporate media, even the New Yorker, are employed as propaganda vehicles, the marketing divisions of the corporations that run this nation. Worse, it seems that the people who work in this industry are insulated from the reality that they are simply sales representatives for the status quo, separated from the interests of the common man and isolated from the consequences of their behavior… most of the time. The outrage over this cover might be the exception that proves the rule.

I thought the cover was funny and consistent with the type of work the New Yorker does….It depicts the insanity of the view of the Obamas that is being described by the far right…

Far too many will not see it as depicting the insanity of how some people view the Obamas. They will instead view it as a true depiction of the Obamas, that’s all I am saying. I know the New Yorker is known for pushing the line at times with their covers. This missed the mark this time IMO.

The visual impact of this magazine on people who would never dream of looking between the covers cannot be overstated. Without the laborious explanations (earlier today, I posted the email response I got from the New Yorker to my FDL-inspired letter), the illustration totally cements the false impressions. The New Yorker knows the power of images. There is absolutely no excuse for this. None. Thus spake the oracle.

imo, it’s loaded, over the top, and dangerous. i’ve got good neighbors and contacts who do their best to understand issues, but don’t have time or ability to do all the research required to refute this sort of thing. It smacks them in the face and causes wounds that won’t easily heal, if they do at all.

omg, they still can’t stand Gore, because of all the unfair neg. stuff thrown at him.

Obama did NOT deserve this blow to his campaign.
Nor does he deserve the constant barrage of little mis-pronunciations of his name by giggling Chris Matthews and his smarmy ilk.

Thank heaven his campaign is pretty much ready for anything and everything, and quick - oh so quick(!). I guess they’ll just have to be.

The “establishment” obviously thinks this is suitable fare, so i see I’m out-voted on this.

But it’s wrong. just wrong. unfair. unwarranted. ymmv

New post at FDL

I stopped liking the New Yorker when I was a teenager. Occasionally I read it in the doctor’s office. I can’t put my finger on it but somehow I think the snooty tone of the magazine and some of its contributors (I’ll exclude Sy Hersh) compounds the failed satire and makes it all pretty inflammatory. People are credulous. This will stick in their mind. New Yorker staff is really stupid to think, “oh people couldn’t be so stupid to believe this.”

–so Chimpy’s for sale. Not surprised. He certainly put the rest of the country up for sale.

I gave myself a psychological loan and put this money in the stock market. The money is now gone so does anyone think IndyMac would give me a psychological loan to keep myself and America going? Trying to think positive here. I know it’s all my fault now and I’m so sorry about letting GW and Mc and America down.

I’d like to see any — any — proof that the Credulous Cretins of America who will see this cover of this magazine (which they would never, ever ever read) will be convinced by it that all the slurs and lies about the Obamas are true.

I’d like to see any — any — proof that Americans are all — except for thee and me, and of course, I can’t be so sure about thee — dumb as posts.

What I’ve seen is that some — some — Obama supporters are terrified that Americans are that dumb because they believe that everyone is ruled by the bloviators on cable teevee.

Isn’t it odd that the bloviators on FOX aren’t parading this cover around except to denounce the New Yorker for publishing it. Shouldn’t they be happy and dancing and laughing their fool heads off because this cover will prove to the low-information voters who watch FOX that the Obamas are all the things FOX has been saying about them?

And isn’t it interesting that more and more observers are saying, “You know, this cover has really got people to talk about those lies and those smears about the Obamas and to repeat over and over again that the lies and the smears are untrue.”

And who, exactly, benefits from smearing and trashing the New Yorker?

I agree. The whole theory of how some rube is gonna walk by the magazine stand- see the cover without picking up the magazine- and conclude that Obama is a Moslem who burns the flag is silly.

Based on some kind of magical thinking to the effect that if you draw a picture of something you will make it come true.

No, I don’t think that’s true. I think that the problem is that something intended as a joke can also be interpreted, validly, as a criticism. If you know that the New Yorker is a liberal rag, you will tend to see the cartoon as hyperbole. If you are not familiar with the New Yorker (a concept apparently unfathomable to New Yorker editors), then you might assume it is a typical Right-wing publication, and that the cartoon is intended as an indictment of Obama’s unAmerican, Muslim, terrorist tendencies.

The cartoon does not inform, the cartoon reflects and reinforces existing prejudices. Nobody looking at the cartoon will have their opinion changed, but some looking at the cartoon may have their opinions reinforced.

Good to hear from you, Oracle, but, really: you can’t be letting down on your verbal assertiveness.

Next time, try this before writing: While standing, hang your head and arms, like preparing for gorilla walk at a fourth-grade playground recess. Now, shake your head, and begin growling like an angry bear. Walk across the room in slothful fashion, dragging your feet, swinging your arms, growling ever more loudly about whatever subject is bothering you. Work up your pitch as you cross the room, and before turning, stamp your feet and yell. Continue so back to your computer, then sit down and write what you really want to say.