Quote:
Originally Posted by originalgrissel
The cartoon aside, I think that the point that Brian B. was trying to make (and Brian, correct me if I am wrong) is that there unfortunately are a lot of people that feel that any criticism of President Obama (regardless of what kind of criticism it is) automatically must come from a racist point of view. You can dislike Mr. Obama's politics and his choices and believe that he has made mistakes without that having anything to do with his race. However, there are many people in this country that support him so vehemently that even criticism of his voting record can be met with accusations of racism.
Prior to the election there were supporters of Mr. Obama that expressed the view that if people were not voting for Barack Obama it must be because he is a black man and they were racist. So, I think Brian B. makes a good point because for some people this president can do no wrong simply because of his race and that is sad. It's sad because people should be judged for good or ill on their own merits not on their gender or their religion or ethnicity or sexual orientation and until we start doing that racism will continue to be perpetuated in this country.
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First of all, the topic of this thread is a racist cartoon. No one seems to be denying that the cartoon is racist. It is not racist because it is a criticism of Obama's stimulus bill. In fact, it makes no rational criticism of Obama's stimulus bill. It only says that the uppity black man that wrote this awful bill is an ape who should be shot. Now that does not seem to me to be any rational criticism at all, but a pure expression of racism.
I'm not offended because this is an attack on Obama. I'm offended because it's an irrational, hateful, racist attack on black people generally. I think that's the reason most people find the cartoon racist, and it's why the New York Post did, eventually, issue an apology of sorts.
So far, no one has come forward with an example of a perfectly rational criticism of Obama being dismissed as racist. (There may be such an example, but no one has brought one forward.) There's just a kind of general, whining, belly aching that supposedly no one can criticize Obama without being called a racist, but no evidence is presented that that is really the case. Given that the topic of this thread is a real, racist cartoon, dismissing the topic of this thread as just another instance of supposed suppression of criticism seems to me to be drastically missing the point. Or worse, it's an attempt to dismiss the reality of racism itself--such a dismissal of the seriousness of racism would itself be a racist act, in my opinion. (I admit, I don't really know what anyone's intentions really are, I'm just explaining my reaction.)
Seems to me there's a lot of GOP congress people who are having no problem standing against Obama's stimulus package, and I see no evidence that the GOP in Congress is doing this because Obama is a black man. There are decent, smart people in the GOP who know that the image of their party is being harmed by the kind of racism that is expressed in this cartoon.
By the way, I appreciate Alecto's calm and balanced approach to the controversy in this thread. Racism just get's me hot under the collar, just like homophobia and any other injustice. (Sorry, Brian, if I misunderstood you.)
One more thing, I'm offended that by expressing a concern about the racism in this cartoon, I'm being pidgeon-holed as someone who won't tolerate any criticism of Obama. That's just not true. I fully expect Obama to have feet of clay like every other President I've known for forty years. I have hopes. I agree with some of his program (and disagree with some of it). I don't know that he will succeed, but I'm convinced that he's someone who has never let a thing like racism keep him from doing his very best.
Steven Webster