Crossing the Line
"It's satire," the editor of The New Yorker magazine proclaimed smugly in regard to the controversy swirling around their current cover depicting Michelle and Barack Obama in the Oval Office. He's dressed as a Muslim, she's in terrorist garb. An American flag burns in the fireplace, over which hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden. "Our readers are sophisticated, they'll understand it," insisted the editor. Understanding it and approving of it are two different things. But what bothers me most is the elitist attitude that separates the us who presumably are in on the joke like a bunch of Ivy League sophomores from the them who are too dense to get it."Thou canst not joke an enemy into a friend," said Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac in 1739, "but thou mayst a friend into an enemy."
posted by John M Crowther @ 7:20 AM
3 Comments:
Yes, a total dud, and an astonishingly bad call on the editors' part. Of course, they've added to the pile of dreck from which all the news sources dish out to keep us distracted from truly significant issues. Oh, and did I mention, It's just racist.
I'm surprised by the frankness of a story on USA Today's Wed. front page entitled, "Payback for debt-fueled growth?" The answer, of course, is "Yes!" And it's beginning to look like an old familiar payback of the past that begins with the letter "D". Major media are rarely this frank anymore.
And what about all the talking heads, ixthvs, telling us the economy's not all that bad. Reminds me of what Mark Twain said about Mozart: "Not as bad as it sounds."
Ok, I made a very witty remark that I can not remember now due to old age and my computer in it's wisdom did not post it. Bummer
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