NY POST CARTOON What you think

[MinLisa]

www.nypost.com/delonas/delonas.htm

NY Post cartoon seems to link Obama to dead chimp Is this racism o.k. to you are do you think that its time for a change?

NY Post cartoon seems to link Obama to dead chimp By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer 2 mins ago NEW YORK – The New York Post is standing behind...

NY Post cartoon seems to link Obama to dead chimp

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer
2 mins ago

NEW YORK – The New York Post is standing behind a cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police.

The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. One of the officers says the other, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys."

But Sharpton said the Post should clarify the point it was trying to make with the cartoon, which was playing off Monday's rampage by a pet chimpanzee in Stamford, Conn., that left a woman severely mauled. Police ended up killing the chimp.

In a statement, Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan said: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

A story about the cartoon on the liberal-leaning Huffington Post Web site drew hundreds of reader responses, many calling the cartoon racist and insensitive.

Sam Stein, a columnist for the site, wrote that "at its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Most provocatively, it compares the president to a rabid chimp. Either way, the incorporation of violence and (on a darker level) race into politics is bound to be controversial."

[vin]

I think that things like this will continue to happen and the reason is our freedom of speech. If we were like other nations in that it would be against the law to speak against the gov't even in an implied way....this person would be imprisoned or killed. But because this is the USA these will continue to pop up the entire time he is in office. Our laws protect this kind of behavior. The public can bombard them with letters and complaints and force an insincere apology but about the time the smoke clears another one will pop up.

[Poetricia (G.A.P.)]

I thought for a minute are we still in the Jim Crowe Era when things like this cartoon were okay? For the record I find the cartoon offensive, horrendous, appalling, and a little scary.

But I find the same things about the degrading music, video's, etc.... that african americans continue to produce, market, and purchase, all the while crying foul when someone white says or does something offensive to the african american community.

[nina2]

In a statement, Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan said: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

Personally, and maybe I am the one who is "too thick" to get it right or miss the intended humor, but when I read that statement, I really can't make the link between the context of the event with the chimp and the comment in the cartoon....
How do you make the leap between what is, after all, a tragic incident where a human being is STILL fighting for her life after hours of surgery, and then jump to your drawing board to come up with something so insensitive, offending and out of context??

So, a) calling that a " clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut." is right down sick to me since it calls for anything but fun with a victim who will probably deal with that for the rest of her life now...

b) Jumping, without transition to "It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy."?? Sorry, he lost me in his last turn there....

It's all twisted and out of line and, for once, I am glad that Sharpton jumped on it and made sure to keep the spotlights on those morons.

I do love the comment of the White House Press Secretary:

"White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declined to comment on the cartoon Wednesday. "I have not seen the cartoon," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama returned to Washington from Arizona, where he announced his plan to deal with the foreclosure crisis. "But I don't think it's altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post".

[kanyon]

I'm disgusted by this so called cartoon.

There should be a campaign made known to the advertisers that unless there is a full apology, there will be a national boycott on their products.
They will laugh at the Rev but they won't laugh at money leaving their doors.

[anointedteacher]

Feb 19, 2009 10:38:55 GMT -5 kanyon said:

I'm disgusted by this so called cartoon.

There should be a campaign made known to the advertisers that unless there is a full apology, there will be a national boycott on their products.
They will laugh at the Rev but they won't laugh at money leaving their doors.

The message I got from the cartoon is: To kill the Stimulus Bill you must kill the one who created the bill... It is an assassination message... this what anger me the most!!!

Yes... there should be an national boycott, not only to the NY Post, but also to the companies that sponsor the newspaper.

This is free speak and freedom of expression... But it is a slap in the face and disrespectful to our President, The victim, who will suffer for the rest of her life and the owner of the chimpanzee...

[vin]

Post Won’t Apologize for Obama-Monkey Link
February 19th, 2009 By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Analyst

Feb. 20, 2008 – In case you were wondering, The New York Post will not be apologizing for the racist and violent cartoon it published in Wednesday’s paper. The editor in chief of the paper called the cartoon “a clear parody of the current news event” and placed the blame for the outrage on civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The cartoon, which appeared in Tuesday’s editions, depicts two police officers, one holding a smoking gun and standing over the body of a dead chimpanzee, which lay in a puddle of blood. One of the officers says, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” The paper admits the comparison of the stimulus bill, signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday, and the actual shooting of a violent chimp in Connecticut, was an intentional tie, but maintains that it was not racially motivated or meant to be offensive.

CNN was able to get Editor Sean Delonas on the phone. In that interview, he called the controversy “absolutely friggin’ ridiculous.”

“Do you really think I’m saying Obama should be shot? I didn’t see that in the cartoon,” Delonas said. “It’s about the economic stimulus bill. If you’re going to make that about anybody, it would be [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, which it’s not.”

Earlier, in a statement to media, Delonas said, “The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy,” Delonas said in a statement, adding that the paper is standing behind the cartoon. “Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.”

But Sharpton isn’t alone in his outrage. Hundreds of BET.com users also found the cartoon racist and insensitive. Debbie Turner wrote, “I believe this is an outrage. Who ever wrote this needs to be fired, and an apology [issued] to our 44th President. [The] New York Post people are small minded – they need to get over it …President Obama is a wonderful person. Give him a chance to do his job.”

Vonnie wrote, “This man has a family, just like everyone else, and feelings. He is only tryin’ to fix what Bush did, give him a chance: Everything doesn’t have to be all about skin COLOR!!!!!!!!!

Sharrese cautioned that this could be the beginning of something even uglier. “The graphic nature and blatant disregard for those who have authority over us is overwhelmingly disgusting. America just hasn’t learned … with freedom comes responsibility, and that’s why we’re in the predicament we are in now. Until we humble ourselves and demonstrate a repentant heart, we will continue on a downward spiral, regardless of who is in office,” she wrote.

Several BET.com users, like Robert Poindexter, want to take action against the Post. Poindexter wrote, “As a Black American man in today’s society, we have witnessed a Black man become President. As a people, we need to stop acting as if we are not being insulted and that it doesn’t matter. Let’s stand together and demand respect at all times. Let’s boycott the Post and any other franchise that insults us as people of color.”

[vin]

Several BET.com users, like Robert Poindexter, want to take action against the Post. Poindexter wrote, “As a Black American man in today’s society, we have witnessed a Black man become President. As a people, we need to stop acting as if we are not being insulted and that it doesn’t matter. Let’s stand together and demand respect at all times. Let’s boycott the Post and any other franchise that insults us as people of color.”

Yes, GAP this would include a LARGE portion of our music.

[giantsdodie]

Feb 19, 2009 11:46:04 GMT -5 vin said:

Several BET.com users, like Robert Poindexter, want to take action against the Post. Poindexter wrote, “As a Black American man in today’s society, we have witnessed a Black man become President. As a people, we need to stop acting as if we are not being insulted and that it doesn’t matter. Let’s stand together and demand respect at all times. Let’s boycott the Post and any other franchise that insults us as people of color.”

Yes, GAP this would include a LARGE portion of our music.

Does this include BET itself which I find to be one of the most shameful networks on televsion ?

I am so sick and tired of the show American Gangster the profiles criminals but does NOT ONE SHOW on black educators, black inventors, black business men, etc etc etc

[vin]

Yes for the most part. But the show American Gangster reminds me of the show on Lifetime (I believe) called Snapped. That show is about women who kill their men. These women are for the most part White.

But that network does have a whole lot more positive. BET just seems to be one big booty call..... Outside of a few gospel shows.