Chimp
Can a monkey crazily flinging shit at a wall come up with worse editorial cartoons than Sean Delonas. I don't know the answer.
Who knew a bullet-riddled chimp would end up being the American equivalent of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban? Actually you could probably predict that we were going to be dealing with stuff like this under our first black president. We'll see more of it as the nearly all-white profession struggles to explain their political metaphors involving primates and Gangsta Rap over the next four years. Socialist Godzilla destroying America? Fine. Comrade King Kong capturing a white woman labeled "American Values." That's bad.
To tell you the truth I don't think Delonas' intent was to portray the chimp as Obama at all. But when shit blows up in your face this bad, you know you overlooked something in the idea phase. But I can't really call for editorial oversight of Delonas when I think, like a crazed chimp, he shouldn't be allowed to hold a pen in the first place. It becomes a danger to people's eyes.
Who knew a bullet-riddled chimp would end up being the American equivalent of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban? Actually you could probably predict that we were going to be dealing with stuff like this under our first black president. We'll see more of it as the nearly all-white profession struggles to explain their political metaphors involving primates and Gangsta Rap over the next four years. Socialist Godzilla destroying America? Fine. Comrade King Kong capturing a white woman labeled "American Values." That's bad.
To tell you the truth I don't think Delonas' intent was to portray the chimp as Obama at all. But when shit blows up in your face this bad, you know you overlooked something in the idea phase. But I can't really call for editorial oversight of Delonas when I think, like a crazed chimp, he shouldn't be allowed to hold a pen in the first place. It becomes a danger to people's eyes.
posted by Matt Bors at
5:10 PM
15 Comments:
am i dumb for not getting it?
did i miss a news cycle involving monkeys?
What irritates me is not the metaphor of a monkey to that of Obama or even the Democrats who actually wrote the bill.
The thing I can't grasp is why Delonas would even draw a dead monkey that had been shot by the police. Death crosses an entirely new line when political cartoonists portray it for humor. For those like yourself, Matt, or perhaps a Ted Rall, it is meant to shock for the right reasons, but this cartoon is just offensive on so many levels.
Remember who cuts Delonas' cheques, as well as the sort of human waste who would 'read' that newspaper. I'm surprised they didn't spell 'stimulus' phonetically or label the chimp 'that pink-pawed spook Obama'.
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The cartoon is not meant to be racist, though clearly some people could interpret it that way. It's implying that the stimulus bill is so foolish that it was most likely written by a chimp.
Scott Adams has many Dilbert cartoons where drunken monkeys come up with idiotic decisions. Are those all supposed to be examples of "racist symbolism?" No, they're supposed to be funny. Monkeys are humorous, especially drunken monkeys: it's a basic rule of comedy.
The major difference between Dilbert and political cartooning is that political cartoons lean heavily on symbolism to convey their message. Maybe there isn't a subtext to the use of the chimp, but if that's the case Delonis needs to learn the basics of his own line of work.
Here's a question I have for all the people crying "racism" over this cartoon: where were their protests three years ago when Iranian newspapers had their contest for cartoons mocking the Holocaust?
Like most of my kind, I petitioned the ADL to get loud about it. Iran's leaders are blatantly anti-Semitic, but that does not excuse Delonas for his gross negligence.
Did the toonist intent to be racist or just didn't really think things through? Who knows. But I only have two words: Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton has spoken out against it. What is it with that guy and speaking out against cartoons anyway? He spoke out heavily against The Boondocks famous Return of the King episode which portrays a 'what if' scenario of what would have happened if MLK didn't die, but went into a coma for a few decades and woke up to see his people today.
It's an amazing episode. I cry every time I see it (seriously). Despite Al Sharpton's criticism, that episode won a NAACP award. Somehow, I don't think Delonas's toon will be given the same honor.
I hadn't heard of that episode (never seen the show) but it sounds like a great premise. I'll have to see if it's available somewhere.
The bit with the McRib is priceless.
I think I saw this on a poll by FishbowlLA:
Monkeys - very funny.
Cops shooting monkey dead - not funny.
That's probably why the Dilbert cartoon and all of the references of George Bush to a chimp differ with this cartoon: a dead monkey.
Death doesn't make it funny.
But to the real racists out there who want to promote the assasination of a political figure due to color, this is hilarious.
Just want to second Sumit: The Boondocks is absolutely incredible. Pure genius. Buy them all!
If anyone is (coveniently) wondering why poor long-suffering Delonass is being whacked in the shins for racism over this ill-considered toon, think for a moment who is credited with authoring the stimulus package. Obama. Not Pelosi, Byrd, etc., etc. Obama.
The fact that Sharpton has weighed in is somewhere between irrelevant and inconsequential. The facts stand that Delonass drew it and his editor decided to run it.
While King George was widely portrayed as a smirking chimp, when you're comparing a chimp to a white guy, it's their intelligence levels which are mockingly equivocated. A very different inference is drawn when a chimp is compared to a black man.
Count on the NY Post to milk this. It's almost certainly doubled their circ. More bad taste from Delonass sure to come.
All props to the White House for ignoring this as much as possible.
More than the cartoon -- which at the very least is a hamfisted crossover of concepts that should never have been mixed -- I'm annoyed by the affected wide-eyed innocence of those who claim they "just can't see" what the problem is.
As for Boondocks: Truly great series, and a damn fine strip before that.
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