Truth Merchants

Tobias Hustleman 15 July 2008 Pop Culture 97 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

A todos,

This whole blogging thing is new to me but it gives me a chance to find a topic and write about it. Truthfully it is what I need as it gives me an outlet from the day job and government name. I kid. My moms gave me that name and I cannot play like I am bound by the name. It is just that the pen name gives me the freedom to speak and maneuver. I will keep it coming because I genuinely enjoy it. My writings are not intended to save you from some unseen force or a push for you personal renaissance. Your responses are even more important than the writing itself because there is discourse. So fear not, there is no black superhero music…yet.

Now that the disclaimer has been laid. It is time for the topic:

The July 21 issue of The New Yorker is a “satirical” picture of the Obamas as terrorists. See the link here. Now, when I heard Obama was running for president, I was worried about how I would take satirical portraits, skits and impersonations of Obama if he were to be elected president. Previously, these types of expression were mere jokes and I laughed at them and was offended by little. It is oh so different now. Now I cannot tell if I was unpatriotic before for showing no sympathy to previously mocked presidents or if I am close-minded for being offended at every mocking of Obama. On this one, I am going to err on the side of this particular portrait being a bit tasteless.

Let’s note the images in the cover. There is Obama in a turban with his wife Michelle regaled in camoflauge with the oligatory Afro. She has an rifle over the shoulder. There is a flag burning in the fireplace with a picture of Osama over the mantle. They appear to be in the White House.

From the link here, I found the following information the following excerpt:

The magazine says the artist, Barry Blitt, is satirizing the “the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the presidential election to derail Barack Obama’s campaign.”

In a statement today quoted by the Associated Press, the magazine says the cover “combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are.”

Pictures are worth a thousand words. The problem is no one ever hears the same 1000 words from a picture and while the response above is somewhat sensible, a picture like that in the wrong hand sends the wrong message. I feel like the picture only fuels the sentiment of the close-minded. A person who fed upon the fear created by the 2004 Bush campaign will look at this and say,”There is now way I can put a terrorist in office.” To that I say free your mind of fear-mongering tyranny. This man is leaving the very dream we’ve used as our tagline almost since our birth. I am not offended by the image as much I will be offended by the person thinks he is a terrorist.

It is definitely tough to not be offended and spit ether. You’ve taken two of the most offending images (a turban-clad man man and a black person with an Afro) and put it to the American public. It’s not the educated lot I am worried about because they are taught to discuss these type of situations and express their ideas. It’s those that feel that this country will need to be run by a white, Christian man forever. If this is truly the greatest nation on Earth, show the world we have turned the corner.