Fear of Fun

Oh, no! That New Yorker cover is going to ruin everything for Obama. This is the tipping point. Now he'll never get elected. I'm so disappointed. I had such great hopes. What can I do? Cancel my subscription to the First Amendment?

Fear. It's all about fear. I've always been instilled with fear by TV commercials. From the woman who was afraid that her mother-in-law would disapprove of her because she couldn't see the reflection of her face in a dish, to the man who's afraid that he has restless penis syndrome.

And now I have such great fear of a dumbed down public. You know, those who still believe there was a connection between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. They're going to believe that an editorial cartoon is an actual photo of Barack and Michelle.

What's next? A cover showing Jesse Jackson cutting off Obama's nuts? Maybe the New Yorker can redeem itself by publishing an image of John McCain singing "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." Nah, that concept would be too far fetched. I'd have to cancel my subscription to real life.

If McCain wins the election because of this misunderstanding, I promise I'm going to move to Dubuque. Sorry, I don't mean to whine. It's just that I never ever thought that in my lifetime I would see a president of the United States who was half-white. And now the dream is over. Dang!

Follow Paul Krassner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Zen Bastard

Comments

[JFWilliam]

Humor is the politness of despair said the optimist ;)

meanwhile all the hoopla...

GOING UP !
Top 1% share of total income
Income gap between rich and poor
Foreign debt as a percent of GDP
Age at which one can receive Social Security
Hunger
Consumer credit debt
Housing foreclosures
Severe poverty rate

GOING DOWN !
Real income
Real manufacturing wages
Percent of single women and mothers in the workforce
The bottom 40%'s share of national wealth
Older families with pensions.
Workers covered by defined benefit pensions.
The savings rate
US manufacturing jobs

ALSO...

Protests restricted/ignored
Labels dissenters terrorists/traitors
False-flags
Elections suspect
Leaders benefit from wars/disasters
Uses propaganda/lies & partisan mass-media
Claims War is needed for everchanging false reasons
Runs secret/extrajudicial/torture camps
Curtails/suspends civil rights/liberties
Runs wiretap/intercept/surveillance net
Stealthily expands int'nl influence/power
Judiciary/Opposition ineffective/ignored
Legislates to defy Constitution

BTW, have you noticed that the good guys always win execpt on the news ?

[Russycle]

I find it interesting that Krassner proposes that the New Yorker could redeem itself by printing a cover depicting McCain singing "Bomb, bomb Iran". The difference is that they would be depicting an event that actually occurred. In fact, I can think of a lot of covers they could print attacking McCain based on true events, such as the Keating 5 scandal or calling his wife a c*nt, or any number of policy flip-flops. But I can't think of any widely disseminated lies about him that they could repeat, other than Rove's illegitimate-black-baby meme from the 2000 campaign.

Interesting that all the distortion is focused on Obama, which I suppose is the point of the cover. Too bad they didn't do a better job on it.

[PATina]

And here I thought this election was about voting your hopes... not your fears. I guess fear is just too strong of an emotion for people to overcome. Oh well... guess the fear mongerers win again.... they already have us too afraid to laugh.

[HAYMONBRANDON]

WHAT WAS THE POINT AGAIN TO DO WHAT ? THIS IS A DIFFERENT ELECTION WE HAVE NEVER HAD A BLACK PERSON RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. WHAT WAS DONE 4 YEARS OR 8 YEAR AGO IS THE OUT WINDOW. HALF OF AMERICA IS AFRAID OF OBAMA THINKING HE IS GOING TO TAKE OVER AND DO EXACTING WHAT IS IN THAT CARTOON . AS AN AMERICAN BLACK WOMAN 56 I AM NOT SURPRISED. THERE ARE OLDER BLACKS WHO ARE ALSO AFRAID OF OBAMA THEY WERE FOR CLINTON. I AM 100% FOR OBAMA I SAY MOVE ON I WANT PEOPLE TO GET TO KNOW HIM AND MICHELLE OBAMA THEY ARE WHAT AMERICA NEEDS RIGHT NOW . AFTER BUSH AND HIS GANG OF THIEFS .OBAMA WILL REFRESHING AND BEAUITFUL AND HIS MIND IS OPEN TO NEW THINGS THATS WHY PEOPLE ARE SO EXCITED. THE COUNTRY IS A MESS WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WAKE THIS COUNTRY UP. LET'S KEEP MOVING AND PUT THIS TRASH TO BED AND GET BACK TO DONATING TO GET HIM ELECTED AND GET READY FOR THE FALL. OBAMA GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TRIP . GOD BLESS YOU

[swift goat pet for truth]

Fun?

I have a kid. It will be her country soon.

This is not fun for me. It is a deadly serious business.

[meanguy]

i have 2...they both have enough intelligence to know the difference between (awkward) satire and character assassination, and they have enough sense not to take presidential politics so freaking seriously. the people on the school board, county board of supervisors, and state legislature have FAR more impact on their day-to-day lives than the president ever will. when presidential politics becomes 'deadly serious business' for anyone but the candidates and their staffs, it's time to take a step back and re-connect with the important things in life

[swift goat pet for truth]

You are so rich you can ignore the impact of these collective actions, (and more).
I guess you are so insulated you do not feel the impact of unsafe food, water, air, the crumbling financial situation.

We make only $65K a year, so all of this is hard.

I believe financial security in the USA is as every bit important as the physical security.
I believe the environmental security is every bit as important as the physical security.
Maybe if ignored all of this I could take refuge in the child-like bliss that you have wrapped around yourself.

[swift goat pet for truth]

In the tossup state I live in, people don't want to think about politics too hard.

They want their policy on a bumper sticker. Or a cartoon.

"Look, the LIBERAL New Yorker thinks Obama is a terrorist. Must be true. I'll vote for the other guy."

[strifeknot]

I'm sorry you live life burdened by such a crippling, irrational fear. It must be painful.

[swift goat pet for truth]

In my view, it is not irrational when I get emails of YouTube vids from my colleagues that castigate Obama for being anti-American, Muslim and angling for the destruction of the USA. These guys are serious in their hate for Obama, and send these email to all the workers in the US government facility in which I work. It is a non-military operation, but we have one cable station constantly pumped into the lunch area, FOX.

I live in a toss up SouthWest state. There are groups of people here who think Bush is a GREAT president. I have been called a hate America first liberal more than a few times. You have no idea what this environment is like.

Yeah, you agree with Phil Gramm, its all mental.

Just like you big city liberal elitists to spit on rural libs like me.

[flanardiente]

Actually, when I saw the cover I said WTF?! and laughed out loud at the same time. Anyone who takes this seriously is probably not going to vote for Obama anyway. And if it appears in Republican attack ads, it's just going to make them appear stupider than they already are, if that's possible. And--this is cool, Paul Krassner, if you're reading this--it reminded me immediately of the double-page Disney spread in that issue of the Realist which came out in the summer of 1966.

[pollhereford]

The anxiety of democracy is that everyone else is stupid and votes accordingly is obvious from this post and many others on the HuffPo. The hysteria of overinterpreting a cartoon is also evident. Speaking from the comfort of Ausralia where we've just rid ourselves of the 'Man of Steel' who hitched our wagon to the Cheney Bush, have confidence that the public is sick of the Republicans. Literalism seems to run very deep in your culture. When will irony be included in a college survey course so your nation can get up to speed? Even Led Zeppelin knew that sometimes words ( and yes, even pictures) have two meanings.

[Verite]

Now here's a voice crying in the wilderness.

Nice to hear from you Dr. Krassner. I've been suggesting to the folks caught up in this hysteria that they might want to take Prof. Bruce's Intro course to the First Amendment, the one called Live at the Curran Theater, I can't understand why no one's tagged me with a thank you yet.

But now I realize the problem with this idea...who's going to stand there and explain it to them?
Especially when he does the bit on sending Judge Axelrod a manuscript and it gets read to him by his grandchild...now that's offensive, and boy is it funny funny funny.

This is what we get for having the worst education system in the fading First World and too many toys.

[SeanGardner]

You're wrong. THE NEW YORKER cover is incredibly dumb and unfunny.

[cacki]

Made me do a little spit take--funny, thanks.

[jayne]

Amen, thank you, Paul. Don't you like it better when "PC" refers to personal computer instead !

[johnwinner]

First, it's not funny - it is poorly done, since it lacks signifiers reminding us it's satire. Second expect thi to appear on Republican posters - w/o New Yorker logo - from now until November, fo people who don't know that 'The New Yorker' even exists (most of America west of New York State).

[VeggieCar]

Dubuque is a nice spot... obviously never you've never been there.

Personally, I think Canada would be more appropriate as a place to move if we clusterf*ck another election

[cyberbian]

I don't see anything funny. No fun, no humor.
They bypassed that for the sake of offensive controversy.
I call it slanderous.

Did you laugh when you saw it or say WTF?

Be honest.

[LarBear]

cyberbian...
Has it occurred to you a cartoon, especially Political Satire, may NOT be intended to be "ha, ha" funny? QUOTE: "They bypassed that for the sake of offensive controversy."

Actually, I believe the point was to express an exaggerated right wing portrayal of the Obama's... Are you offended that they made their point, or at the right wing's portrayal? I believe the Magazine has actually been quite favorable to Obama...

Seems to me the Magazine made their point well and stirred up emotions over the cover... Is any "fault" in the Cover, or the mind of the beholders?

[pizzmoe]

Obviously, people see in this cover what they want to see. Fascinating.

[meanguy]

honestly, i rolled my eyes and chuckled...until i saw the foam-flecked hysterical reaction of the obamanites...then it ceased being merely 'humorous' and became a LAFF RIOT!!!!!