New Yorker, What Were You Thinking?

Ramatuelle, France. Here in my tiny medieval village in the south of France I have to hike up the hill into the center of town to borrow some wifi. This morning, after buying some croissants and a Herald Tribune, I was passing through the town square when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. A young, North African man was wearing a black T-shirt with an image of George Bush putting a gun to his own head.

"Kill Yourself. Save the Planet," it said in English.

Besides being illegal in the United States, the shirt turned my stomach. I'm no fan of the worst president of the United States ever, but the shirt was not only tasteless it was artless and ugly.

The current cover of my favorite magazine ever is only a little better.

I consider myself a satirist myself, bridle at any and all PC constraints, and of course coming from a venerable, legendary and reliably center-left magazine, I get the intended joke, but dressing up perhaps the next president of the United States as the new millennium equivalent of Adolf Hitler is just gross and dumb.

Imagine instead almost the same cover although in the corner some right-wing icon like Limbaugh, Cheney or O'Reilly, via some thought bubbles, imagining the Obamas like that. At least then the offensive absurdity of the point of view would be inescapable and we would all be allowed to laugh at it.

Or better yet, picture a middle-aged married couple watching the Obama's on TV and the husband imagining them as the terrorists so depicted, while the wife seeing them as the reincarnation of JFK and Jackie O. That would, I think, nicely illustrate the point of the cover, the extreme visions many in this nation have around the probable future first couple.

Anything would have been better than what they did.

www.treyellis.com

Comments

[ladyv]

Now, this is right on. The problem isn't what's on the cover - it's what's *not* on the cover. Adding in the projection of dreams-come-true to the nightmare scenario like the author suggests would've been perfect. As it is...even though I have an overall different impression of this cover than most of the opinions I've seen, this was a missed opportunity. That would've been the cover for the ages - decades from now, that cover would've explained this moment in American history perfectly and completely.

[DrFitz]

I agree. The article said well what at minimum is missing in order for this to have been effective and even considered for a cover.

[tillybummie]

Yes, I completely agree. For that reason, I think the cartoon, as is, would have worked much better INSIDE the magazine, when presented adjacent to the articles critiquing the politics of fear. No context - via bubble or otherwise -- this wasn't satire, this was hyping someone's nightmare.

[JJK]

I think you're "overthinking" this, Trey. If it weren't for the semi-automatic weapon, I would have no problem at all with this cartoon, other than that it might hurt my candidate in the eyes of people who don't get satire. But, that's what free speech is all about, even offensive speech that I don't like.

The gun, though, changes the whole thing for me, given what are reported to be many threats on Sen. Obama's life (we can't complain about the ethnic gear, since Obama allowed himself to be photrographed in similar clothing during a visit to Africa; as for Ms. Obama's do and outfit, let's get a sense of humor--I think she looks good ; the fist tap was made au courant by the Obamas; the burning flag is retro, reminding us of the notorious non-flag that Kitty Dukakis never burned).

My problem is simply that Obama just should never be portrayed by responsible media in the same image with any weapon, let alone an assault weapon. If you go back through all the responsible images of Ronald Reagan after the assassination attempt, I don't think you will ever find him pictured, depicted or photographed with a gun.

In fact, I think the Obama campaign missed an opportunity this morning to "change the subject" from terrorism and patriotism (something they don't want to be talking about) to recklessness with the safety of an historic candidate (a subject that could actually create sympathy for him).

[Puddin]

If you were the Obamas you would not think Trey is "over thinking on this one". If you were the Obamas you would not ike this at ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nofuzzydreams]

Finally someone decided not to pander to Obama and give him the same treatment as anyone else. The Obamanuts are going, well, nuts!! If Mccain can be joked around as a fossil in the blogs and Hillary in a naked caricature, why should Obama get a pass?? Oh, I get it. He is the messiah that you all worship!!

[Puddin]

AND YOU nOFUZZYDREAMS ARE A FOOL!

[Furby]

There ya go, Nofuzzydreams, Puddin shure gave you what for!! Next time, you'll have to build one of them there air tight arguments.

[calichic]

Clearly you are in the unfortunately large group of Americans who do not understand satire. Rather than being an attack on the Obama's, this cartoon was a slam on fearmongers who employ latent racism fro their own political ends. In that sense, it was in fact a defense of the Obama's.

[pacats]

"He is the messiah (that) you all worship"

Wrong image. If I told you you were god who would probably be offended or think I have just insulted you. So sad. He is just a tough politican trying to slow down this insanity.

[SMAGGIE]

As far as I am concerned, I think the cartoon speaks loudly of what we MAY eccounter, should this man get elected. He scares me with all that baloney he is putting out. He doesn't even know, half the time, what he is saying, only that he is told to say it. I am beginning to believe he really has no thought himself, only what he hears or is told. How on this earth can a man without any knowledge about how our government runs, be elected to the highest office in the USA? I would really like an answer from the DNC on this. Think I may get one? No, not me either! BUT there must be some reason they want him in charge. Can anyone tell me what it could be?

[boogygran]

I believe it's because We The People are indicating that we want him. And I'm sure your worries are unfounded, my dear. I find Senator Obama to be very coherent in his communications, and I believe he speaks and writes from his heart. In your comments above, you actually manage to give a right-on description of the Republican candidate - and unfortunately he's the one whose prospect is scary.

Boogy-hussein-gran for Obama '08

[mssisyphus]

Possibly because the status quo has done such a bang up job that any hope for change is rallied for. As said on MSNBC this morning, if they had put a picture of John Mc'Same on the cover in a wheel chair, with drool running down the front of his shirt, Republibots would have screamed bloody murder!!

[athenalong]

"As far as I am concerned, I think this speaks loudly of what we WILL encounter, should this man get elected. He scares me with all that idiocy he is putting out. He doesn't even know, half the time, what he is saying, only that he is told to say it. I am beginning to believe he really has no thought himself, only what he hears or is told. How on this earth can a man without any knowledge about how our government runs, be elected to the highest office in the USA? I would really like an answer from the GOP on this. Think I may get one? No, not me either! BUT there must be some reason they want him in charge. Can anyone tell me what it could be?"

I only made 3 substitutions and one deletion (out of 133 words) to get to G Dub, who is unfortunately already there.

[kardwell]

Maybe we should banish him to McCain's Czheckoslovakia :-)

[Tulka2]

The cover is a classic example of passive-agressive. "The New Yorker" staff is on T.V. right now and their main defense seems to be. "It's a joke. It's satire. It's not the way WE feel. WE are mocking the dumb people in the rest of America. We, in New York City, of course, do not feel this way. Only stupid people in the hinterlands believe these things about Obama."

They are so isolated as to seem not know how offensive this line is... and they lie. The cover represents a conflicted pov. Many people, Jewish and Christian, do not believe Obama will commit the same level of blood, money (3 billion dollars a year, mostly in arms) and reputation to Israel as has been commited by the U.S. in the past. To them, McCain is "safe" from that perspective. They might strongly disagree with GOP domestic agenda, but Israel would be "safe". Sixty years of theocracy, Zionism, aparthied, glorious nation-hood, three billion dollars of U.S. money a year (mostly in arms) American blood, American reputation­...whateve­r... has not made Israel "safe". Such believers refuse to examine why that might be so.

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

Except perhaps for Obama fans, Obama is a relative unknown, with vague and uncertain credentials. The cartoon simply turns troubling doubts about Obama into a composite drawing, that almost certainly will provoke some much needed clarifications about a man whose character could be very important for the next several years, or longer. If the cartoon seems unfair, perhaps it's because a short small record provides very little fuel for a satisfactory rebuttal. We can presume that a candidate for President is patriotic, etc., but look what happened in 2000, and then again, in 2004.

[emcslead]

Oh no, it might make people have to think? Or talk to other people to learn what is behind the picture?

I know, that's asking a lot. Asking the American people to engage with the stories about the people who are running for the right to run our country for 4 years at least. To find out what others are saying and maybe even have an honest dialogue with someone who disagrees is just unthinkable.

And we wonder why we find our leaders so disappointing.

[HAYMONBRANDON]

oh well you guys are so worry SEN OBAMA and MICHELLE are going do something to you why didn't go after BUSH and CHENNEY after 8 long years and see why the country is today in the tank but you are so scare of the OBAMA AN AMERICAN like most of us this is nothing but RACISM and i am mad as hell. I SAY TO ALL OBAMA GET THERE AN FIGHT FOR YOUR CANDIDATE DONATE I WILL AND LET NO KEEP YOU FROM KEEPING THE FAITH. OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT 08

[WriterWriter]

I'm sorry but a Harvard law degree and four years as a Senator is NOT "vague" or "uncertain­."

That cartoon is an indictment of YOU, Mr. and Mrs. Joe USA, and your willingness to let the media (if that's what you call the corporate lie machine you have down there) to lead you madly off in any direction but towards reality.

[abluevoice]

This cover is the equivielnt, or even worse to running a picture of McCain in a North Vietnamese prison camp saying "I'll tell you whatever you want, just don't hurt me".

In Kerry's campaign in 04, he lost the election when he said in effect, knowing what he knows now about Iraq, he still would have voted for the war.

Remnick just created the defining moment for Obama's loss and the onslaught of 4 more years of Republican abuse. And that ,it is comming from a liberal magazine is just disgusting and so typical of the Democrats aiding the enemy in their clever intellectual nuanced stupidity.

[soundfury]

Which begs the question: Why are they helping the Repubs? Possible answer: For the same reason the repubs helped H.

[mredder4]

"I get the joke. But dressing up perhaps the next president of the United States as the new millennium equivalent of Hitler is just gross and dumb. Anything would have been better."

First off, I vote Democratic. My issue today is with this indignation that anyone would insult Barack Obama with a picture, or that the content of the picture was itself reprehensible.

Aren't you all the same people that liken Bush in text and print to Hitler? Aren't you the same ones that call Dick Cheney "Darth Vader" or other such nonsense?

Your glass house lies in shards around you from all the rocks you've thrown, hypocrites!

[NTO08]

Both sides have engaged in ridiculously infantile ways to attack the other side..it is all a ridiculous distraction from more important matters, like ending the war and righting an economy that was ruined by foolish policies of this administration.

[billicone24]

"I consider myself a satirist myself, bridle at any and all PC constraints"

really?

doesn't sound like it...

sounds like another reactionary response..­.

and i do agree with you that a thought bubble would have also worked, but this is more powerful and the joke is obvious.

quit bridling at PC constraint­s...

[BeeOplentee]

A terrible cartoon? I haven't heard much outrage from you libs at the depiction of Bush with a bone through his nose...

[NotMcCain]

I think its gross and stupid, but relatively innocuous. (A pun, you know, "BUSH-men")

[NTO08]

You're right, the complaining on here about that image would be met with cries to get over it. Sometimes humor crosses the line, but we need to stop acting like babies and take offense at a drop of a hat.

[jdreyfuss]

It may be satire, but there are types of satire we don't do because they play into simple stereotyping. We don't satirize Mayor Bloomberg as a tight-fisted Jew or former Mayor Rudy Guliani as a closet Mafioso. So give the New Yorker one black mark for bad taste.
What is more interesting is the editorial process that led to this cover. A sure bet is that no one black was involved. The New Yorker, like the rest of the Conde Nast empire, is remarkably free of diversity in its decision-making ranks. I'd like to think that an African-American editor would have raised his or her hand and said, "Hey, guys. This is really in bad taste."

[biffrhodes]

Obama and his supporters better toughen up quickly. He and his surrogates complain about virtually any type or form of criticism perceived or real. While I may not agree with various messages various people deliver in a variety of venues -- the last time I checked we do have free speech in this country. If you or anyone else is upset with the New Yorker, than exercise YOUR right to free speech and don't buy the magazine or cancel your subscription.

[NTO08]

Like not watching a TV channel one doesn't like or seeing a film we don't approve of, no one said you had to buy or look at this magazine. There are plenty of magazines that publish very offensive covers...

[Donald Wolberg]

More rules about "correct" speech and "correct-think" and who can say what about whom in print--an amazing state of affairs. It is ironic that Mr. Obama, a politician from Illinois, wanting to be President, can only be referred to by some kind of committee of allowed speech. Another politician from Illinois, someone we all agree was a bit more accomplished and involved in issues just a tad more substantive, Mr. Lincoln, was the subject pf almost endless satire and worse. Somehow Mr. Lincoln managed to tolerate the satire and even made light of his own shortcomings. Freedom is not subject to negotiation and we accept satire, the silly and the bad, just so we have the brilliant when we need it. One must be concerned that Mr. Obama has difficulty with humor or satire. I cannot recall his onjection to "old guy" jokes about Mr. McCain. In this instance, one sees that Mr. McCain is able to laugh at himself; perhaps it is instructive that Mr. Obama cannot.

[SeriousBlack]

"In this instance, one sees that Mr. McCain is able to laugh at himself; perhaps it is instructive that Mr. Obama cannot."

In THIS instance? And where is the OTHER instance, Mr. Wolberg? Where is the major magazine cover that depicts McCain as a doddering old man using a walker with black "I'm blind" spectacles and a colostomy bag hanging from his waist and him muttering incomprehensible babble?

About as comparable as the so-called parody by the New York Times cover (or not even as bad still...)?

Show me THAT magazine cover, Mr. Wolberg, and then show me the reaction by McCain and his campaign.

YEAH I'LL JUST BET THEY WOULD BE LAUGHING IT OFF AND MCCAIN WOULD MERELY BE LAUGHING AT HIMSELF.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.

[Donald Wolberg]

Of himself, Mr. McCain said during a national interview, "I am as old as rocks and have more scars than Frankenstein, but will alwys serve this nation." Mr. McCain, has been fodder for scores of cartoons, political ads, speeches new items highlighting his cancer, age, war injuries and yet again his age. Of some note is the tolerance Mr. McCain displays for the nonsense. Once again, Mr. Obama, would do well to protest less either directly or via his staff. Whether the cartoon matters or not is beside the point; freedom of the press/media is the point and "correctness" is less than useful in a democracy. I suspect that Mr. Lincoln, the other Illinois politician, would find more humor in Mr. Obama's over reaction to a cartoon, than the cartoon itself. But then Mr. Lincoln had real issues to deal with and the ability to deal with them.

[NTO08]

The instance of tastelessly offensive ageist comments is the endless jokes on this website and even from the late night comics...M­cCain has even made jokes about his age...I do not see Obama doing that to dispel these images portrayed in the cartoon, which would disarm the rumors and make them look absurd to all but a scant few. Rather, he, as well as his legion of thin skinned followers, gets all huffy when he is made a butt of a joke...GET the H-- over it!

[insanityfollows]

While I appreciate that this is tongue in cheek, unless you are pretty sophistacted in education and socially, no one is going to get this, New Yorker. What they see is something that underscores the very rhetoric that the Republicans have spewed since this whole thing started. Most people will not read into this cartoon with an educated eye. Thanks for making Barak''s job that much harder, New Yorker.

[NTO08]

The New Yorker is not out to make Obama's or McCain's job easy...tha­t is not the job of any publication. That being said, The New Yorker magazine's demographic is very much pro-Obama.­..there was no way in a million years they would be trying to put him down...the hysteria over this has reached a level of insanity that is just absurd.

[claudiam]

Trey, you are right on - Art?, give me a break. This is unchartered territory and for a prestigious publication to perpetuate this garbage is unf***ing believable.