Personally, I enjoyed the Bush digs because I hated him so much, but looking back now I see that it was not a good thing to do for a variety of reasons. Among them is that it cheapened public discourse to the point that ad hominim attacks have almost entirely replaced policy discussions.
But given that, there are certain characterizations that are specific to certain races, ethnicities, and religion. Calling a Jew a wetback and putting a sombrero on him does not have the same meaning that it would on a Hispanic. Rich white people do have the disadvantage that the stereotypes of them are not as “off limits” as they are for some other groups. Molly Ivins’ famous retort that Bush was born on third base and thought he hit a triple does not have the same impact as drawing a hook nosed Jew with a moneybag.
Orange County is, or will soon be majority non-white, so things are changing. However I believe that she is not a county official, but a Republican one, so being a racist isn’t going to hurt her at all.
Not just the American context. When I lived in the Congo a fairly high level UN official (from Europe) playfully called a Congolese assistant a monkey. (I think it was playful.) This caused a government wide crisis, and the guy had to resign and was kicked out of the country. When I worked for AT&T an employee magazine, in an article about undersea cables, had a cartoon with cartoon figures representing different continents. The artist used a monkey for Africa. It too caused a stink, and the editor, who hadn’t noticed, resigned.
Oh, perhaps XT, like Colbert, just doesn’t see race.
In my life I have heard simian comparisons to a number of people. Hairy women, sports figures, stupid people, big people, black people, and a kid who kept climbing the school building. Most of these people (including the kid) were not black, and I’m pretty sure none of them would have appreciated knowing they were being compared to monkeys or apes.
I honestly don’t see anything worse about comparing Obama to a chimp than comparing Bush to a chimp. The message here seems to be, well, black people are overly sensitive because of past discrimination, etc., etc.
I admit I don’t know how any black people feel about it, but as a non-black person I think everybody should get over it. Not to do so makes me think they must want the perception of racism to continue, for some reason. This is not to say that I don’t think there are racially motivated slurs, and in fact I’m convinced the birthers were racist but latched onto that because they didn’t want to appear openly racist. I still think everybody should get over it. To acknowledge it as racist and say it shouldn’t happen seems to imply that black people (or any other group who could be targeted, which is anybody other than white European-descended Americans, apparently) is just not tough enough to deal with it. Because of stuff that happened in the past. To, in most cases, other people.
Well, you think shit like this needs to be called out; I think its stupidity stands out on its own. But thanks for being there for the defenseless underdogs. (By “here” I meant “this message board” BTW)
Actually, non-black persons have been compared to apes in a racist way; those “persons” were Irish immigrants. I don’t agree with this blogger but the images are historical. However, Bush isn’t Irish but the WASPiest of WASPs. And he really does look like a chimp. Yes, we were being rude to* him*.
The woman in the OP? Just another lying, racist Tea Partier.
It seems to me that had anyone compared Condolezza Rice to a chimp, surely there would have been at least this big of a stink? It’s just different than the usual partisan mockery.
Look, It’s really simple. There just are certain places you just don’t go as they are so loaded there is no stepping into that field without getting your leg blown off. Portraying Obama as a monkey is about the worst thing you can caricature a black person as. It would be comparable to drawing a Jewish guy with a hook nose, horns, and eating a baby; or an Asian politician as a “yellow devil” type cartoon from the ww2 era. There is no real way to read such an image that ISN’T racist. There is wealth of political satire out there without needing to play the atomic bomb of race baiting. I"m hardly the most sensitive of folks, and maintain that PC-ness is way out of control, but this is just nasty racism nothing more. Obscuring it with false equivocations does a disservice to everyone who has fought to eliminate it over the years.
You don’t now how black people feel about it, but your opinion as a non-black person still should convince them about the wonders of “getting over it”. What humilations have you and your ancestors “gotten over”, praytell, that would make your opinion mean squat to anyone?
This isn’t some crazy lady off the street. She’s an elected official who has the power of the legislative pen. In other words, she’s a Power That Be. If people can’t get worked up about a racist dictating policies that will affect their lives, then when exactly are the appropriate times for people to get angry? Really, I need to know when I should get offended so as not to cause the unflappable white folks not to roll their eyes at yet another hypersensitive black person.
The bolded part of your post is just…wow. It must be wonderful to live in such a la-la land where hate is harmless and pointing out blatant instances of its occurence is actually a bad thing. Seems to me it’s like you want to sweep incidents like this one under the rug, so that when someone asks, “Is racism still around?” you can say, “What? Oh, hell no! Look around. Our house is clean.” Yeah, that makes LOADS of sense.
FYI, I can handle all kinds of racial nonsense without going into a fit of rage and yet still be bothered by its existence. If most black people couldn’t do the same juggling act, then we would have died out four hundred years ago.
Pending gravitycrash’s auspicious return, I will attempt to translate.
Let’s not lose sight of who the true victim is here. Granted, this is the year 2011, and Davenport is an adult with at least a passing familiarity with how email works—still, it’s not like she could’ve dreamed that her racist joke might’ve been forwarded on to less sympathetic eyes! Would you fault the reciter of a nigger joke if, despite their duly glancing around before telling it, a black person happened to overhear? (And what’s that person doing eavesdropping, anyway?)
Yeah, I did a book report on Nineteen Eighty-Four once. Well, on the Cliff’s Note. B minus, so I think it’s pretty obvious I know what I’m talking about.
Anyway, I have much more important shit to do than hang around on this lame message board with you losers. I’ll probably be back tomorrow just to point and laugh at everyone, but not because I, like, give a shit or anything. Peace out!
The issue, as I see it, is whether the target is being attacked as an individual or as a member of a ethnic group. It’s okay to attack Obama or Bush or Clinton. But it’s not okay to attack black people or white people or women.
And the context does matter. If Bush or Clinton are portrayed as a monkey, nobody is going to think that it’s intended as a statement that white people or women are all monkeys. But some people will claim that all black people are like monkeys.
Not familiar with them. Did they get much play? I saw nothing about it.
But if you are a fan and especially sensitive, you might have thought they were a big deal when the rest did not notice.
To me, her apparent surprise by the size of the public response indicates she didn’t think she was doing anything unusual. She wasn’t trying to be shocking.
And that, to me, suggests she lives in a setting where people tell and hear racist jokes on a regular basis.