# They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill, says NY Post **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 18, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406 "2009-02-18T16:15:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/81 "2009-02-19T05:21:07Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I don’t think the intent was racist, yet I can see how it can be interpreted fairly by many as such. It is a **slopy** , idiotic cartoon and the artist deserves criticsim Fucking racist ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/82 "2009-02-19T05:50:33Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > What disturbs me in these troubled economic times is the not so intelligent people who toss around the term racist and racism so glibly. To paraphrase, there is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress in this period in history…and the vile unwashed but very fervent faithful seem to toss about ‘racist’ at the drop of a chimp. > > -XT Whatever, Xtisme. Clearly, you consider it baseless to view the cartoon as racially charged but your interpretation doesn’t render other perspectives unfounded, superficial, ignorant or a general public nuisance. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/83 "2009-02-19T05:58:46Z")
The chimp story just provides the opportunity for the racist thinkers to inject something like this into the public sphere and then when they get called on it, they can have a (what they think) plausible explanation. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/84 "2009-02-19T06:22:58Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Aside from the racist imagery that practically leaps off the screen and squishes my eyeballs every time I look at it, my biggest criticism is that in the absence of familiarity with the mauling chimp story, most people are going to go WTF?! when they look this. The cartoon was written for, and appeared in, the Feburary 18 edition of the New York Post, in which the chimp story was front-page news. As far as unfunny, the cartoonist has never been funny. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/85 "2009-02-19T08:58:12Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > The cartoon was written for, and appeared in, the Feburary 18 edition of the New York Post, in which the chimp story was front-page news. The chimp was indeed on the front page. And on the page just before the cartoon was … wait for it … Obama signing the Recovery Act. Aside from all the other weirdness about the cartoon — appearing in a paper owned by Rupert Murdoch (Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, etc.); a dead chimp in a pool of blood, shot twice in the chest; cops in an urban setting (the actual chimp was shot in a residential area) — there is the inexplicable “BEWARE OF THE DOG” sign. It’s on a lamp post. What the hell is a BOTG sign doing on a lamp post on a public street? So that’s something else for the defenders to explain away: the reference to police and dogs breaking up peaceful protests by blacks and their sympathizers in the 1960s. What? Just a random sign on any downtown city street? Like DEER CROSSING or something? ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/86 "2009-02-19T11:24:06Z")
I didn’t see it, but now I am persuaded. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/87 "2009-02-19T11:57:17Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > The chimp was indeed on the front page. And on the page just before the cartoon was … wait for it … Obama signing the Recovery Act. > > Aside from all the other weirdness about the cartoon — appearing in a paper owned by Rupert Murdoch (Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, etc.); a dead chimp in a pool of blood, shot twice in the chest; cops in an urban setting (the actual chimp was shot in a residential area) — there is the inexplicable “BEWARE OF THE DOG” sign. It’s on a lamp post. What the hell is a BOTG sign doing on a lamp post on a public street? > > So that’s something else for the defenders to explain away: the reference to police and dogs breaking up peaceful protests by blacks and their sympathizers in the 1960s. What? Just a random sign on any downtown city street? Like DEER CROSSING or something? Thats the easiest thing to explain. Look at Marly’s post 49: > [@](#): > > Interesting point, but I believe the most well-publicized photo of the chimp showed him pulling on a similar sign. Its not inexplicable. It ties the cartoon into the real event. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/88 "2009-02-19T12:01:45Z")
Sorry about the double post. [Here](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1149124/He-ripped-face-Drug-crazed-chimps-owner-begs-police-shoot-rampaging-pet-emergency-call.html) is an article that has a picture taken right before the chimp was shot. Notice the beware of dog sign. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/89 "2009-02-19T12:20:14Z")
**Kimstu** , I immediately thought about black suspects too. Recent cases of police brutality are even more topical than the zoo chimp. The fact that the cartoon can be interpreted in so many ways, by people who aren’t Al Sharpton, makes the choice to print this thing very unwise. I don’t know which is worse: a racist comic or a profoundly stupid one. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/90 "2009-02-19T12:35:23Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > **Kimstu** , I immediately thought about black suspects too. Recent cases of police brutality are even more topical than the zoo chimp. > > The fact that the cartoon can be interpreted in so many ways, by people who aren’t Al Sharpton, makes the choice to print this thing very unwise. I don’t know which is worse: a racist comic or a profoundly stupid one. Except it is not more topical. The most topical issue of the day was the one which had the headline “Furious George” splashed on the front page of the newspaper the cartoon appeared in. According to the paper that was the biggest story of the day. I knew immediately what the cartoonist was trying to do. A few seconds later I realized how stupid he was since I knew how people would either misinterpret it or choose to interpret it. Dumb cartoon, poorly executed. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/91 "2009-02-19T12:36:02Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > For the record, I’ve seen seven or eight threads about this today (none of which were on political or news sites, as I don’t usually frequent those), and not ONE had a significant portion of the people not immediately see the problem. Perhaps you should consider the possibility that it’s you being dense, not the rest of the country. I’ve had similar experience. On one board I frequent, which actually has a higher apparent population of conservatives than this one, the consensus was that the cartoon was patently offensive and it’s implausible that it got to the see the light of day without someone greenlighting the implications. I’m surprised so many people on the Dope think it’s just a lame joke. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/92 "2009-02-19T12:40:41Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Its not inexplicable. It ties the cartoon into the real event. Uh huh. An assassinated ape wasn’t enough to do that, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/93 "2009-02-19T12:54:59Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Uh huh. An assassinated ape wasn’t enough to do that, I suppose. Did you look at the picture? I expect better from you. When you write: > [@](#): > > What the hell is a BOTG sign doing on a lamp post on a public street? > > So that’s something else for the defenders to explain away: the reference to police and dogs breaking up peaceful protests by blacks and their sympathizers in the 1960s. What? Just a random sign on any downtown city street? Like DEER CROSSING or something? And then are shown a picture that proves that such a sign was right there where the chimp was shot I least expected you to retract that part of your argument. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/94 "2009-02-19T13:06:01Z")
I will not. The cartoon urbanized the setting, obviously because negroes are urban. How you can defend this tripe is beyond explication. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/95 "2009-02-19T13:14:22Z")
My mind is boggling here. I can understand people seeing racist intent in the cartoon even though I don’t think there is any. The dog thing borders on the ridiculous, however. Since when are Beware of Dog signs _urban_? I saw them constantly while growing up in the suburbs and never see them living in the city. Connecting the sign to Bull Connor’s dogs is silly. If there was no “beware of dog” sign in the actual pictures of the chimp, yeah, I’d have to reconsider what the cartoonist was doing. But saying the real sign was included in the cartoon only so the illustrator could make some kind of backhanded racist comment doesn’t make sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/96 "2009-02-19T13:17:03Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I will not. The cartoon urbanized the setting, obviously because negroes are urban. How you can defend this tripe is beyond explication. Urbanized? What the fuck are you talking about? Have you opened any links? The picture that was taken seconds before the chimp was shot shows part of a yard, a street lined with parked cars and a post with a beware of dog sign. The cartoon shows part of a yard, a street lined with parked cars and a post with a beware of dog sign. Sorry to confuse you with facts. I don’t know what was in the cartoonists heart but don’t pull in bullshit like that. ETA: if anything the cartoon was suburbanized. It appears to be a grass cover lawn. Not something I would automatically think of when I think urban. Coming from the northeast, when I think urban I think NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/97 "2009-02-19T14:02:19Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > My Since when are Beware of Dog signs _urban_? They AREN’T urban, and that’s the fucking point. What’s the sign doing there on a city street? Either the artist is a terrible renderer, or else he has deliberately drawn a picture of Brooklyn. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/98 "2009-02-19T14:08:32Z")
Okay, I decided to take another look at the cartoon just now. I have to agree that it does look more like grass than a sidewalk. Perhaps I saw it through my prejudices before. I retract my points about urbanity. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/99 "2009-02-19T14:14:47Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Okay, I decided to take another look at the cartoon just now. I have to agree that it does look more like grass than a sidewalk. Perhaps I saw it through my prejudices before. I retract my points about urbanity. Thank you for that. Also look at the link in post 88. It is a picture of the actual chimp right before he was shot, while he was trying to get into the police car to go after the cop that will soon shoot him. On the pole next to the police car is beware of dog sign. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406/100 "2009-02-19T14:41:09Z")
[QUOTE=Ocean Annie] Whatever, Xtisme. Clearly, you consider it baseless to view the cartoon as racially charged but your interpretation doesn’t render other perspectives unfounded, superficial, ignorant or a general public nuisance. [/QUOTE] Not at all. I acknowledged earlier in the thread that while I don’t see it, it’s fairly obvious to even one as stupid as I that OTHERS are seeing it differently. Because I disagree with the accepted wisdom however I’ve been called a moron, and idiot, clueless with hints that I’m really a closet racist, or at least support racist cartoonists for nefarious reasons all my own. What can I saw? I look at the comic and I don’t see the connection between monkey and Obama and the bill. When it’s pointed out to me I still don’t really see the connection to be honest. When others have pointed out that monkey represents Congress I can sorta kinda see that if I squint…it’s tenuous but it makes more sense. When I look at it I see monkey representing the monkey hired by Congress to write up a bill that the author obviously thinks is so stupid and idiotic a monkey could do it, and I think of the million monkeys thingy writing all of Shakespeare’s works…but since THIS bill is so stupid it only took one. YMMV, and it’s obvious that many in this thread agree with the (to me) knee jerk racial interpenetration. C’est la vie. -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-have-to-find-someone-else-to-write-the-next-stimulus-bill-says-ny-post/486406.md?page=6)