# Why so serious? \[Is poster depicting Obama as the Joker from Batman racist?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 8, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714 "2009-08-08T02:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ajb867](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@ajb867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajb867)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/1 "2009-08-08T02:06:17Z")
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5973064/Barack-Obama-Joker-socialism-poster-denounced-as-racist.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5973064/Barack-Obama-Joker-socialism-poster-denounced-as-racist.html) Racist… what??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/2 "2009-08-08T02:12:10Z")
Calling that racist is retarded, the Joker has always been portrayed as white. There is a picture of Bush as the Joker, and politicians get lampooned in political cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![ajb867](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@ajb867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajb867)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/3 "2009-08-08T02:12:28Z")
“The liberal tabloid “LA Weekly”, which depicted George W. Bush, the former president, as Dracula on its cover in 2004, denounced the Obama-Joker poster as virulently racist.” For those who have not clicked its Obama as the joker with the worlds “Socialism” underneath. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/4 "2009-08-08T02:15:42Z")
“Look ma, I’ve made it into the international media! Who ever said that pandering and grandstanding wouldn’t pay off?”, said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/5 "2009-08-08T02:24:07Z")
Portraying the President as a Joker? No, that’s political satire not racism. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/6 "2009-08-08T02:38:05Z")
It’s bad satire, but it’s not racist. When you satire someone by caricaturing them as someone else, generally your intent is to demonstrate a similarity between the two of them. This poster doesn’t do that. Suggestions for fixing it: -Caricature Obama as Chairman Mao or Fidel Castro. -Change the caption to “Money to burn.” -Change the caption to “You must be joking.” -Change the caption to “Where’s Batman when you need him?” Seriously, guys–can’t conservative satirists do better than this? ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/7 "2009-08-08T02:39:25Z")
Drew Friedman, the artist of the W as Joker image, in explaining why what _ **he** _ did is _ **different** _ said (paraphrasing), “When I made Bush the Joker, it was insightful political satire. Making Obama the Joker just isn’t.” [Cite](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/8 "2009-08-08T02:44:03Z")
> [@ArizonaTeach](#): > > Drew Friedman, the artist of the W as Joker image, in explaining why what _ **he** _ did is _ **different** _ said (paraphrasing), “When I made Bush the Joker, it was insightful political satire. Making Obama the Joker just isn’t.” [Cite](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/). Well, except he’s **right**. The word “Socialism” under the Obama picture weakens it as satire, because while Obama is clearly the Socialist AntiChrist leading us into an AynRandian dystopia, the Joker had nothing to do with socialism. Without the caption, we could infer that the artist was suggesting the Obama was an agent of chaos for the sake of chaos or whatever. It’d be weak satire IMO, but it’d at least work on some level. FWIW, I don’t think the Bush-as-Joker picture was great satire either–and I am sure that I and virtually everyone else who has seen it now had never seen it before some rightwinger, desperate to prove the hypocrisy of liberals, pulled it out and started publicizing it. It’s not great satire, but it works much better than the Obama-as-Joker one does. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/9 "2009-08-08T02:53:59Z")
The thing I don’t get about this is that if you think about it for one tiny second, it doesn’t even make sense! It’s so outrageously hyperbolic that any potential political message is lost in the distorted, overstated exaggeration. The Joker doesn’t stand for Socialism in any way. He is a deranged, psychopathic crime lord with no regard for human life. I realize some people have a problem with Obama, but that’s just a ludicrous stretch of a comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/10 "2009-08-08T02:54:57Z")
> [@ArizonaTeach](#): > > Drew Friedman, the artist of the W as Joker image, in explaining why what _ **he** _ did is _ **different** _ said (paraphrasing), “When I made Bush the Joker, it was insightful political satire. Making Obama the Joker just isn’t.” [Cite](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/). That’s not paraphrasing. That’s making up something completely different. What he said actually made sense: > [@](#): > > My image was done the week the Batman movie came out, and I think works well using the analogy of the Joker, an agent of chaos, destruction and death, all the while laughing through it all, as Bush, seemingly laughing and unmoved through the destruction reaped by his war in Iraq. The Obama/Joker image just doesn’t work as satire, humor or anything else. You can put the white face Joker makeup on any celebrity or politician and you’d have a provocative, negative image, but beyond that, what’s the actual point? What does being a supposed Socialist have to do with The Joker? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/11 "2009-08-08T03:04:20Z")
I didn’t follow the logic of the article. The poster is merely stupid, not racist. Not much different from putting a Hitler moustache on Obama’s face. The constant muttering about “SOCIALISM!” is also just basic mud slinging and hate. I’ve heard 'em say “Socialism” about gay marriage, for example. It’s just the dirty word to holler about. Racism is part of the big, muddy, inarticulate outrage of this hippo that’s lurching about the south, wailing in its death throes, but there’s no direct evidence of it on the poster. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/12 "2009-08-08T03:05:25Z")
When I looked at it my first thought was “Good Lord, they put him in _White-face_?!?” I was utterly horrified. Reading your comments made me see the joker connection, but it was not obvious to me. I think anyone who sees it as racist is probably not making the Batman connection, and thinking of the old black-face minstrel shows. Either way, whoever did it was either ignorant of the possible visual pun, or is a real @$$hole for publishing it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/13 "2009-08-08T03:10:34Z")
I had a second of thinking he was in white-face, too. I’ve never seen the new Batman movie(s), so it wasn’t instant recognition. But racist? No. Creepy? Yes. Relevant? Not that I can see. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/14 "2009-08-08T03:11:29Z")
Obama is black. There is no way to criticize him without some twit calling it racist. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/15 "2009-08-08T03:14:51Z")
I’m reminded of a time in high school when we had to do a monologue as a literary character, bonus points if you dressed up. I chose the Devil from some Nathaniel Hawthorne story; and since the Devil was described in the story as having skin black as coal, I crushed up some charcoal and spread it thickly on my face. I **completely** didn’t get that anyone would find it offensive until I saw my girlfriend in the hall after class, and she refused to speak to me or acknowledge me until I washed my face clean. It was one of those classic teenage cluelessness moments. But it was totally innocent: I had no idea that anyone would see it as blackface. I suspect the poster’s creator had one of the same moments. I think the white makeup is totally innocent. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/16 "2009-08-08T03:49:38Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > That’s not paraphrasing. That’s making up something completely different. What he said actually made sense: No, that’s exactly what he said. He said when he did it it was satire, and when whoever did Obama, it wasn’t. What did I make up? For the record, I agree with **LHOD** that the Bush “satire” was weak (as is the Obama one, for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/17 "2009-08-08T03:58:06Z")
> [@ArizonaTeach](#): > > No, that’s exactly what he said. He said when he did it it was satire, and when whoever did Obama, it wasn’t. What did I make up? For the record, I agree with **LHOD** that the Bush “satire” was weak (as is the Obama one, for that matter). You made up that he just flatly stated “When I did it, it was satire.” He gave actual reasons as to why Bush was similar to the Joker. What is it with you and ridiculous logic lately? ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/18 "2009-08-08T03:59:27Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > When I looked at it my first thought was “Good Lord, they put him in _White-face_?!?” I was utterly horrified. That’s exactly what I thought too. And I didn’t even make the Joker connection until I thought back to the title of the thread. I got less of a Joker vibe and more of a creepy clown thing, but I also just went to Cirque du Soleil. As far as racism goes, there is a level of tact required when making a joke that crosses cultural lines, and people are going to have to learn that when making fun of Obama. You just can’t have a picture of him with his face painted white. You can’t make reference to him as a monkey, or a slave. And god help the first person that burns an [effigy](http://animalnewyork.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/g20-london-burning-effigy-2.jpg) of him with a noose around his neck at a protest. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/19 "2009-08-08T04:00:02Z")
What in the hell are you talking about? ETA: That’s for **Captain Carrot** and his “ridiculous logic” crap. As far as a paraphrase, yeah, that’s exactlly what I did. He said the Obama poster wasn’t satire, but what the heck do you think he means when he talks about his poster is analogous to Bush laughing at Iraq? Seriously? You don’t think he was justifying his satire? Sheesh. In any case, I think it’s a parody of the “HOPE” poster more than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714/20 "2009-08-08T04:12:51Z")
I don’t see the racism in the poster, I’m too dazzled by the stupid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-serious-is-poster-depicting-obama-as-the-joker-from-batman-racist/505714.md?page=2)