Hear an Interview with Richard Prince of the Maynard Institute on the Issue of Diversity in Media

Hear an interview from last year with Richard Prince. He discusses the New Yorker Magazine controversy (the misguided "satirical" photo depicting the Obama's as terrorists). Prince talks about how the lack of editorial oversight and diversity contributes to this problem. And I think this could be tied in with the New York Post's Chimp Cartoon. Prince gives some interesting insight.

You can read Richard Prince's take on this latest fiasco in his "Journal-isms" column at the Maynard Institutes website.

Baratunde Thurston Discusses NY Post Cartoon

Baratunde Thurston... our neighbor from Jack and Jill Politics, discusses the NY Post fiasco on MSNBC. See video courtesy of Pam Spaulding's blog. Even host David Shuster couldn't hold back on how inappropriate this was.

Leave your comments in our original post here.

Rev. Al Sharpton on Olbermann (about the monkey cartoon)

New York Post Portrays Obama as An Ape

Then tries to say it's not racist.

I was waiting on the first Post-inaugural story where the President would be portrayed as an animal. We knew this was coming. And I'm sure we can count on seeing a lot more.

The NY Post published the above cartoon from artist Sean Delonas today... and they are now defending his work. They claim that it's no big deal... that the artist didn't mean anything by it. Afterall... we are in a Post-racial America now... so this stuff shouldn't bother you Blacks so much anymore. Grow Up!!! That was the gist of the papers' comments defending the blatantly racist cartoon.

So are we going to have to put up with this kind of sickness for at least the next 4 years... under this kind of reasoning?

If Obama doesn't come out, draw a line, and make it clear that this was inappropriate... then other such cartoons will follow in legitimate newspapers. They are under the false impression that this "post-racial" thing means that there are no boundaries.

As for Delonas... this apparently isn't his first slip up.

What's even more ominous about this cartoon... is that it sends a couple of troubling messages... not just one. Of course the racism is obvious. But it also desensitizes the idea of shooting the President. The shooting of the President in a political cartoon???? Yes, I know this is Amerikkka and all... but I don't recall ever seeing that portrayed in this particular kind of way...not in a cartoon...portrayed as something funny. I definitely don't recall this being done when the Presidents were from the white male club. Not in a legitimate mainstream newspaper. Something like that would usually be seen as patently offensive and wouldn't get passed the editors...and rightfully so.

Ahh... Angry Independent... stop overreacting... the scene in the cartoon refers to the shooting of the pet chimp in Connecticut. Yeah... what a convenient cover.

The fact is... the two stories don't even mesh well together... one has nothing to do with the other...and the cartoon isn't funny by any stretch of the imagination.
This isn't about the editors not seeing the cartoon prior to publication. I think they saw it...and approved it...and had their arguments ready. They simply responded too quick to the criticism. But how they can defend Sean Delonas or themselves, is beyond me. This is an especially strange move for a newspaper considering how the newspaper industry is struggling right now. Hopefully a few companies will pull their ads. Not likely... but it would be nice to see. Since the editors and the management officially want to stand by their racist employees... then they should be prepared to face any economic consequences that might come their way.



UPDATE:

Baratunde Thurston... our neighbor from Jack and Jill Politics, discusses the NY Post fiasco on MSNBC. See video courtesy of Pam Spaulding's blog. Even host David Shuster couldn't hold back on how inappropriate this was.


UPDATE 2:

Hear an interview with Richard Prince from last year regarding the New Yorker Magazine "satire". Some of the issues raised by Prince then also apply in this case. You can also read his comments on this latest fiasco at the New York Post.