The Obama New Yorker Cover
I'm a bit reluctant to write about the stink that the cover of this week's issue of The New Yorker has raised, because the caterwauling echoing across the media is giving this imbroglio more ink than it's worth. But no one really reads this blog and the issue is worth commenting on.First of all, the artwork, by Barry Blitt, is brilliant. He manages to encapsulate all of the fears about the Obamas in simple brushstrokes: Obama in Muslim garb, Michelle as some sort of resurrection of Angela Davis (tossing around the epithet "whitey", no doubt), the portrait of Osama bin Laden above the mantle, and the flag burning in the fireplace. It even includes the "fist-bump" that sent the Fox News network into a tizzy. It is a deftly done satire of the small-minded who would not vote for the man for the most idiotic, petty reasons.
But what is the result? Those who continue to think that Obama is a Muslim, or were angry that he wouldn't wear a flag-pin in his lapel, are unlikely readers of The New Yorker. And yet they may encounter this image, completely removed from its context. Would this cartoon be out of place in a John Birch newsletter? By mocking the simple-minded voters, The New Yorker has succeeded in stirring the ashes of the fire, getting the flame going again, rehashing the fears of an Obama presidency.
But then again, it may end up helping as much as hurting. Even John McCain thinks the cover is tasteless, so will it end up getting Obama sympathy?
In the final analysis, I doubt his cover will switch anyone's votes. It will certainly help the circulation of the magazine itself, as the troglodytes may buy it for the first time so they can frame it next to their glass-case full of Nazi memorabilia. Of course, you can just as easily get it online, so it may not sell one extra issue.
Well, "no one" reads your pretty good blog because you don't pimp it enough I think. You expect people to just drop by on their own?
ReplyDeleteI haven't the foggiest idea of how to pimp it. And frankly, in the grand scheme of things, I really don't care who reads it. I created it to amuse myself, mostly. And I like the cozy group that does read it from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI think you're mostly right about it not being a factor. If there's one thing that's become quite clear in the last few years, it's that the things that get the media stroking themselves are almost certainly not important to voters.
ReplyDeleteNetworking is the more succesful and more fun way to go, if you ever feel like expanding the readership would be fun. Commenting (insightfully, not spam-like) on blogs you like reading and/or with similar topics as your own will, eventually, lead to them getting over to your place. But pimping is hard work, as any mack will tell you.
ReplyDeleteGreat post on a magazine cover I'm really torn either way on...I "get" the overtly mocking tone it throws out at you, but, as you touch on, how many who believe this is an actual view of what the White House would look like would actually get that's it's trying to mock the ignorant views of Obama that exist?
ReplyDeleteI mean, when a guy is on Fox News wearing a Curious George t-shirt that shows George and underneath "Obama '08".
But then, why get all torn up over this cover when there have been many more, much worse, depicting Bush in very unflattering light. What? It's good to mock him, but not Obama?