New Yorkers to boycott NY Post over "racist" cartoon

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Quigley_Sharps, Feb 19, 2009.


  1. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hundreds of demonstrators rallied to boycott the New York Post on Thursday, branding the newspaper as racist for publishing a cartoon that appeared to compare President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.

    Demonstrators led by civil rights activist Al Sharpton chanted "End racism now!" outside the parent company's skyscraper in midtown Manhattan and called for the jailing of Rupert Murdoch, whose international media conglomerate News Corp owns the Post.

    The newspaper has defended the cartoon as a parody of Washington politics, but Sharpton said it exploited a potent image in the history of racism toward blacks.

    Published on Wednesday, it shows police shooting an ape and plays on the real shooting of a pet chimpanzee that went on a rampage in Connecticut this week.

    One of the police officers says, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

    Because Obama promoted the $787 billion economic stimulus that he signed into law on Tuesday, critics of the cartoon interpreted the dead chimp as a reference to Obama, who became the first black U.S. president on January 20.

    "I guess they thought we were chimpanzees," Sharpton said. "They will find out we are lions."

    Sharpton said he would meet with advertisers to encourage them to pull their ads and said New Yorkers would boycott the newspaper.

    "You would have to be in a time warp or in a whole other world not to know what that means," said demonstrator Charles Ashley, 25, a model who did not believe the cartoon was an innocent political joke.

    Others said it made light of assassinating Obama, a possibility they said that worries many African-Americans.

    "Just the fact that they put a monkey with gunshot wounds in his chest, it gives the idea of an assassination," said Peter Aviles, 48, a building superintendent.

    Police in Stamford, Connecticut, shot and killed a 200-pound (90-kg) chimpanzee on Monday after the pet nearly killed its owner's friend and attacked a police car. The chimp, named Travis, had once starred in television commercials and was taking medication for Lyme disease.

    New York Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan said in a statement the cartoon "broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy."
    400,http%3A%2F%2Fd.yimg.com%2Fa%2Fp%2Fap%2F20090218%2Fcapt.ea1cf7fd72734031a84bdce41da4f654.ny_p.
     
  2. Clyde

    Clyde Jet Set Tourer Administrator Founding Member

    now thats funny
     
  3. dragonfly

    dragonfly Monkey+++

    Isn't it amazing.....???
    How some people can "read between the lines" in a one line statement?
    I saw no reference to anyone but the government as a whole, being a bunch of monkeys!
    I saw no likeness to anyone but the chimp that mauled that lady!

    I'm going to go off the "DEEP END" here, and I hope you take it for what it's worth, and read no more into it that exactly what I am about to write:
    (remember, this is my opinion and thoughts, ONLY, no one else's!)

    There seems to be some sort of trend beginning to develop, an underlying current that is a nasty and a dangerous one...
    In my mind's eye, I see "forces" (not aliens!), real viable threats to our country's security, being fed and nurtured, to divide us back into the 50's and 60's, where racism and bigotry, prejudices, and the like were rampant.
    "If" this continues, I fear an "UN-CIVIL" war being brought on, by idiots and morons.
    Now, I lived at one time in the infamous town of "Jasper, Texas".
    At the age of 11, I was exposed to things which my grandmother had told me about when I was younger. I went there from Colorado, and was shocked, at that age to see what was happening. ( 46 years later, it still haunts me)
    I fear, in my very soul of souls, that this could happen, once again.....
    Bill
     
  4. Clyde

    Clyde Jet Set Tourer Administrator Founding Member

    Congress wrote the bill. Presidents don't write bills. I don't see this as racist, I see this as a simply "its so easy to pass a debt laden stimulus package so full of pork that even a monkey could do it."
     
  5. RightHand

    RightHand Been There, Done That RIP 4/15/21 Moderator Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    That was my exact thought when I first saw the cartoon. A racial connotation never crossed my mind until I read about the hullabaloo. I thought more along the lines that a very sad event was being used as fodder for humor but that is what political cartoonists do for a living.

    If John McCain had won the election and the same cartoon were published, the only thing to be heard would be laughter.

    I agree with dragonfly that there are divisive forces at work that have the potential to bring us to a brink over which none of us want to tumble.
     
  6. ozarkgoatman

    ozarkgoatman Resident goat herder

    Yep and it would be just as deserved as it is now. :rolleyes:

    OGM
     
  7. dragonfly

    dragonfly Monkey+++

    The bright side to McCain:
    He's back in Arizona...
    Oh Crud!
    He's back here,.... again?
    I suppose you have to take the good with the bad!
    At least it kept Her ladyship Palin out of the White House!
    Yikes!
    Back on track:.....
    It sure seems as IF there is a force behind po'ing most people off, regardless of their race!
    Then we are called 'cowards', ...
    Well, I don't like where this whole racial thing is being guided!
    And of course, the MSM is eating it up, like ice cream on a hot summers day!
    Fan the flames!
    Add more gasoline, we'll get this fire goin' yet!
    Some one needs to HOSE these "inciters' down, before they manage to cause even more damage, and racial prejudices.
    (seems most have dismissed or simply forgotten, all the cartoons comparing GW to a monkey, NUMEROUS times!)
    Bill
     
  8. mrrk1562

    mrrk1562 Monkey+++

    ask ole al sharpton about tawana brawly ..and what realy happened ..i gave up on ny 10 years ago when the elected hillery .. i moved out ..50 counties but only 10 matter .. the new york post has always been like this its one of the oldest news papper out there .. political satire is one of our first forms of protest ..why becuase most people did not know how to read .. a cartoon evry body knew what you ment ..one of the found fathers started it .. ie the new york post ..
     
  9. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    Reverse racism is more prevalent today, and will continue to be exacerbated until it also reaches far beyond acceptable levels, and another civil demonstration era may very well come about as a result.

    There are more cases of blacks being racist than whites, and especially now with a President as the anointed shepherd, it may bring the kettle to a boil quite rapidly. The time of traditional KKK Clan meets and White Supremacy pales in comparison to the unspoken hatred and contempt of the blind color of truth which lies beneath the skin of every American who refuses to let go of the past.
     
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