So The New Yorker features a cover showing Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a militant radical, sharing a fist bump as a flag burns in the fireplace. The point is immediately obvious: these are the caricatures of the Obamas that the right has been trying to draw from the start of this election season. It’s not wacky, over-the-top, laugh-out-loud satire, but few New Yorker covers are. The intent is clear enough, and is obviously not to mock the Obamas.
Personally I’m not sure why the conversation about this goes any further than, “Oh yes, that was a mildly amusing reference to those crazy right wing emails everyone has heard about,” before moving on to other topics. But it’s appalling that a piece of artwork clearly mocking the delusions of the right is being excoriated as if it presents those delusions approvingly.
… part of what’s incredibly troubling about the reaction from the left (“your so-called art does not advance our cause, comrade!”) is that this is a pretty basic riff I could have — probably would have — incorporated into one of my own cartoons sooner or later, the old “pretending-crazy-right-wing-shit-is-true-in-order-to-show-how-fucked-up-it-is” gag being pretty integral to my work. Indeed, my pal Ruben Bolling already made a pretty good run at it here.
… Ruben’s take here.