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<title>Barry Blitt - FishbowlLA</title>
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<description>LA Media News, Unspooled</description>
<copyright>Copyright 2013</copyright>
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<title>The New Yorker is Defending Political Humor?! Wow Are We In Trouble&#8230;</title>
<description><![CDATA[<p><img alt="newyorker_7-14.JPG" src="/fishbowlla/files/original/newyorker_7-14.JPG" width="161" height="233" class="alignright" hspace="7/" /> We just have to chime in on this <em>New Yorker</em> cover controversy. <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Rachel-Sklar-profile.html">Rachel Sklar</a></strong> at Huffington Post really started this with her outrage about this week&#8217;s cover depicting Michelle and <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Barack-Obama-profile.html">Barack Obama</a></strong> as Muslim terrorists &#8211; burning the flag under a portrait of <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Osama-Bin-Laden-profile.html">Osama Bin Laden</a></strong> in the Oval Office.</p>
<p>She <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/13/yikes-controversial-emnew_n_112429.html">writes</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Who knows if they&#8217;ll get this in Dubuque, but they sure aren&#8217;t going to like it in Chicago.</p></blockquote>
<p>As of this posting there are over 3100 comments of folks &#8216;not liking it&#8217; &#8211; ranging from accusing the <em>New Yorker</em> of being a fascist right-wing rag to outright shaming the magazine for its choice to calls for a boycott. And if those aren&#8217;t enough, there are another 2000 at <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11719.html">Politico</a> for your more bipartisan enjoyment.</p>
<p>LAT blogger, <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Andrew-Malcolm-profile.html">Andrew Malcolm</a></strong> <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/obama-muslim.html">writes</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Of course, the McCain people must say that, despite some staff no doubt chuckling behind closed doors over their opponent&#8217;s new challenge. That&#8217;s the problem with satire. A lot of people won&#8217;t get the joke. Or won&#8217;t want to. And will use it for non-humorous purposes, which isn&#8217;t the New Yorker&#8217;s fault.</p></blockquote>
<p>That&#8217;s not actually the problem with satire. That&#8217;s the problem with <em>information</em>. A lot of people won&#8217;t get that.</p>
<p>A satirist&#8217;s job &#8211; responsibility &#8211; sole purpose is to point out the absurd. The audience&#8217;s reaction isn&#8217;t the goal. Making left-wingers comfortable isn&#8217;t the goal. Quelling internet hysteria&#8230;yeah right.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Barry-Blitt-profile.html">Barry Blitt</a></strong>&#8216;s cartoon is brilliant. We&#8217;ve been getting emails about Obama being a secret Muslim for over a year. And if Grama isn&#8217;t forwarding that to us &#8211; she&#8217;s sending out an email blast about his radical Christian preacher that hates America and white people. Just the fact that &#8216;terrorist fist jab&#8217; is now in our lexicon because a television &#8216;journalist&#8217; asked if a presidential candidate greeting his wife on stage was a sign of subversion &#8211; is proof that Obama&#8217;s opposition have lost their collective minds. And that&#8217;s what the cover does &#8211; connects those dots and draws a picture of how ridiculous Grama&#8217;s forwards (and <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/ED-Hill-profile.html">E.D. Hill</a></strong>) are.</p>
<p>Of course, now Obama supporters are worried &#8211; terrified that a <em>cartoon</em> is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy">dangerous</a> and going to hurt the political process.</p>
<p>Proof that absurdity is a perennial bipartisan issue.</p>
<p>New Career Opportunities Daily: The <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/?c=rss">best jobs in media</a>. </p>]]></description>
<dc:creator>Tina Dupuy</dc:creator>
<comments>http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/the-new-yorker-is-defending-political-humor-wow-are-we-in-trouble_b6712#disqus_thread</comments>
<link>http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/the-new-yorker-is-defending-political-humor-wow-are-we-in-trouble_b6712</link>
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		<category><![CDATA[Magazines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Malcolm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barry Blitt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[E.D. Hill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Osama bin Laden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rachel Sklar]]></category>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:58:14 +0000</pubDate>
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