Comments on: New Yorker Illustration Strikes Controversy Where There is None

By: tom moody

tom moody — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:48:23 +0000

Regarding small town America, here is my belated reply:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wroj0FLvzs

By: Brian Sherwin Myartspace Blog

Brian Sherwin Myartspace Blog — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:53:46 +0000

See… interest has moved on to something else. :P

By: Hrag

Hrag — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:53:12 +0000

Wow Paddy…once you used to never get comments…I looove how things have changed!

By: homegrown

homegrown — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:01:41 +0000

Being in power in the White House and congress and having US forces involved in war is not a generalization. He mentioned the history of racial problems in the US so why is it so difficult to accept a few facts about the Democrats? It is a generalization to call all small town folks hicks and gun firing bible thumpers but it is not a generalization to point out facts that are supported. Democrats are not the peace lovers they have been made out to be. They get more positive media coverage than the Republicans.

By: liv moe

liv moe — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:40:21 +0000

I wonder if “homegrown” notices that he/she criticized a generalization with another generalization.

By: Joshua Blahyi

Joshua Blahyi — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:11:20 +0000

To address some of Tom’s points in his most recent post:

1. The Swift Boat campaign was not trying to illustrate in an over-the-top way how absurd the rumors about Kerry were. They were trying to make people think the rumors were the truth - the opposite intention of the New Yorker cover.

2. The Swift Boat campaign was not a cover of a monthly magazine known for its satire and wry cartoons. The Swift Boat campaign was mostly a bunch of advertisements that ran repeatedly in many print outlets and on TV.

——————–

Not trying to pick a fight, I like Tom, I like Obama, I thought the cartoon was funny!

By: joe mckay

joe mckay — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:22:39 +0000

Megan, oh I get you (concerning The Modest Proposal). That makes more sense.

By: homegrown

homegrown — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:38:18 +0000

“I have spent half my life out in the heartland and I promise you there are still lynch mobs lurking beneath the facades of small town normality. These folks do not need any encouragement.” Tom Moody

Prejudice much? Did you get beat up in a small town? Or are you just the typical Democrat? You probably call Republicans war mongers even though US involvement in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam happened with a Democrat president and Democrat controlled congresses in office. Billary Clinton mentioned fighting in Iraq in the late 90s.

By: megan

megan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:14:42 +0000

my point about publishing “A Modest Proposal” is just that it is something everyone has read in highschool, and yet, something that was horrifying to people when it was published.

Everyone in theory knows it’s satire(although, I’m willing to bet there are an awful lot of people out there who have never read it or seen it, I certainly have met a few, probably just depends what high school or university you went to), but didn’t at the time. Which would be the exact point of publishing it. “look, this thing that horrified people through it’s satire is now an iconic part of culture used to teach students…”

By: tom moody

tom moody — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:58:26 +0000

Since Mr. Blahyi likes to practice satire (I would have called it “sarcasm” but I defer to his characterization), here are his own words about a previous political campaign:

“The Swift Boat campaign gathered together the paranoid and absurd rumors about Kerry in an over-the-top way that illustrated how ridiculous they were. If people couldn’t understand it, oh well. If people believed it depicted reality, then they were not going to vote for Kerry anyway.”

And Kerry lost.

Where does Mr. Blahyi think the rumors came from that Obama trained in a madras school and/or endorsed black separatism? Right wing oppo research and disinformation. Before those stories started circulating with help from a willing US media, Obama was a centrist pol in a suit who opposed the Iraq war and had a “message of hope.” Poking the racist nerve is what the Republicans are going with and will keep pounding right up until the election. With the media’s full support and complicity. The New Yorker cover is the “hey, it’s just humor” expression of these tactics.