The Tea Party are RACIST!!

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I don't know what the intent of the photo was but if it was "just" about his ears" why add the chimp family in and all?
if Obama were perceived as white, would the same thing have happened? the exact thing, the same way?

I think the photo was hateful itself but I don't know anything about the person who intended it or distributed it.
 
It was (supposedly) funny when "monkey pictures" were made of Bush, including a huge billboard. "Anonymous donors had paid for the picture to be posted on a giant digital billboard over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, used by thousands of commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey. "

Bush Monkey Picture Shown on Giant Billboard

Also, this series:

Bush Chimp Pictures - Bush Monkey Photos

If you google "pictures of Bush as a monkey" you will get more than 4 million hits.

It's all political satire. No one likes to see their own guy get made fun of. But it's really hypocritical for people to jump up and down with anger about this picture of Obama if they didn't do the same thing when all the monkey pictures of Bush were making the rounds.

Better yet, get a laugh out of all of them and move on. It's political humor; maybe not to your taste, but humor making fun of politicians has been around as long as there have been politicians. And humorists.
 
Beachgirl is right about making fun of politicans for decades
 
politicians do get made fun of a lot....
 
In the mid-1800's, political satire and cartoons were even worse than they are now, if you can believe that. Abraham Lincoln was called "Nothing more than a well-meaning baboon" by General McClellan.

Quotes and Insulting Quotations from Abraham Lincoln

McClellan was, for a while, General-in-Chief of the Union Army (late 1861 to spring of 1862). And he still spoke of his President like that.
 
I think it's funny how you're ignoring the fact that a comparison between a black man and a monkey is ALWAYS racist, no matter what. Don't try to dance around the issue and say, "Oh, it's always been done, blah blah blah" because there is a big difference when comparing a black person to monkey and comparing a white person.

That said, yes it's ridiculous to say that the entire Tea Party is racist based on one email forwarded by a low level member. Whoop di doo.
 
Why do you believe it's always racist to compare a black man to a monkey, but it's different when you compare a white person to a monkey? A white person then shouldn't be offended at all, but a black person should be, even when the humor is based on very similar images?
 
Beach girl said:
Why do you believe it's always racist to compare a black man to a monkey, but it's different when you compare a white person to a monkey? A white person then shouldn't be offended at all, but a black person should be, even when the humor is based on very similar images?
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Do you really need to ask this question? The comparison between a person of African descent and monkey/gorilla is a longstanding racial epithet, going back hundreds of years. You cannot make a comparison between a black person and a monkey without inciting this. Pretending to be ignorant of the history, or worse, denying it, does not mean it's okay to defend a racist joke.
 
Beach girl said:
Why do you believe it's always racist to compare a black man to a monkey, but it's different when you compare a white person to a monkey? A white person then shouldn't be offended at all, but a black person should be, even when the humor is based on very similar images?
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What about the watermelon scandal? A mayor ended up resigning because he forwarded some images of President Obama and watermelons?

Watermelon Obama - Google Search

Had they done this with President Bush, it wouldn't have made any sense at all. Besides, Bush did somewhat resemble a chimpanzee. But I wouldn't call Bush a chimp because I'm afraid the chimp would take offense to being associated with a human being.
 
I'm aware of the history. I'm also aware of the history of comparing white politicians to baboons and monkeys and other beasts (see A. Lincoln reference and G. Bush reference above).

So you're saying, in essence, that Obama, because he is black, should not be insulted in ways that are ok if the target is Bush, or other white politicians? Or should all of that sort of humor be condemned whenever it comes up? Should the people who paid for that humongous billboard picture of Bush have been condemned for going too far in using a visual image to insult a sitting president?

I'm not defending this particular joke, by the way. Just putting it in context with a long, long line of similar things.
 
Beach girl said:
It was (supposedly) funny when "monkey pictures" were made of Bush, including a huge billboard. "Anonymous donors had paid for the picture to be posted on a giant digital billboard over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, used by thousands of commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey. "

Bush Monkey Picture Shown on Giant Billboard

Also, this series:

Bush Chimp Pictures - Bush Monkey Photos

If you google "pictures of Bush as a monkey" you will get more than 4 million hits.

It's all political satire. No one likes to see their own guy get made fun of. But it's really hypocritical for people to jump up and down with anger about this picture of Obama if they didn't do the same thing when all the monkey pictures of Bush were making the rounds.

Better yet, get a laugh out of all of them and move on. It's political humor; maybe not to your taste, but humor making fun of politicians has been around as long as there have been politicians. And humorists.
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While it is true that politicians have been subjected to things like this for time immorial, comparison of a white man to a monkey and comparison of a black man to a monkey have completely different connotations as a result of this county's history of discrimination and prejudice. We all need to be more aware of the message we send in the context of social history.

I have no doubt, given the general ignorance and backward thinking that I have witnessed from members of the Tea Party that this was intended as a racially based slur. And to condone it or to justify it is to also behave in a racist manner. It allows such to be acceptable.
 
TheWriteAlex said:
Do you really need to ask this question? The comparison between a person of African descent and monkey/gorilla is a longstanding racial epithet, going back hundreds of years. You cannot make a comparison between a black person and a monkey without inciting this. Pretending to be ignorant of the history, or worse, denying it, does not mean it's okay to defend a racist joke.
Click to expand...

Isn't it amazing that so many who consider themselves to be intelligent and socially aware are so capable of ignoring the historical social context and justifying racist behavior?
 
Beach girl said:
I'm aware of the history. I'm also aware of the history of comparing white politicians to baboons and monkeys and other beasts (see A. Lincoln reference and G. Bush reference above).

So you're saying, in essence, that Obama, because he is black, should not be insulted in ways that are ok if the target is Bush, or other white politicians? Or should all of that sort of humor be condemned whenever it comes up? Should the people who paid for that humongous billboard picture of Bush have been condemned for going too far in using a visual image to insult a sitting president?

I'm not defending this particular joke, by the way. Just putting it in context with a long, long line of similar things.
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No, dear, you are completely missing the context.
 
How do you categorize the monkey pictures of Bush, then? Acceptable, or not? Do you condone or justify those, or not? Did you (general you, for anyone interested) protest those at the time, or not?

May I point out again that putting things in context is NOT the same as condoning or justifying.
 
I say let the Tea party keep this up and continue to sh oot themselves in the foot
 
Beach girl said:
How do you categorize the monkey pictures of Bush, then? Acceptable, or not? Do you condone or justify those, or not? Did you (general you, for anyone interested) protest those at the time, or not?

May I point out again that putting things in context is NOT the same as condoning or justifying.
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It is not a matter of "acceptable". It is a matter of racism and discrimination. Some find that acceptable. I personally, do not.

Justifying, contextually, that which is racist is most definately a covert way of allowing such behavior to continue.
 
Beach girl said:
I'm aware of the history. I'm also aware of the history of comparing white politicians to baboons and monkeys and other beasts (see A. Lincoln reference and G. Bush reference above).

So you're saying, in essence, that Obama, because he is black, should not be insulted in ways that are ok if the target is Bush, or other white politicians? Or should all of that sort of humor be condemned whenever it comes up? Should the people who paid for that humongous billboard picture of Bush have been condemned for going too far in using a visual image to insult a sitting president?

I'm not defending this particular joke, by the way. Just putting it in context with a long, long line of similar things.
Click to expand...

Fallacious reasoning.

First off, what you are saying is that when comparing a black politician to a monkey/ape, the racial epithet does not apply simply because white politicians have also been the butt of this joke? The problem is, when white politicians are compared to apes and monkeys, it is simply a commentary on their intelligence. Is that crude and sophomoric humor? Absolutely. Racist? No. When Obama is compared to a monkey, it is a commentary on both his intelligence and on his racial inadequacy. It does not matter if the creator of the cartoon was just trying to comment on his intelligence. The caricature invokes the history of the epithet 100% of the time. That is unavoidable, and as such, it is racist by extension, rather than intent.

Secondly, I'm not saying Obama shouldn't be subject to satire at all. Don't put words in my mouth. I'm saying he should not be subject to racial epithets. There are plenty of ways to make Obama's intelligence the butt of a joke without including the image of a monkey. Just about all political cartoonists understand this, which is why you don't see any political cartoons comparing him to a monkey in reputable publications (he gets compared to plenty of other things though). It baffles me why you do not.
 
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