New York Times Political Cartoon

[damyanti]

The "chimp" part isnt the problem. When I first saw it, the incredulity at what I was seeing caused a small gasp. It was depicting "cops shooting just another n*****", suggesting Obama would be that easy to get rid off. To do so when there have already been arrests of not too bright individuals who owned guns and plotted to kill the President...

They knew what they were doing. Political satyr is one thing, and Obama shouldnt be given a special exemption from it, but this wasnt it. This wasnt a critical commentary, at best it was a disgusting and hypocritical abuse of the freedom of speech.

[Thorne]

It's interesting to me how so many supposedly enlightened people can so easily equate chimps with race. I grew up during the racial problems of the 60's and 70's and I would never have put those two together if it hadn't been for all the uproar.

Are we then to assume that all those Tarzan movies with chimpanzees running around all over the place contain hidden racial slanders? Is Planet of the Apes perhaps a warning against allowing the "lesser" races to have too much power? Should we ban the word "chimp" from our language because some people see it as a racial slur? Maybe we should condemn the cartoonist to unending torment, as the Muslims did to the bomb-in-the-turban cartoonist?

Come on people! It's a freaking cartoon! It's not funny, and it's not even well drawn, but it's no worse than some of the bashing I've seen here, against both Bush and Obama. If you choose to see a racial slur in there, fine. Deal with it. But don't automatically assume that everyone does, or that you know what the artist (I use the term loosely) was trying to say.

[DuncanONeil]

The "chimp" part isnt the problem. When I first saw it, the incredulity at what I was seeing caused a small gasp. It was depicting "cops shooting just another n*****", suggesting Obama would be that easy to get rid off. To do so when there have already been arrests of not too bright individuals who owned guns and plotted to kill the President...

They knew what they were doing. Political satyr is one thing, and Obama shouldnt be given a special exemption from it, but this wasnt it. This wasnt a critical commentary, at best it was a disgusting and hypocritical abuse of the freedom of speech.

You do realize that a chimp was actually shot, do you not?