Never mind that apes have thin lips--the simian = negro syllogism is time tested, effective...hell here's some trivia for you: by way of advertising and prototypical public service announcements (PSA) the imagery got the federal government to outlaw cocaine in the early 20th century. Nuff said. Recall the posters of Barack all through Red State world (no, not the ones portraying him as a buck toothed, dark skinned Bin Laden... I mean the monkey ones from the Palin rallies). Such is element one of this Perfect Storm of Assholishness...
Now, we all know the bend of the New York Post. For example, Mayor Mikey Bloomberg is considered a traitor to, I dunno, some form of the publisher's neocon Judiasm (which has now been discredited). Nevertheless a media outlet having an extreme, nasty or even stupid point of view isn't a crime. It's stirs discourse. That's also element two of the Perfect Storm. Hold that thought for a sec and dig this...
...I write articles, books, essays. But did you know I was a cartoonist? Far back in time to the modern age, from my high school newspaper the McDonogh Week, to the Princetonian and Nassau Herald to the Source and even Smithsonian (talk about a range!). Haven't done it in a long time, yet still I'm familiar with the cartoonist here. He's good. I also know what it means to push the damn envelope of taste. Yeah, yeah, I also know what it means to push it into full tilt asshole-realm. OK so the folks at the Post don't like the Stimulus. I don't recall such vitriol presented against the TARP or bonuses at AIG, etc., but hey. Fine. Forget that the same wingnuts in the GOP whom the Post supports now want the stimulus cash. A newspaper can be a forum for hypocrites, too. No crime either. No "intelligent design ," however. Oh, it's merely Darwinian evolution: from the dinosaur of Hearst's meglomanical yellow journalism to thebirds of the NY Post, Roger Ailes, Bill Kristol. Again, fine. But let's start connecting all this up...
...and back to the Perfect Storm we come. Here's element three: the ape stereotype, as if primates are silly, stupid, therefore the Stimulus and it's sponsor and fellow travelers are the same. You know, the Shakespeare-typewriter thing. Real digression alert here: you don't have to be a National Geographic or Discovery Channel addict to know that (1) we are pimates and (2) we humans are likely the most silly, venial, deceptive, violent of all them (them being gorillas, gibbons [who mate for life and are monogamous], oranguatans and chimps). Oh and (3), apes are pretty smart.
Which brings me to element four. The gravamen (or angle) of this cartoon derives from a chimpanzee in Connecticut who tore up a woman. The police had to shoot it as it made off with the lady's scalp. Now, is this funny? Snicker worthy on any level? Depends. Yeah, I said it. Of course it is if you're stupid and you subscribe to ape stereotype above. Ever see an adult chimp in the wild? Not Disney small and cute. Mugging for cameras, clapping. A full grown male silverback gorilla's pretty damn scary, but if he can't bluff you he might crack your skull and run. A chimp, well, it will rip you to shreds. Maybe even share your liver with another in it's troop. Maybe even murder another chimp. Of all the primates they are like us when it comes to killing or lacking empathy. When I was ten my family visited this ramshackle place called the Catoctin Mountain Zoo (not far from Camp David, Maryland--whoa, there's a nice presidential tie-in) the day a chimp--a grown female--tore off another little boy's arm. And here's some further White House convergence. The animal escaped and had to be shot by guards at Camp David once it wandered near the border of the compound. I saw the kid's blood. My mother shooed away my sister and my brother was a toddler, but I was old enough to understand what had happened. Yet I didn't know people had so much blood inside their bodies. All I'd seen was ooze from scrapes gotten in bicycle mishaps, or a cut finger or classmate's nose bleed. And here was a boy close to my age. The shrieking cut right to my stomach. His mom's shrieking, not his. He was comatose. Nope, not funny at the time, or now. Not funny to the woman's family in Connecticut, I suspect.
So, returning to element two, did anyone at the Post act as sounding board, or offer "come on, this is a little too crazy" word of wisdom? Unlikely. Indeed, I posit they in true "te he he he" wingnut form, everything this encompassed, all the elements of the storm. They didn't care,--not that they didn't know or anticipate "oversensitivity." They plain didn't care. Lord given my history, no one can accuse me of being oversensitive. The cartoonist? That's a tough call. He draws to create debate, arguments. Sometimes you get sucked into that and don't see the forest from the trees. Trees laden not with furry apes, but editors, howling and screeching and beating their chests for you to come up with something to feed the provocation machine.
Al Sharpton commented on this, and appeared on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Interesting the nature of outlets in this duel: the Post verses urban (or bamma, 'cause I love to wax elitist) radio. This is a discourse which needs airing on a broader level, however. Unh-unh. It's not as silly as a barrell of apes. It belies something ugly, long-standing. It's just donned a new mask and other people refuse to see what's behind it despite the storm gale blowing it off . People will not learn. Smart people. But then again, we're just primates, right? Naked apes. Everyone, not just niggers...
