I think the racist overtones are the difference between the Michelle case and the Bush case. Because in the United States, racist people used to call Black people monkeys as a racial slur. If (they had used any animal other than a primate) and (they had used any word other than a racial slur), then there wouldn't be any difference between the Michelle case and the Bush case. I'm pretty sure if they had morphed her into a cat or a fish, there wouldn't have been an uproar.
There also wouldn't have been a political statement, unless there is some kind of rhetoric going around that Michelle Obama thinks of us as the blobs that feed her or is incapable of feeling pain.:|
Perhaps. But be careful not to equate a monkey image of a person who is a member of a race historically and commonly referred to using monkey imagery, and a person who is not. Only a jackass, a racist, or a wag would try to claim that a Bush-monkey image carries the same significance as an Obama-monkey image. (To me, you do not seem to be making that mistake.) Both images may (or may not) be offensive, but to be sure they ARE NOT offensive for the same reasons.
And when you're PAST racism, you get offended by both equally and for the same reason. That's a GOOD thing, and I think a lot of people are at that point. Shock at the manip of Mrs Obama, while having no such problem with a manip of Bush, shows a severe hypersensitivity to racism (or just ignorant partisanship).
I get offended by both equally... that being not at all for either.
Politicians (and by extension, their families) have all signed up for being the subjects of ridicule when they take the job. It is a small price to pay in exchange for the near limitless power conferred by their posts - especially the post of President of the United States, and especially in our post-constitutional-checks-and-balances political environment.
A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing
but together can decide that nothing can be done.
-- Fred Allen
Good Job guys (Score:5, Informative)
At the moment it suggests searching for "Michelle Obama monkey" when you search for "Michelle Obama"
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At the moment it suggests searching for "Michelle Obama monkey" when you search for "Michelle Obama"
Personally, I think that's an astonishingly good suggestion. Well done Google!
Re:Good Job guys (Score:5, Insightful)
The irony is that the joke is boring no matter who it's pointed at.
Re:Good Job guys (Score:5, Insightful)
They're both racist slurs. One shows ignorance of African Americans and the other shows ignorance of Monkeys.
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Wouldn't the comment about the ignorance of actual monkeys be considered "specist?"
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Perhaps. But be careful not to equate a monkey image of a person who is a member of a race historically and commonly referred to using monkey imagery, and a person who is not. Only a jackass, a racist, or a wag would try to claim that a Bush-monkey image carries the same significance as an Obama-monkey image. (To me, you do not seem to be making that mistake.) Both images may (or may not) be offensive, but to be sure they ARE NOT offensive for the same reasons.
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Politicians (and by extension, their families) have all signed up for being the subjects of ridicule when they take the job. It is a small price to pay in exchange for the near limitless power conferred by their posts - especially the post of President of the United States, and especially in our post-constitutional-checks-and-balances political environment.