Letters to the Editor
PaulBC
Published Letters: 240 Editor's Choice: 24
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I got nothin...
[Read the article: Bacon is dead! Long live bacon!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was waiting for the punchline, but now I am starting to think that this "Pork week" thing is intended seriously. I agree with comments that it should be called "bacon week". There are many other cuts of pork.
So far the highlight of my week was the charnel house of Ms. Traister and BF. Disassembled ducks in the freezer, "salty piglet gravy", and as I imagine it, meat hooks hanging from every square foot of ceiling space.
Throw in a little Sweeney Todd (or am I thinking Motel Hell) and you have the next summer blockbuster. Pitch: "She could cure anything... except the compulsion."
This article, well... OK, bacon=latest food fad. Missed that one before. Got it now. Is there really much more to say?
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Interesting word, "republicize"
[Read the article: Obama's easy "Sister Souljah moment"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I did a double take on that one. I now realize you meant that Obama took the opportunity to publicize his comments again. But on my first reading I thought "republicize" meant to alter one's phrasing to make the point palatable to Republicans.
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Re: Pre-emptive strike
[Read the article: Remembering Thomas M. Disch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My reaction was "Thomas M. Disch killed himself and I just spent the past four days reading about bacon?!?!"
I haven't read anything by Disch in years, but I especially liked "On Wings of Song", since the premise was idiosyncratic but executed so coherently that you soon accept it as totally natural. I remember "The Genocides" and "Camp Concentration", but it was a little more straightforward to see where he was going in those novels.
Terrible... I cannot really imagine an author of his stature being faced with eviction threats, among other recent troubles. I'm also amazed that this is the first I'd heard of his death. When I saw the title of the article, I wondered if he had died years ago and I missed it or forgotten. I've been online all week and hitting the NYT and Google news as much as ever. What gives?
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@pathloser00
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's a hoax. See http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/obama-birth.htm
"All of these claims are intentional hoaxes. Does anybody really believe that Obama's citizenship would have been overlooked?"
I also don't believe Thomas Sowell is enough of a dimwit or liar to have originated this hoax. But it's not my job to exonerate him.
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Who said "proves"?
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"So, people are saying that this cartoon image has convinced them that Obama is a Muslim?"
Domini said it "reinforced a lot of prejudices." See, "convince" is when you change someone's mind or at least tilt the skeptical towards your view. "Reinforce" is when you tell them once again what they already wanted to believe. Can you do this with a cartoon image? Oh, I guess not. That's why nobody in their right mind would ever try to make a political point with a cartoon.
"Even if this was not satire, how could any rational person say that the act of drawing this image proves anything?"
OK, now I'm stumped. We were talking about rational people?
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Shocking revelation!
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"every stage of his political career has been marked by an eagerness to accommodate himself to existing institutions rather than tear them down or replace them."
Wow, reading this you'd almost think that politics is the art of the possible or something. If Obama won't be the Messiah, then I'm taking my ballot and going home.
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jeannette
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Those who use this cartoon to prove that Obama is a Muslim are not rational."
If that was your point, then I'm happy to prove it, but I thought it was already obvious.
"Therefore, there is nothing that can be done to change their minds."
True enough, but I don't see the good in handing them some convenient clip art for their wingnut web page. I'd rather they bought their own box of crayons or fingerpaints and be kept out of trouble for the half hour or so it would take to produce their own crude propaganda.
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@Kate "strawman" Tex
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hadn't noticed anyone suggesting that a law be passed that would prohibit the New Yorker from printing this cover. There is a widespread opinion that the cover is in poor taste and is more likely to hurt Obama than to function effectively as satire. Expressing the opinion is also an exercise of free speech.
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Really Elephantman? Or are you just... lying
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Or is every lie "satire" when you're called on it?
Just asking.
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Ruben Bolling beat me to it.
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was going to comment that a Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon had a similar satirical slant, but that one was funny because it was so obviously over the top. Anyway, Bolling has a more detailed analysis the contrast with his cartoon.
http://gocomics.typepad.com/tomthedancingbugblog/
Among the things that made Bolling's comic effective was to bring out some of the absurdities. How can you say Obama is Muslim and attack his Christian pastor? What kind of "secret" Muslim would have Hussein as his middle name?
The New Yorker cover, by contrast, paints a coherent picture that is largely consistent with actual far right smears against Obama. Even this could be made into satire when you consider that Obama has been smeared as both Muslim and godless commie. If you could fit a copy of the Koran and the Communist Manifesto in the same panel you might begin to make a point. Though I would say, it's risky. More likely the far right shared neuron has little trouble lumping together all enemies of Christendom.
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Just wondering, though...
[Read the article: The Obama cover kerfuffle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If this cover is such effective satire and makes a such cogent point for us liberal elites, then why is it that rightwingers are about the only ones trying to defend it?