If only we showed half the outrage at the right-wing media that we are showing to the New Yorker

[Bjorn Against]

When the cover of the latest issue of the New Yorker was revealed many people were outraged. It was a cover that was meant to be a satirical jab at the right-wing media, but unfortunately the illustrator neglected to actually include the right-wing media in the illustration and thus many people missed the joke. To many instead of attacking the right-wing media his cover art ended up echoing the right-wing media. This was the type of illustration that we would expect to see on the cover of the National Review, but it was not an illustration that we would expect to see on the cover of the New Yorker.

I think that is the point that a lot of people are missing in this whole debate, we would expect this from the right-wing. We would expect it because the right-wing has already made these sorts of attacks against Obama, and unlike the New Yorker they were not trying to be satirical. Since the beginning of the campaign the right-wing has been trying to portray Obama (or as they call him B. Hussein Osama) as a radical black Muslim who refuses to wear a flag pin, dresses up in a turban, and gives terrorist fist bumps. They have consistently tried to portray him in the exact same way as he was portrayed on the cover of the New Yorker, but unlike the New Yorker when they portray him in that way they are not joking and they actually want people to believe he is a terrorist.

The New Yorker never intended to harm Obama with the image on their cover, what they intended to do was to portray the right-wing attacks on him as being absurd. Now don’t get me wrong this was a failed attempt at satire as the context was just not there, but there is a big difference between using bad judgment on a joke and intentionally trying to portray Obama as a terrorist.

We need to know who the real enemy in the media is, and the New Yorker is not the enemy. The enemy is within the corporate owned entities like Fox News, ABC, and CNN who are constantly grilling Obama for not wearing a flag pin and trying to tie him to the Weather Underground. The enemy is speaking on right-wing hate radio that broadcasts people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and tells you that if Obama is elected the terrorists will celebrate. The enemy is writing for publications like the National Review and the Wall Street Journal who use their pages to spread false rumors about Obama.

But the enemy is not the New Yorker. The New Yorker may have used bad judgment but they are still on our side, and we are wasting our time attacking them when there are many other media outlets which are not on our side that we should be focusing on. I am sure that many people in the New Yorker offices are today having deep regrets about publishing that cover art, as I am sure they never wanted to upset Obama supporters like they have. Before we jump on them any more let’s take a deep breath and step back to realize that they are on our side and that we have other media outlets who are doing us a far bigger disservice than they are. It is time to focus on the real enemy.