Ok. So clearly this cartoon is making reference to a few items in the popular cultural ethos:
- The recent passage of the 1,100 page stimulus bill so packed with pork spending that it is difficult to distinguish the stimulus from the bacon.
- The tragic case of a recent shooting of a pet Chimp in Connecticut who viciously, and surprisingly attacked a woman and had to be put down by police.
- The old saying, known as the “Infinite Monkey Theorem” which states that given infinite time, if you were to allow a monkey to type at a keyboard the monkey would eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Some see this cartoon as a racist call for violence against President Obama, citing historical racist associations.
So, is this cartoon racist, stupid, or simply in bad taste? Well, I don’t think it was intended as racist, I don’t find the cartoon that particularly intelligent, and I do see it as being in extremely bad taste. At the very least, the New York Post should have known how this cartoon would be interpreted. Then again, the NY Post is known for being provocative — it is a tabloid after all — and so perhaps it fully expected and hoped for this type of controversy.
Let’s just call this cartoon what it is: stupid.
