Carnal Reason

On Feb 16, a 200 lb chimpanzee named Travis attacked and seriously injured a woman in Stamford, CT. Police later shot and killed the animal. The sad, strange story received world-wide press coverage.

Two days later the NY Post ran this editorial cartoon.

The storm of faux indignation was immediate. The Huffington Post:.

A cartoon likening the author of the stimulus bill, perhaps President Barack Obama, with a rabid chimpanzee graced the pages of the New YorkPost on Wednesday.

The drawing, from famed cartoonist Sean Delonas, is rife with violent imagery and racial undertones.

The phrase “the author of the stimulus bill, perhaps President Barack Obama” is interesting. Perhaps Barack Obama is the author of the stimulus bill, perhaps not. The unread bill is shrouded in mystery. It could have been written by anyone. From that it logically follows that the chimp in the cartoon must represent Obama.

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the 1000 page stimulus bill had more than one author. I think Congress was involved. I am basing this on the hunch that legislation is written by Congress, not the President. It’s a stretch, I know.

No one person, not even a congressman, could have produced so massive a pile of crap as the stimulus bill. But if we must blame a single person, her name is Nancy Pelosi.

Even so, comparing Pelosi to a chimp is racist, because it’s practically the same as comparing Obama to a chimp. Next thing you know someone will call Bill Clinton “thin-skinned”. Skin, get it? Racial undertone? Maybe someone will call Joe Biden “articulate”. Scratch that, it’ll never happen. But you see the danger.

On the bright side, it’s still ok to call Bush a chimp, or Hitler, or Chimpy Macbushitler, anything involving apes or Nazis is good. That shows you are sensitive, caring, and progressive.

Taranto cuts through the idiocy.

Consider the paradox: Racial “sensitivity” requires not eradicating racial stereotypes but keeping them alive–and not only keeping them alive but remaining acutely conscious of them at all times. Delonas and his editors are under attack for seeing “chimp” and failing to think “black guy.”

He makes an excellent point, but there is no paradox. The last thing the racial spoils industry wants to do is end racial stereotypes. There is no money in that. Racial strife = $$. There is still plenty of work to be done.

One more thing. I have to admit I found the cartoon offensive. The chimpanzee, Travis, died because people who should have known better chose to keep him as a pet, endangering him and the people around him. Travis paid for that mistake with his life. There was no reason to insult the memory of a dead animal by likening him to the authors of the stimulus bill.

Posted on February 20th, 2009 by pwyll
Filed under: General