New York Post Cartoon

Cross out the above thought for a moment. I feel that the cartoon is offensive and is conveying the president in a negative manner. I also am aware of the fact of people not accepting the fact of having a non-white president. Pictures hold intangible concepts. Racism is an intangible concept. However, pictures also hold intangible concepts brought forth by metaphors, leading me to my next point.

To say the cartoon is racist is too easy. Perhaps it is not racist at all. It can be looked at as terrorists plotting against Obama. Maybe the cops represent terrorists and the monkey represents Obama. Although the monkey represents Obama, Obama represents America in the cartoon. So the terrorists are plotting against America. The cartoon can be understood in two or more ways. The cops and monkey are metaphors. And Obama is symbolizing not the black race, but America and democracy.

In the Webster’s Dictionary, a definition of monkey is as follows: a ludicrous figure. Here, there is no reference to an animal. To be a ludicrous figure is to be inconsistent and not conform. Perhaps the artist pictured the American people as seeing Obama’s plan as inconsistent with what he preached before becoming elected. So, the artist believes people to be unhappy with him and paints this message in a cartoon.

The fact that civil rights leaders and elected officials said it echoed racist stereotypes of blacks as monkey’s shows two things: a country who has been through tough prejudice and discrimination times, and that racism is still present in America today. I feel that if racism wasn't present today, such a cartoon wouldn’t automatically be described of as being racist or showing racism.

Misrepresentation means that facts are subject to numerous interpretations. The multiplicity of interpretations means multiple means of representation, which is the complex process of using data to represent a testable truth. With that said, let’s say that the civil rights leaders and elected officials are narrow minded for seeing this cartoon as racist.

Here’s an interesting thought: Evolution states we evolved from monkeys, apparently. Since this belief is widespread and enforced in schools, why the up-roar? Perhaps the monkey conveys Obama's immaturity and inexperience about the presidency. Therefore, a monkey was chosen to show immaturity because Obama has not evolved into an experienced president yet. Besides, Monkey’s are regarded as the closest animal to a human, and Evolution tells me that all humans are basically glorified monkeys.