Monday, July 14, 2008

New Yorker Cover: I will not cancel my sub


This cover does not bother me.

What bothers me is that a Fox News commentator called a bump of the Obama's fists a "terrorist fist jab." What bothers me is the persistence of the rumors that Obama is a muslim -- but what bothers me even more is that there would be something wrong if he were a muslim.

What bothers me is that Congressman Keith Ellison, inducted last year as the first ever Muslim member of Congress (and an African-American) provoked nasty responses from fellow congresspersons simply because he wished to place his hand on the Koran while being sworn in. Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia wrote in a letter to his constituents about Ellison:
The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.
Guess what, folks? We have a racist society where it's bad to be black, sometimes even worse to be muslim, and sometimes worst of all to be an immigrant. The Blitt cover doesn't, to me, promote any of these things -- it just holds a mirror up of that society for us to see. Of course we don't like it. But it's much easier to get pissed at the New Yorker than it is to do the hard work on the ground of undoing and fighting hatred among our coworkers, neighbors, relatives and friends.

3 comments:

venus (en el pudridero) said...

i'm definitely not cancelling my subscription to the new yorker.

but after their philistine reaction, i definitely am considering cancelling my subscription to obama.

Betty and Bimbo said...

OMG Obama is driving me up the friggin' wall.

Betty and Bimbo said...

I don't think Obama has ever said anything to the effect of "If I WERE a Muslim, there would be nothing wrong with that..."

Am I wrong?