Magazine Makes the News

I have never read the "New Yorker". I've seen various cartoons that appeared therein, and some of the covers, but I don't subscribe. It can't be purchased on news stands, so a large number of people may not even have known it exists. Until this week.

On the cover of this week's issue there is a caricature of Barack and Michele Obama standing in the oval office. He is wearing "Muslim" garb and she sports an Afro and camo and a rifle, apparently representing the Black Panthers. There is a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the wall, and an American flag burning in the fireplace. They are doing the little fist bump that had everyone talking not long ago.

The editor of the magazine appears on the news, all wide-eyed innocence, and explains, in words of one or two syllables, for all the little people out there in Mid-America, that it was simply "satire".

Mr. Supercilious editor, believe it or not, I get it. Satire, that is. What I don't get is why you didn't think it was going to cause such a stir. For what purports to be a high-class magazine, this was pretty low-class satire.

At the very least, it is in poor taste. At most, it was intended to confirm what about 20% of the voters believe about Obama. It certainly has racist overtones, which also may or may not have been intended.

All I know is you would be well-advised to follow-up this magazine cover with a tasteless "satire" featuring John McCain on your next edition.