In this instance, I'd like hear your thoughts on some of the very predictable jokes that have found their way into our cultural as part of the "first black president inauguration package." Let me preface these with my own reaction - LMFAO. I imagine some of these are gonna be touchy so if you feel a little uncomfortable, breathe . . . wooo-saaa . . . or picture Dave Chapelle doing it on his show and maybe you can find some humor in them.
And maybe not. Maybe none of them are funny; perhaps they're all in bad taste.
Countdown:
5. Basketball Obama
Of course all black people play basketball! Even the Ivy League lawyer types who make it to the White House. The only thing more stereotypical to highlight from his personal hobbies would be if he were caught playing spades with some friends on election night.
4. Obama's Stimulus
Bill. . . maybe not the bill you expected, but with the rising cost of food, jobs being lost and a president who never misses a chance to brand himself we all should have seen this one coming. I wonder if this gives you an extra discount on "black" foods like watermelon and chicken. (O.K., forget I said that.)
3. Obama Fried Chicken
Speaking of chicken (lol), well what do you know - seems like the president in cashing in on the community. Obama Fried Chicken, right in my neighborhood here in New York City. (Really. I couldn't make this up even if I tried.) True to Obama's diplomacy, it seems like the store offers Gyros for Greeks, Bagels for Jews, Pizza for Italians, and Halal meats for Middle Easterners.
2. The Gift of Music
I put this one high on my list of favorites because Obama actually brought this on himself. Since it seems to be well established that black people love music, Obama decided to share the love by giving the Queen of England an iPod as a gift. WHAT! LOL! It's hard to imagine how folks get along in life without some back-in-tha-day tunes but Obama won't have it. The jury is still out as to whether it was pre-loaded with some old school love jams and Motown favorites. But it did seem to include a few of his best talks. Now that's one confident man who could do that! And speaking of confidence...
1. Swagger Like Barack
Alot of people (mostly white) think Obama has a "God complex". But it's not a complex at all - it's swagger! Swagger is a subtle thing that many people who are not black don't seem to get. (Sorry.) Swagger is about one thing: respect. Rest assured, if President Obama feels disrespected, he will find himself dodging the "angry black man" bullet.John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama all die and go to heaven. God looks down from his throne and asks McCain, “Do you think you deserve to be in heaven?”
McCain takes a breath and then replies, “Well, I think so because I was a great leader and tried to follow the words in your great book.” God looks down and then says, “You can sit to my left side.”
So, McCain takes his seat and then God asks the same question to Hillary, “Do you think you deserve to be in heaven?” Hillary thinks for a second and then replies, “I think so because I have been fighting for the rights of so many people for so long.” God again looks down and this time says, “You can sit to my right side.”
Finally God turns to Barack Obama and asks, “Do you think you deserve to be in heaven?”
Obama smiled and replied, “I think you’re in my seat.”
Check out this interesting article: "Cartoonists Tread Lightly When Drawing Obama"
210 comments:
1 – 200 of 210 Newer› Newest»First off, I find these jokes to be funny. I do not really understand why people would take offense to them, but then again I am a white male. But when it comes to jokes in general, I think most people need to lighten up—especially those who find the majority of them to be offensive. It may just be that it’s easy for me to say this because I am not a minority, but I strongly believe that even if I were I still would not get offended by meaningless jokes. Something people need to realize is that everybody gets poked fun at, especially those who hold some position of power. Accordingly, when you are the President of the United States, jokes about you will fall like never ending rain. After all, the majority of political cartoons are directed toward ridiculing the president. This means that certain people’s careers are devoted toward scripting jokes about the president. Nevertheless, there will be plenty of jokes produced about the president. This is true under all circumstances in the United States, and it has nothing to do with race. At the same time, since our current president does indeed happen to be black, people have the opportunity to use this as ammunition to come up with stereotypical “black” jokes. These jokes all seem to be in good humor, and I do not think they are intended to insult anyone, whether they do or not. In fact, I personally would be more insulted by a joke made about my intelligence as compared to one made about my race and ethnicity. And as we all know, there were countless jokes made about the intelligence of our previous white president, and yet little controversy about the level of their offensiveness. Intelligence is something that relates to one’s personal triumph and failure, while race is something that one cannot change. Therefore, if jokes about race are the best they got, then supporters of Obama should be pretty content.
Additionally, I find the controversy of cartoonists exaggerating Obama’s features simply ridiculous. If anyone has ever had a caricature drawn of himself or herself, or even seen one before, he or she knows that the point of them essentially is to exaggerate features of the subject. The way cartoonists make certain people look is often ridiculous, and yet we can recognize who it’s a drawing of because of the technique. Obama has certain features that must be exaggerated when making a cartoon of him just like any other person in the world does. This has absolutely nothing to do with what race he is. It’s what he looks like, and it is what it is—there should be no controversy or shame about it.
I’m almost at a loss for words here. Almost. Besides being a white guy, I know next to nothing about politics and what’s going on in this country. But if I’m gonna come out of the racial closet now’s as good a time as any. But like politics my knowledge of racial topics and slurs is at a minimum. I mean sure, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of blacks in the NBA and in lines at grocery stores with food points. So? Maybe I’m just comedically challenged for not getting it, but I don’t see the joke.
Okay, so black people stereotypically like fried chicken. Obama’s black. He might like fried chicken? Who doesn’t? Just because he’s black is he supposed to not eat fried chicken to avoid being made fun of? A man’s gotta eat. I say let him munch on whatever he wants. I thought it was funny that Obama gave the queen of England an ipod. Not because of the stereotype, (I see a lot of white people listening to music too it’s a universal language) but because I imagine the queen to be this old white woman who’s very set in her ways and not very receptive to new technology. It’s be like giving your grandmother an ipod. She’d have no idea what to do with it. I like the idea of Obama the combo breaker.
I don’t really see the cartoonists making fun of Obama’s race because he’s black so much as because he’s different. I mean, what’s the point of making fun of our president for being white when we’re all white too? And every president before him was white. I tend to think that if we had a few more black presidents, the whole race thing wouldn’t be such a big issue. Chances are Obama knew what he was getting himself into when he ran for office. I think black people just need to lighten up. (no pun intended) I guess it’s not very funny to make fun of president after president for being an uptight white guy, but they were. It was out there. I know we have more than a few colored cartoonists out there. Why didn’t they say anything? Come to think of it, I wonder how white society would have reacted to that. I mean, no one even considered that white officials were being compared to black people when said white officials were depicted as monkeys. Do white people have any animals they are likened to?
I’ll be interested to see how political cartoons change when/if we go back to white presidents. Or maybe we’ll have an Asian president. Or a Latino. What would the people have to say about that?
Even though this blog is somewhat stereotypical, it is actually pretty funny. However, what I don’t understand is that President Obama is of a mixed race, yet everything that pertains to him is that he’s African American/black. In my opinion, he is more white than black because of the society he grew up in and that he was raised by his white mother for most of his life. But the media and the majority of the U.S. does not think that way. The stereotypes about the watermelon, fried chicken, basketball, and food coupon could be taken as extremely offensive to some people and a simple joke to others. For me (as a black female) I am kind of in the middle. I say this because some of the stereotypes are somewhat true. A lot of black people enjoy eating watermelons and fried chicken, but, sometimes the stereotypes can be taken too far, which might piss people off. For example, the article in the blog, where the cartoonist illustrated a chimp getting shot by a white policeman and then they stated that someone else would have to sign the stimulus bill, was definitely taken too far. I honestly don’t think that the cartoon was funny at all. As I have been saying in my previous blogs, we are living in the 21st Century and it is time for all of us to grow up. The United States is an extremely diverse place and if we keep cutting people off because of their race, we will just be re-tracing history, which is a pain since the U.S. is the most powerful country in the world. Why does it always have to be a racial problem? Also, it seems like this whole race issue is between blacks and white or it’s always blacks versus whites. There shouldn’t be racism period but there are other races in the U.S., however it always comes down to the fact that whites are superior to every other race. And that other races have to work twice as harder than whites to even reach the white spectrum.
Even though, the U.S. has come a long way by electing a half black president there is still a lot of work to be done to end racist remarks that are beyond simple jokes. Going back to the blog, he stated that the “stimulus bill”, (which is a food stamp) is a bit crazy to me. I honestly wouldn’t find it offensive but I do find it stupid. Seriously he is our president now and there is not a lot of respect shown. He has only been in office for a few months and people are targeting him left and right because of his race. I can guarantee that if he was a white man, it would be completely different. Anyway, all I have to say is Grow Up America!!
I guess some people would think jokes like these are funny, maybe even hilarious. Maybe it’s the fact that I just don’t really like politics, but none of those jokes really made me laugh. I wasn’t offended by any of them, and think black people should be either. Maybe the food stamp stimulus bill could hit a nerve with some people. But stereotypes like “all black people play basketball” and that Obama would be listening to Motown and old school jams just doesn’t seem like they are that damaging to the perceptions of African Americans. I still have yet to meet anybody who doesn’t like watermelon and fried chicken, so the Obama Fried Chicken restaurant seems fine to me. After a point, those overused stereotypes just get old and lose their humor. The whole thing with stereotype jokes is that they are not original. Those kind of jokes, although sometimes funny and I guess “acceptable”, can be dangerous to those people who are not daily exposed to a diverse community. If someone grows up in a homogeneous culture and they constantly hear those stereotypes about another group of people in movies and television shows, what else are they supposed to expect those people to act like? They have nothing else to go by. People are not racist by nature. They learn to be racist from how the people around them act and treat others. I do understand that none of those jokes are attacking President Obama or meant to be hurtful towards people of color, and that they are just at attempt to cause a smile.
I found the God joke pretty entertaining because I definitely notice that Obama has a swagger about himself. That’s almost the perfect word to describe the way he carries himself. I saw President Obama speak in October at the University of Miami, and confidence was the one thing that he did not lack. The way he moved the crowd, you could see how someone could make a relation to a God-like presence. Even when protestors unexpectedly stood up and shouted during his speech, Obama kept his calm and made no hurtful remarks to the people. He just politely asked them to stop and allow him to continue. This sent the crowd into a roar that seemed like it was protecting Obama. I agree that he does receive a lot of respect. To be honest, I feel that he receives more respect than any other politician that I’ve ever seen. Then again, I don’t know a whole lot of politicians. He just doesn’t seem to give off that vibe of corruption. He gives people the feeling that they can trust him. And trust is a main contributor to respect.
As someone who does not observe a line between funny and offensive, I laughed when I saw these pieces of Obama’s inauguration package. For me, everything is fair game to be made fun of, or nothing. It is complete hypocrisy to say people cannot make fun of something just because it pushes your buttons a little harder than other issues. I love jokes about stereotypes, and even though some of the ones featured in this entry are played out, I still find them funny. As far as I am concerned, jokes featuring stereotypes are harmless; mainly because they are simply just jokes. They can be designed to make you think, make you cringe, but overall, to entertain. Sure, it is a common stereotype that black people love to play basketball and though it is not true for all blacks, this is not even a joke about Obama. On the morning of the election, I saw Obama on the news shooting around with some friends. A few weeks after he won the presidency, we heard that he was going to remove the bowling alley from the White House and replace it with a basketball court (when I first heard this, I initially thought it was a joke).
Though they are not my favorite music choices, I enjoy rap and hip hop. However, this seems to be the leading force of my experience with black culture, so as noted in the blog, I was not entirely sure what ‘swagger’ actually means. I have heard it used in songs, but never took the time to look it up. Luckily, Urban Dictionary filled me in that swagger is “to move with confidence, sophistication and to be cool.” Based on this definition, I feel that this term was coined in regards to Obama. When he is giving speeches, he speaks so eloquently and sophisticated. When we seem him walking and meeting with people, he carries himself with such a sense of confidence. When we see Obama laughing with that big smile, he just seems flat out cool.
The only piece that I was taken a little aback on was the Stimulus Bill because I feel I may have misinterpreted it. When I first glanced at the image, I initially thought of the stereotype that all blacks are poor and have to use either food stamps or programs like WIC. This would be a little more serious of a jab, but then I read further to learn that it was a joke about our struggling economy.
I am curious to find out who compiled this list. It does not matter to me if the person is black or white; either way I found a lot of the stuff really funny. However, I feel that for some people, the skin color of the author would weigh heavily on whether or not this is acceptable humor. I disagree with this though; if something is funny, then it should always be funny. Comedy cannot be conditional on who is making the comments. Also, I wish we had some new stereotypes for black people; I am getting bored with basketball, fried chicken, and watermelon.
In response to “What’s Funny About Obama…What’s Not,” this blog goes back to the concept of stereotyping based on race. Throughout the semester, my discussion group and I have had a few talks about stereotyping and what their real purpose may be or whether or not they are necessary anymore in our more diverse culture. It has come to the point in our nation that diversity has become a norm, even though there still is racism and stereotyping that exists in many part of the country or a person’s subconscious. Now I agree that stereotyping is inaccurate and most of the times wrong, but it is human nature for people to only recognize what they see as normal. Stereotypes enhance this factor for almost everyone and everything around us, especially when it comes down to race. I see in this blog entry that the Barack jokes are ALL stereotypical to his race and obviously not to his capacity as commander-in-chief. Let’s start with the first one, “Barack and Basketball;” The origin of this joke is the stereotype that all black men play basketball. The reason behind this thought…black men have generally shown increased athletic skills in the form of let’s say running fast and jumping high, especially since the stereotype for white people is “white men can’t jump.” Furthermore into it, this was created because Barack, himself a black man, has a love for basketball and it has been addressed through the news after Obama was inaugurated that it is rare to see the President while not dribbling a basketball. It is just how stereotypes and rumors start off. The next one down, from the blog, Obama’s Stimulus Bill, is again, an obvious joke on his race because historically, many minorities (i.e. blacks) have filed for welfare and food stamps. Someone used this fact to create an Obama Stimulus Food Stamp that can be used to purchase fried chicken or watermelon with welfare. Following that, the Obama Fried Chicken in New York, I feel, takes the cake. Just as the first African-American President has started his term, a “clever” entrepreneur had come up with an “Obama Fried Chicken” restaurant, as if that is original enough. Anyway, I think it’s a little messed up that someone would actually think this idea would make it. I haven’t seen the restaurant personally, so I don’t know if it is still in business. I also don’t know if it would be popular because locals would find it “clever” and “funny” or if people found it as offensive. I guess my whole point is that yes stereotypes still exist, I don’t think that stereotypes will ever end but I think the reason these jokes were made as to show one’s comfort with diversity this day and age. It may not be appropriate but most of these must be taken with a grain of salt.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this racial humor thing, especially after class today. After Sam showed several comedic clips, he posed the question of whether or not comedians, like Dave Chappelle, Russell Peters etc., are in the advanced stages on the Racial Identity Scale or if they just simply take things too far and speak in bad taste. Personally, I have never been offended by these individuals and honestly do find them all very funny. However, I never even thought about such individuals potentially being very advanced in the ways in which they view racial, cultural and lifestyle differences. Now that I think about it, I’m not even sure what my thoughts were about each of their characters and worldly positions? Taking all of this into consideration, I believe that individuals able to make racial/cultural jokes in such a public manner would have to be advanced enough in their views and progressions to do so. In order for someone to be able to express the types of humor that we’ve been talking about, it is probable that he or she is secure in the ways they see the world and comfortable enough to portray such edge. But still, the question remains: what should we make of racial humor through the actions of comedians or other means, like those shown on the blog. When I really sat down and thought about it, I realized that I have quite a mixed opinion about this. On one hand, I think that a little humor can do everyone good, especially when it deals with such serious issues that are often overwhelming. I think being able to take a stereotype, whether it be about Blacks, Whites, Asians, or whomever, and poke fun at it creates a lighter way of looking at it. I don’t believe that such humor takes away from the seriousness of the issue, I think it just makes it more approachable…and this is a good thing. Yet on the other hand, some of our most major issues stem from stereotypes that form the foundation of much of the racism that exists in the world today. By poking fun of these stereotypes and presenting them in a humorous light, we’re continuing to call attention to them, make them known and further their meaning and presence in our world. Though it is difficult to throw away the things we’ve thought for years that have been engrained in our brains in one way or another, it seems that in order to truly continue making progress, we need to lay a lot of them to rest. Once again, I am not at all opposed to the humor expressed by comedians or any of the jokes on the post (in fact, I think they’re all pretty funny), but I just have mixed feelings about whether or not such things are really doing us any good. Maybe they are? Like I said, sometimes it’s best to lessen the seriousness of certain issues or situations by being able to laugh and slap your knee. The question still remains…
After Sam prefaced the Obama jokes with a warning about people potentially being offended by the content, I braced myself for the worst. However, after looking at each picture and the accompanying captions, I pictured many of these images being on The Daily Show or Colbert Report, and not the Chapelle Show. I’m not sure if it’s because the stereotypes being portrayed by Obama are not, of course, stereotypes I face everyday, or if it is because the stereotypes that are being portrayed are not offensive. To examine both of these hypotheses, I thought it would be easiest to analyze each of the jokes individually and to see which could possibly be offensive and what we should laugh at. Of course, this is from the perspective of someone who is part of the majority in this country, so maybe I have no grasp of what is offensive or not.
Basketball Obama, in my opinion, was probably one of the least offensive jokes in this. Personally, I don’t find sports stereotypes to be very offensive because they can work on any race. Furthermore, do we see something as being an assumption, though a compliment, as being offensive. Are stereotypes only stereotypes if they are negative? To me, I think the dialogue is generally about the negative, but are “positive” stereotypes bad too?
I’m not sure if I entirely understood the Obama Stimulus Bill joke. Since we’re all having a rougher time with the current state of the economy, was the joke supposed to be targeted towards everyone or a certain group in general? If the President were white, would the joke be as funny? If I’m understanding the jokes as being a black President trying to help out black people, then I think the joke is probably one of the more offensive ones of the five.
The commentary on the Obama Fried Chicken joke was the funniest because it commented on food stereotypes of several different groups. I feel like this might have almost created a buffer for the (potential) offensiveness of the shop. On the other hand, I think this brings up an interesting idea- are stereotypes ok if we present them in sort of “package deals,” where several groups are poked fun at together?
Again, the gift of music joke was not something that I think I entirely got. I don’t think the joke was really there- I immediately thought Obama gave an iPod to the Queen because it sort of appeals to his young, fresh outtake on politics and culture, not as a commentary on his race.
Finally, the last joke made me laugh out loud, but, again, I’m not sure the joke was a comment on race so much as a comment on Obama’s attitude. Having a so-called “God complex” is not limited to a particular race, and the joke could just as easily apply to anyone regardless of their skin color.
In conclusion, I felt that many of these jokes, as is the general theme of my blog responses, are most important for the dialogue they create. Whether they offend people or not, at least they’ve all done something- they get people talking.
After reading the blog for today there are several feelings and opinions I had on the issue of what is funny and what is offensive. The line between funny and offensive will never be drawn. I say this only because people are always going to have different opinions and views on what’s offensive and what’s funny. I completely wish that either there didn’t have to be a line, or that there was a very fine line between what’s funny and what’s offensive. If that was the case I believe there would be much less tension or maybe no tension at all between people and races. Sadly there are always going to be people who take themselves and certain issues so seriously that making a joke about it is the worst thing you can do. Personally I am a person who can laugh at myself, or anyone else, or anything because I don’t take stuff that seriously. The way I look at it, is that I am comfortable with myself and I know who I am. That is why I take many issues so lightly. On the other hand I completely believe that there are many things that people can say and do that are extremely offensive to other people. Most likely we are all going to do something that offends someone in our lifetime. In my opinion that is a time for you to learn and grow as a person. You should try to learn what you did that was so offensive to that person or group, so you can be aware and knowledgeable the next time you say something. As I previously said being offensive is a time for people to learn and grow, that is why I believe that humor is the best way for different groups of people to come together and learn about each other and themselves. If you can laugh at other people and you can laugh at yourself, and find humor in things that different races and cultures do as long as your own race, I believe that race relations can become much stronger and openly discussed. That is why I applaud comedians and cartoonists who stretch the limits of what is funny and what is offensive. These are some of the people who find creative and entertaining ways to bring different races together and have a discussion in an entertaining environment. At times these comedians are going to offend different groups of people, but being able to learn about other races while laughing is extremely effective. In conclusion, I believe that being comfortable and confident with yourself and everything about yourself is the most important thing in life. If you are comfortable and confident you will be able to walk through life willing to accept criticism, jokes, and non believers to become a better person.
Personally, I find these jokes very funny. I am not black, so one might say that it’s easy for me to laugh while others would take offense to it. But I do not think any of the jokes are distasteful or over the line. It is really hard for me to see something as offensive, partially because of the way I was raised and the community I was raised in. In my childhood neighborhood, my house was one of three white houses on the street. Like most kids, I hung out with the people on my street and therefore was friends with people of all different colors. All of my schools have been at least half minority up until I got to Penn State. Not only was I around all different types of people, but the ones that I spent the most time around, we would make fun of each other all of the time. All of the jokes were made in good fun and when you got made fun of, you just laughed it off because you knew that in the near future you were going to make fun of someone else in the group. People would make jokes to about others similar to them and about people different than them, that’s just the way it worked. Being Jewish, the jokes pointed at me were often Jew jokes, but they don’t bother me because I know that I’m not stingy, cheap or big-nosed. So today, whenever I hear an edgy joke, I laugh because that’s what I’m used to. I just don’t find it to be worth my time to get offended and mad. All that comes from that is that you ruin your day, or your week, by obsessing about whatever made you mad. Getting mad just isn’t worth the energy to me; I have better ways to spend my time. As for the jokes in the blog, I liked them. I thought the last one (about Obama wanting God’s seat), was very funny and I actually laughed out loud a little (which is rare for me when reading something). I voted for Obama, I think he is going to do a great job, and I do not think he actually does have a “God complex,” but it still is funny to me. As for the article, I think the cartoon about the cops shooting the chimp with a caption about the stimulus package is a little over the line. I am not going to get upset about it, but I do think it was a bit distasteful. I find the rest of the article interesting though. Many cartoons featuring celebrities (or presidents in this instant) use caricatures or people with exaggerated features. However, it seems odd that people take caricatures of a black man to be racist while caricatures of whites are acceptable. Maybe it is because we aren’t used to seeing black caricatures and hopefully, as we move forward, everyone can be made fun of equally without racism being attributed to it.
Poking fun, or hate?
It is very interesting, yet unsurprising that the issue of hate in the cartoon world comes up now, only when there is a man who is half black in the white house. Political cartoonists have been poking fun at presidents for almost as long as there have been presidents. It is part of American culture to make fun of our leaders. It was never seen as offensive before, it was always just seen as a joke or a commentary on the job that they are doing or who they are. Now, if anyone says anything against the first minority president it is seen as being hateful. This is not true equality.
Cartoonists especially have made memorable caricatures of our more recent presidents, everything from Nixon’s nose being emphasized to Clinton’s chin, to W. Bush’s big ears. To change this tradition now because people are afraid of being called racist is ridiculous. To stop now would just go to prove that we are not as far along on race relations in this country as we would hope to be. People think that we have made leaps and bounds because we elected a black man as president, but if we give him preferential treatment just because he has a different skin color than anyone who held this job before him, we are just showing that we do not consider him equal to the men who came before him. I think President Obama would want to be treated as equal to his predecessors, if anything I see him as better equipped than most of them to handle situations. He would be able to handle a few people poking fun at him.
Even the late night talk show hosts like Jay Leno and David Letterman have been tame in their jokes compared to what they were saying about Bush or Clinton (note: I do not know about before Clinton, as I am too young to remember late night shows before his presidency, but I assume they were similar). They have shied away from poking fun at physical characteristics as well as actions. Things that comedians have been quick to note, and joke about in the past. Had Clinton or Bush given the Queen of England an iPod they would have been all over that. Obama does it and not a peep. I would even hazard a guess that the majority of the populous has no idea that this even happened. America is afraid of saying the wrong thing, or doing the wrong thing that may offend people.
The day that we can say that there is equality in this country is the day that we do not have to tip toe around the race issue, or any issue that makes one group of people different from another, whether it be race, or religion, sexual orientation, or any other difference. Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon, sometimes it is that simple. If people overreact to that it is their problem.
I honestly am not offended by any of the Obama jokes, and I am a hardcore Obama supporter. This simply may be because I am white, but also may be because I accept the fact that the purpose of jokes are to “poke fun at” (in other words) make fun of others. Jokes are jokes, meant to make people laugh. Yes, they do sometimes offend people- but I think these people should lighten up, because most of the time it is all in good fun. I do find these jokes to be comical, but there is a fine line that should not be crossed. If you know you are offending someone then the joke is no longer considered to be in “good fun.” I am not offended by the Obama jokes and I do not think that any people of color should be offended either.
Obama is human, although he is the president of our country and he is black… he is just like everyone else. Is he supposed to stop eating fried chicken and watermelon, stop listening to music, and stop playing basketball just because he is in power and a black male?
The cartoon artists are being shunned because they draw President Obama with exaggerated “black” features. Many cartoon artists are drawing Obama with large lips and playing basketball. For those people who are getting offended- we need to realize that this is NOT so out of the ordinary. It is a common thing to make fun of the president of our country, or anyone with power for that matter. This political joke is different because for the first time race is playing an issue in these comical slanders. But in truth, I do not believe that the cartoonists are racist, I think they are for the most part making fun of the fact that our country is dwelling on the fact that our president is black. I think the purpose of these jokes and controversial cartoons are not to offend anyone, or a whole race for that matter. The cartoon artists creating these pictures only want to get some good laughs out of people.
The “God” joke was not offensive in the slightest either. Our president is being compare to god. This should be seen as a compliment. Obama does have this “swagger” in his walk that shows extreme confidence and gracefulness. He is a phenomenal speaker, and deserves the utmost respect.
On the whole, all of these racial jokes are seen as funny in my eyes. I don’t think that these jokes about stereotypes are meant to be offensive. We have to face the facts that these stereotypes will unfortunately exist for a very long time, if not forever. In my opinion, the only way to deal with these racial stereotypes is to laugh about them and poke fun at how our society is a little messed up. The jokes also give people a reason to confront race and to talk about race relations.
I definitely agree that people who tend to get offended easily definitely need to stop taking life so seriously. Just because Barack Obama is black, that doesn’t mean that when people make fun of him or play on his black traits that it has to be a racial issue. We have ALWAYS made fun of presidents. George Bush, even before he was disliked by a large portion of the population, was made fun of for being a crazy Texan. People from Texas didn’t get offended or assume it was a larger issue about someone being discriminatory to all Texans. And it extends to all politicians. I’ve seen tons of cartoons and comedy skits about John McCain that play off of his prisoner of war status. I happen to have a boyfriend in the military and being taken hostage and tortured is definitely NOT something we take lightly. Yet, when I see these cartoons or comedy skits about John McCain, I don’t get offended. I take it for what it is. It’s not about the larger context of prisoners of war. It’s about making a joke about something that sets John McCain apart. So therefore, I feel like all these cartoon depictions of Barack Obama aren’t about the larger context of race. It’s just more about making a joke about what sets him apart. After all, he is the first black president. And I think Barack Obama handles it very well. That is essentially why he has this so called “swagger” that Sam talked about. He can definitely draw the line between what is funny and what is genuinely hurtful and disrespectful. And as the president, he shouldn’t take any crap from anyone. And it’s these things that we think about where it’s good to put it into perspective. My good friend is black, and she always makes jokes when she’s being stereotypically black. She’ll be like “Here I go, smoking my Newport menthol cigarettes.” And we laugh about it. It’s very comparable to the ipod thing. It’s like Barack being like, “Here I go, urging the queen of England listen to my favorite Motown hits.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. Like if I was the president, what would people make fun of me for. Every time I did something stupid the media would pick up on it or a cartoonists would make fun of me in a cartoon. Why? Because I’m blonde. And duh, I’d expect it. What would the world make fun of if YOU were the president? That’s what we should ask ourselves. It’s like Sam said. If Dave Chappelle were drawing the cartoons, some people who were offended probably wouldn’t be offended anymore. It’s always about perspective. And if everyone kind of walked in other people’s shoes, we could all be a bit more open-minded and take life a little less seriously.
Like many others who have already responded to this post, I do not find these jokes offensive either. And like Sam said I really think people need to just lighten up who take these jokes offensively; especially in this case, these aren’t even jokes about anyone except Obama who I am sure has better things to do than complain about political cartoons poking fun at him. This was not nearly as big an issue when George W. Bush was president and cartoons were drawn poking fun at “red necks” or people living on a ranch in Texas. Although that is not exactly the same as race it does isolate a specific group of people and judge them based on stereotypes and yet I don’t recall many people complaining about those cartoons. I think the media is really pushing Obama’s black side because it is something different as oppose to all other presidents we have had; think of all the fresh material cartoonist have to play with.
Maybe I’d think differently if I weren’t a white female, but I think people need to loosen up about the racial jokes. Sam mentioned to think of the cartoons as if they came from the mouth of Chris Rock. Now I can’t see everyone who is sitting in our 700 person plus class but it seems to me that the majority of us are laughing whenever a video of a famous comedian making racist jokes is playing. I think it is likely that a few of the people who would be offended by some of the political cartoons would have found it humorous had they been in the form of standup comedy by a known respected comedian. I can understand someone who finds these cartoons offensive as long as they are consistent with their views and actions; however, that is probably not true for all colored people who find this offensive and that case I really think they are just playing the race card.
Now while I find many of these cartoons funny I don’t think the cartoonist are doing anything to stop the spread of racism. It seems as if there is no censor on the media today like there used to be and with that in mind where can the line be drawn? Is it that we are doing nothing in the media to stop racism from spreading or perhaps is it that we are encouraging people to relax about racist jokes? In a way I think these cartoons are promoting people to laugh about racist jokes and not take them seriously. If no one took these jokes seriously than maybe we wouldn’t see them as racist at all, but just a joke about our sitting president who after all is only half black.
As a big fan of late night television and newspaper comic strips, I can strongly agree that having a black man in the White House has put a damper on much of the humor and jokes that have historically been used to make fun of and mock the President. Some comedians will argue that President Obama is different because he is a man that makes minimal errors in his speeches and daily activities. Past presidents, especially the one who just left office, President Bush, will go down as perhaps one of the most widely targeted political icons in the world of comedy and satirical mockery. His apparent lack of exceptional public speaking skills, and possibly common sense, made him an easy target for the media and comedians to poke fun at. For example, David Letterman ran an extremely popular segment on his show, known as “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches,” that poked fun at President Bush’s addresses to audiences that often times included mispronounced words, persistent stutters in speech, and random/awkward silences. Even towards the end of Bush’s term as president, Letterman admitted that the show would have to introduce new segments to the show that would be humorous, because he knew that the new president would not provide the show with sufficient clips to utilize in this segment.
However, when looking at this topic, one must stop to wonder if this is the real reason that Barack Obama is such a difficult man to target comically. I believe, and I’m sure it would be extremely difficult to argue, that the primary reason for this cautious approach is the fact that he is black. When discussing in class why it is so difficult sometimes to deal with race, it was common to hear people say something along the lines of, “I don’t want to offend somebody.” This, I believe, is why comedians and comic writers are taking a step backwards when it comes to targeting the president, who happens to be black. They fear that by using stereotypes or other characterizations of the president, they may cross that line and offend many people. Due to the fact that this was such a great event in American history – a black man in the White House – people must be more cautious than ever when dealing with race and making stereotypes, especially around the black community. This cartoon that was published in the New York Post, portraying Obama as a chimpanzee, is a great example of this. Obviously this depiction was in and of itself extremely controversial and vulgar. However, it shows that in today’s world, with a black President, it is easy to make a generalization or stereotype that can result in widespread outrage and anger. It is evident, however, that among the comedy world, the issue of race is still a controversial topic.
Ok I am just going to breakdown my feelings about each individual joke. The first joke about Obama being good at basketball is not offensive to me at all. I mean it is a fact that he can play basketball and it is just so happen that basketball is considered a black sport. However, the only thing is that if any of our previous presidents played basketball and were actually good at it, I doubt anyone would highlight them about it. In fact, I think that any of our previous white presidents would be highlighted on another sport, like golf for instance, even if they did play “black” sports. Why? Because that is what society is used to. Society likes consistency, so if we were to display any previous president (besides Bill Clinton lol) playing basketball people would be a little awkward about it as opposed to showing a previous president playing golf with his friends. The golf one just seems more “normal” and basketball just seems more “normal” for Obama, according to the majority of people in society. However, I myself do think it is a big deal either way. If Obama is good at basketball and is highlighted for it then fine. Although, if he did not play basketball at all and the picture was just there as a stab at black people that we can only play sports like basketball then it would be a slightly different story.
Putting Obama on a food stamp, however, is a little offensive because of what it implies. It implies that the majority of black people need food stamps and are living in poverty, but there are a lot of people from all races that are poor and need food stamps, not just blacks. This one is kind of offensive because it makes me feel as though it is saying all blacks are poor.
Ok, so the Obama fried chicken is not too big of a deal. I mean he probably does like fried chicken just like a lot of other people, but since he is black it is just highlighted more, just like the basketball picture. So I do not think this one is offensive because the store is probably just doing it to attract more customers and it was not named that to insult anyone. I actually think it is a good marketing idea.
The music picture actually does offend me at all but makes me proud to be black because it is just further proving how much blacks have dominated the music scene. There is no doubt that a lot of black people like music and a lot of black people make good music. So Obama giving the Queen of England an iPod is simply funny.
The whole black swagger thing is kind of true. I mean a lot of black people think Obama has a lot more swagger than our previous presidents. Probably the only runner up would be Bill Clinton and he was loved by black people (go figure lol). However, I agree that the swagger is not from being black because there are a lot of black losers and dweebs out there, but that the swagger comes from confidence. There is no doubt that Obama has confidence, making it hard to hate him and easy to want to be him.
When it comes to comedy many lines are often crossed, but the question is, when and what is acceptable and what is not? The blog, What’s Funny About Obama…and What’s Not, brings forth the issue of the color card being played in different advertisements and parodies. There’s a fine line when touching the topic of race and the boundaries, and what makes this difficult is that everyone is different. When I say this, I mean that what is acceptable to some people is not acceptable to others. With the new President in office being a Black man, or man of a mixed ethnicity (non-White), there are new issues, regarding race in particular, that are being faced by media and local communities.
In the article, Cartoonist Tread Lightly When Drawing Obama, it discusses the hardships that people in the media face when doing their jobs. The artists that draw caricatures for the cartoons now face the problem of not going overboard with certain features that harvest Black stereotypical images. In the New York Post, the picture of a monkey being shot by police officers with the quote, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill” can definitely be taken controversially. The alibi of the cartoon portraying the monkey that attacked the owner’s friend and being shot by the police seems a little sketchy. Even if that was the case, the phrase “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill” allows one to believe that this is not about the tragedy of the mauled woman, but indeed about some political issues. What does a woman being attacked by a monkey have to do with any type of legislature at all? I believe that the artist most likely used the monkey attack incident to parody some presidential decisions. Personally, I think Delonas, the artist, is treading some thin water with this particular cartoon. It is very known that depicting, calling, or comparing Black people to monkeys is very offensive. Years ago, Blacks were depicted as stupid, unintelligent monkeys as a form of degradation and hatred in the media. This plays along with black face and minstrel shows, both which are “stinging” to see today.
I understand that caricatures are meant to magnify or exemplify a certain characteristic that someone has in order to make fun of them, and sometimes for the good, however some things should not be touched. When drawing the new president, Barack Obama, with primate features, it can definitely reflect some type of racial stigma because he does not look like a monkey at all. Also, placing him in pictures that are stereotypical “Black” things can be taken as controversial as well. For example, the pictures of him with a basketball and as an iPod shadow are portraying him in some stereotypes that are associated with Black people. However, neither of these pictures are extremely offensive because for one, Obama admittedly has made it known that one of his favorite hobbies is playing basketball. In addition, neither of these characteristics is very hurtful, which plays a huge part in the joke. Conversely, the picture of Barack Obama on a food coupon and his last name on a fried chicken joint are a little more serious. Some racial issues can be taken a little less serious than others, however it is often hard to gauge what is ok.
First of all let me just preface my thoughts by saying I feel like Cartoonists, the caricatures that they draw, and the like are all about making fun of people, never in my life have I seen a political cartoon that was not poking fun at, or calling attention to some issue that did not offend someone somewhere. I feel as though Rall’s comments regarding good cartoonists “taking chances” is an accurate one. If all cartoonists played it safe, than it would be likely that real issues that no one wants to talk about would never surface. Furthermore, it is a given that when an individual becomes President he is fair game for jokes, political cartoons and ridicule. Nearly every President from the past century has been made fun of through political cartoons, and many of them have been portrayed as monkeys. I mean take former President George W. Bush, for instance. There were thousands of jokes poking fun at him, I actually just heard one the other day. Apparently, Bush used to say “I’m proud to be a merkin” a lot lol. If you do not know what a merkin is… you should look it up, I’d rather not explain on a public forum. Either way it seems like jokes come with the job description. But now we have to ask ourselves if the situation is different because President Obama is a black man? I would have to agree with Sam that it is essential to be able to laugh at yourself when made fun of; not take life too seriously, but in all honesty I do not understand the political cartoon where the two police officers have shot the chimp and are discussing how “they’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” If the police officer shooting the chimpanzee was to reference the incident where the chimpanzee was shot after mauling the friend of its owner I fail to see the correlation between this event and the stimulus plan…mind you I have never been an expert at interpreting political cartoons, but I continue to fail to see the connection. Also, I am baffled that an editor did not question this cartoon, and even if it was questioned it still passed and actually made it into the New York Post, a prestigious newspaper nonetheless. I suppose overall what I’ve come to realize is that most people in politics are going to be subject to political humor, and a lot of the time this will lead people to confronting touchy subjects. Although, I would have to agree that now that the President of the United States is, in fact, a black man those individuals creating these cartoons are going to have to tread a little softer and keep the race issue in mind if they want to stay out of trouble, even though the race issue is bound to come up again.
Honestly I will feed into every stereotype about Africans or black people in general that anybody could ever make up. I understand what Sam is saying in that people who get offended way to easily have very low self esteem. Also, they take themselves way to seriously because no one is devoid of faults or shortcomings. And making fun of those faults and shortcoming is a relatively harmless way of acknowledging them. It is also a way of addressing the issues. I do not think that Barack Obama ever thinks twice about all the hatred slurred against him. At the end of the day, no matter who you are or how high or low in ranking you are, you are probably going to have a few haters. He understands that at the end of the day he is still President. Also, if these jokes are all in good fun, then they are fine, but on the other hand if these people are maliciously working hard to try and discredit him simply because of this race, then they are working in vain. At the end of the day, these are all just stupid jokes, there is no real substance behind them. They are meant to entertain and poke fun. I think that if people legitimately think that they will get somewhere with these jokes or think that they are actually doing something concrete with these stereotypes, then they are fooling themselves. Barack Obama supporters are not suddenly going to change their views about his capacity as a leader simply because of a few jokes or shots taken about his race. On the other hand, people really need to give the man credit because despite all of this, he is still keeping his composure and not retaliating against those people who make these jokes. And in all honestly, those people know exactly what they are doing. They are taking cheat shots at him on purpose. They do this because the fully understand what position he is in, and all of the risks that he is taking being a black man in such a leadership position. People are watching his words and actions very closely, and the second he slips up, despite all the good he has done, may people will have enough reason to turn against him. I think that it’s that people are resorting to such measures and that they are trying to take advantage of his position and his predicament. I almost reveal Barack Obama’s attacker’s sense of helplessness. They need to resort to such cheap shots to try and discredit him. The will never try and find flaws in his leadership and policies. I just think that its laughable that that is all they really have.
Political correctness is not helpful in the context of race relations. The only thing it does is hiding one’s true feeling in a setting that is actually supposed to open up discussion.
I think that unless you confront your biases and unless you ask certain questions, you are not going to learn anything. Every time we use are words, just words and if we remain too serious, if we constantly think of the multiple aspects that can render things as simple as words so much more than that, we are no way nearer a solution to racial inequality. In fact by remaining politically correct we are never confronted by difference really. We never truly understand race relations, because we are stuck in professional or superficial relations and we never progress through the different phases of racial understanding.
Remaining politically correct is somewhat hypocritical; it is as if racism was something that needed no real consideration. Something that could simply be solved by using nicer words and then all of a sudden we would all get along. But the only thing it really does is bringing us further apart. When you think of your friends, usually the ones that you have had big fights with but have been able to move beyond are the closest to you. It is the same with race relations, there needs to be confrontation, things need to get worse before they can get better.
So I do believe that humor is a great way to approach race relations. Obviously, like in all fields of life, it needs to be done with taste and a clear purpose. But humor is a great way to show the irony and inadequacy of much of what has been done and thought about in regards to race.
Back home I have always made fun of my friends, which came from different racial backgrounds and once that barrier was crossed I knew that color did not matter. I was making fun of my friends skin color just as I could have made fun of another friend’s height or someone could have made fun of my accent. It is a joke and if you cannot stop being serious it means you are not comfortable enough with other races and hiding your true feelings is definitely not going to help. If you are not comfortable then you need to challenge yourself because nothing is ever as it seems and ultimately we will all realize that we are much more alike than we think.
Ultimately I still believe that all these differences, and all these experiences and examples of race paradigms can be applied to many different themes and sectors. This is because more than being about race all this is about culture. Any type of culture. That is the fundamental part of any division in all societies.
Is treating Barak Obama differently from previous presidents really the best of course action? I would argue that putting restraints on political cartoonists in their depiction of Barak Obama is racist. He is the President of the United States I think he can handle being mocked by the press. Isn’t that something that every president before him has accepted as part of being put on a pedestal? As was mentioned in the article, the man is brimming with confidence so let us not pretend that we fear for his self perception as a Black man. For the last eight years I have seen George Bush depicted as a dumb monkey and Dick Cheney as a war monger. I know they’re affluent white males and Obama is a black man in a country that has long held his race down, but didn’t we just elect him to his position. I feel that his victory is evidence that the majority of Americans feel comfortable with a black man in office. Will this suddenly change if Obama begins appearing as a caricature of himself in the papers? Is this part of White America’s plan to keep black people down? God forbid we have a sense of humor concerning a wildly popular politician who has been billed the savior by liberal Americans.
My entire argument for free speech on the part of political cartoonists would have to acknowledge the fact that artistic freedom is not a license for hateful messages. The issue causes difficulty for most because the line between what is offensive and what is not can become blurred. I feel people should view these cartoons from the perspective that they are meant to be humorous. If a cartoon is overtly racist than they are entitled to voicing that opinion and their numbers would be many, as stated before, the AMERICAN people elected President Obama not just the black population within our country.
Figuring out where humor fits into the race discussion is difficult. If we can’t laugh at the things that make us different I don’t know that we can ever make complete progress. In an environment where we walk around on egg shells, afraid to voice our true opinions, racial dialogue would not have a chance. In class we heard from two different students about how they felt when fielding questions unique to their situations. One, a black female, felt it rude for people to ask her questions specific to her being black. The other, a handicapped student, felt that any frustration that she feels when asked about her situation is outweighed by the knowledge that the questioner is simply curious and attempting to understand her situation. I am of the majority so I almost never face these situations but it would seem that taking the second approach has a much more beneficial effect. If the person asking the question is not mean spirited and is simply interested, why take a hostile approach. Feeling ignorant for asking the question, one of two things can happen. They can ask another person or source of information that might shed light on their question. Or, as we have seen, one common error is for people to view individuals of a minority group as being representative of the whole. If this were to happen in the example our questioner may feel more reticent to interact with members of a particular minority group after the experience, further bogging down progress.
The jokes displayed in this blog are typical of the satirical style of political pop comedy. I wasn’t really shocked by any of them; they all seemed rather expected or typical. I kind of agree with the blogger than people seem to get offended easily by jokes that are truly not aiming to offend, but just to have a laugh. The jokes feed into black stereotypes, and jokes like these probably will continue to circulate. This sort of mirrors George Bush’s elf-looking ears that are portrayed in many political cartoons and the media’s constant joking about his famous “Bush-isms” during his term. It sort of us my opinion that people are always going to make fun of the president for one reason or another. I don’t think the jokes aim to truly make Americans feel any differently about Obama or to motivate Americans to peg him into some sort of racial stereotype. Of course some people do stereotype the president, but at the same time, I feel like I probably stereotyped George Bush as an old man illiterate dumb southern republican. In the last portion of the blog, the author wrote about the people’s feeling that Obama has a God complex. This is the first time I’m hearing about this public opinion, although I don’t follow political news very carefully. I can see how people may say that Obama has a swagger to him, and I feel like I understand what swagger is, even though I’m a white person. Of course, there is a chance that I could be totally wrong. To me, swagger is sort of like a subtle attitude that someone has about them, sort of a smoothness or coolness. I can see how Obama has a swagger, but not a God complex. He sort of carries himself with a relaxed attitude and he seems steadfast in his demeanor. I probably don’t follow politics enough to really judge Obama for his swagger, actually. At any rate, I don’t really think that these jokes are particularly offensive, but perhaps I would think other jokes were more offensive about Obama being black. I have received jokes from friends that refer to lynching and slavery, and those seemed to offend me more than these do. To me, these jokes are pretty harmless. I actually thought it was pretty funny how you can tell exactly whose head is on the iPod joke from just the silhouette. Overall, I didn’t really “lol” at any of them, unlike the blogger. They were slightly entertaining, but not really unexpected or ingenious. Of course there would be a fried chicken joke and a basketball joke. The thing I find interesting about comparing the jokes about Obama to the jokes I’ve seen about George Bush is that these are really based on racial stereotypes, and I don’t know that I’ve seen any jokes about white presidents that particularly play on the fact that they’re white. I guess this is because they have all been white in the past.
I think President Obama, like any president in the past ten to twenty years, had to expect to get a lot of media attention. I mean, good or bad, media attention comes with the job of being the president. Ok, so with that said- I think all of those examples in the blog are hilarious. I don’t think it is in bad taste to touch on the fact that he is black- I mean, he is! And one of the biggest things that the media focused on about President Bush was that he was from a rich, Texas family. Like, come on. And I think it is said best in the beginning of this blog: “My personal take has always been that people who get easily offended shouldn't take themselves so seriously (mostly because, in all likelihood, no one else takes THEM seriously).” I hate when people take themselves too seriously and I really highly believe that President Obama is not one of those people. I think with preparing to be the first black president, President Obama definitely was preparing to get poked fun at and I don’t think that is going to effect his role as President at all. I also don’t think the black community should be taking these jokes seriously or personally. I have never really had the idea that Obama has a “god complex,” but I guess I can see were people are coming from, but I agree with Sam- he definitely just has “swagger.” He certainly has an aspect of his personality that just makes him easy to listen to and easy to trust and that isn’t because he is black, but because he is an honest individual. If he ever gets angry, I don’t think we can pin the “angry black man” label on him. I don’t think we can do that to the First Lady, either. I definitely think my favorite joke posted on the blog is number three, the Obama Fried Chicken place. I am going to take the time to look that up and see if it was established before or after the election. And I wonder if President Obama has visited it yet. I also think it is hilarious that the store offers a huge variety of food, just like our President is said to offer a huge variety of different changes to our current government. I never knew that President Obama gave the Queen of England an iPod. I think that is pretty damn funny. I mean, I bet that is something she would never buy for herself, so sounds like a good gift to me. And to wrap this up, I have seen a video of President Obama playing basketball and I think it is safe to say he is pretty good.
I enjoyed reading this article. It was quite amusing! However, I could see how some people would be offended by this. I am a white female, and may find this funny but I could understand how some African Americans could get offended by this. But I think you just need to laugh it off because these types of jokes are always going to be around. I have heard jokes like these for years so they are nothing new. Everyone knows that joke that black people eat fried chicken all the time. Personally, I do not see how that is offensive. What is so bad about liking chicken? I love chicken! I just never understood how these stereotypes began. Why do we associate fried chicken and watermelon with African Americans? We all eat that stuff. All these jokes towards Obama are just for fun and I think they can apply to any race.
The other week in my discussion group we were talking about stereotypes and some of these jokes actually came up. We discussed how we think these stereotypes get started and if they are offensive to people. Most of the black students in our group did not take offense to them because they said they were semi-true half the time. I personally do not understand the point of stereotyping. You can not put a person in one specific group because of the way they look, act, or dress. For example, one big stereotype here at Penn State is the “typical” sorority girl, who wears Ugg boots, leggings and a North Face jacket. I wear that all the time and I am not a sorority girl. So if someone sees you on campus they automatically assume you’re in a sorority. Also, our discussion groups talked about the stereotype that all frat guys are a**holes. I have heard that many times but how can you sum up a whole frat house and call them that when there are hundreds of guys living there.
Everyone stereotypes, even I do it. I think it has just become apart of our lives and we do it without even noticing but after a while it gets old. How many times can you stereotype a person into a certain category? Often, some people are highly offended by this and other times people do not care and will just laugh it off. However, I think when it comes to certain stereotypes, especially ones that concern race, people should be more careful because you never know if it will offend somebody. These types of jokes may also open up a new level of comfort for some. Maybe they will get different races talking and joking and have them communicating on the same level.
I feel there is a very thin line between something being funny and something being offensive. Cartoonists have to be very careful as to what kind of message they want their work to have because so many people might interpret it so many different ways. What might not be offense to me might be offensive to someone else. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good joke but when that joke starts to become offensive that is when I have a problem. However, I do agree that some jokes that are made can be taking WAY out of context and turned into a huge thing that should be turned into a huge thing. Cartoons are put out to be humorous and satirical at best. Especially when it comes to our world leaders, it is funny to make fun of them. We have been making fun of our American presidents since our first president George Washington and now because Barack is black we have to stop or be extra careful? When President George W. Bush was in office there were so many jokes made about him and stereotypical white jokes , about being “American”, stupid, and etc. Where people laughing at these cartoons? Oh, yeah they were. We make fun of people that do funny things, regardless of the color of any reason such as their skin or ethnicity. Looking at these examples of how the media makes fun of President Obama, I found myself laughing! The last joke had me laughing hysterically about Barack not having a “God Complex” but simple having ‘swagger’ because it is so true. As I white person I did not understand ‘swagger’ until one of my friends explained it to me. A lot of jokes linked to race like this one as well as some of the clips that we have watched from Chris Rock or Carolos Mencia sometimes are only funny because there is that missing link of understanding. As a white person I did not understand ‘swagger’ (like most white people) and not knowing what it is people interpreted swagger different making it funny for the group that doesn’t understand swagger but not for the group that does.
Any ways back on topic, after looking at the article “Cartoonist tread lightly with Obama” about a controversial picture of a monkey (whom many consider an Obama reference) being shot by two white police officers I felt people should not have reacted as strongly as they did. Cartoons such as this one are always up for different interpretations such as any kind of art is. The man who made this cartoon voted for Obama in the election. However, this cartoon does tread that very fine line of offensive. It is hard to not find the Obama reference in this particular cartoon as offensive. Even if it wasn’t a monkey but another animal, the line about “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill” automatically links the whole cartoon to President Obama. Cartoonists, and anyone who makes fun of people in positions of power, need to be very aware of boundaries that they can push and what they cannot.
I usually don’t mind racially motivated jokes, as long as I know where the person saying or presenting the jokes stands on race issues. Like when Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock say a joke, you know that both of them are so comfortable with race, they don’t even have to think twice about whatever particular race they’re poking fun at. Also in their cases, they present sides for many different races, and no particular race is safe from being made fun of. I like that, it kind of makes it fair for everyone. The thing with these little internet cartoons or pictures, is that you never know if the pictures or jokes were motivated by racism, or by someone just trying to get a laugh at the current president who happens to be black.
The president has always been fair game for jokes because let’s be honest, they’re the most visible person this country has (other than sports stars). And the fact that Obama is black is basically just an added bonus for comedians. Now the Obama fried chicken is kind of funny, but it’s more or less just the fact that they named a restaurant after him. More ore less they’re just trying to make a quick couple of bucks by associating themselves with him, and they happen to sell A LOT of multi cultural foods. It’s a really random establishment it seems. I’ve never understood food stereotypes though. Being a white male, I really don’t think I would have any problem being associated with fried chicken, watermelon, or anything of the sort, because those are some damn good foods.
I didn’t even find the basketball Obama image to be even remotely offensive, maybe it’s because it’s widely known that Obama loves playing basketball. I remember during some of the primaries, instead of focusing on the polls CNN was showing video feeds of Obama playing with his staff at local gyms. So how could that even be considered offensive if the man himself is an avid lover of the sport? However out of the images/jokes, I did kind of find the food stamp picture to be a bit too far, only because I think that even if someone made one supporting Bush’s ideas when he was elected, I doubt they would have put a picture of his face on it.
Personally, I feel that all races get a bit too worked up over jokes or images like these. I would say that probably 90% of the time it’s made with good intentions in mind and no harm were meant. And even if someone did mean to be malicious with it, who cares? We don’t have to laugh at it.
As far as jokes go, I think there are two criteria that need to be considered to decide if a joke is funny or not; the joker and the audience. (And by audience, I mean everybody who can/ will hear it, not just the person or people to whom the joke is being told.) Therefore, let’s begin with the joker.
The person telling the joke needs to have the personality for it. If you are a person who is typically regarded as serious or at least a person with a lack of lackadaisical-ness, then telling a joke involving, for example, Obama and anything to do with a monkey would be an incredibly bad idea. Think about it- people aren’t used to your personality as being one full of ‘funnies,’ so why would the be expecting and accepting of a joke like that? On the other hand, if you are more of a jovial, whimsical, and all around funny person, telling a joke might not be so bad. Since you are into humor—and most people know humor is just that, humor…nothing seriously intended to hurt—telling said joke isn’t that big of a deal.
Likewise, if you are the kind of person who can successfully tell a joke or two, you’d better have your audience figured out. Just because you can tell a joke to your buddy doesn’t mean you can tell it to your buddy’s friends. Just because you can joke with your dad doesn’t mean you tell the joke to your mom. Finally—in reference to the article—just because you can make a picture that you and an editor like doesn’t mean you can publish it in a paper that will be read by people of all different personalities!
Sure, some people need to lighten up, but it is the responsibility of the person telling the joke (or drawing the picture) to remember that not everybody is going to lighten up enough to accept your joke. It’s not just we meager civilians telling jokes or formulating editorial cartoons though. As you may recall, following Chief Justice Roberts’ failed attempt at swearing in President Obama, Vice President Biden made a quip that gained some disapproval. In fact, even the people with no sense of humor (I’m sure) make comments from time to time that they are sure will be a gut-buster but instead turns out to be a sucker-punch.
The moral of the story is we all need to pay more attention to what we’re doing. We need to consider if what we are saying really is funny to everyone. We also need to decide if some of the things we complain about are really all that bad… Heck, we might even decide some things really ARE funny if we just stop taking everything personally.
Before I looked at the blog about President Obama and the jokes and cartoons surrounding him I immediately was curious to see what was said. Overall, the jokes were pretty funny, I especially thought number one was good, but nothing hardly as offensive as some circulating the web I’m sure. It was actually very refreshing to see some jokes poking fun at our newly elected president, who just happens to be black. It is kind of ridiculous for cartoonists or satirists to watch their steps when creating material about our new president, especially if he and everyone else that is black wants to be treated equally. I mean, every president in our history I’m sure has been made fun of one way or another. At least Obama is being made fun of for miniscule stuff where Bush was being made fun of for being an idiot. I feel it’s safe to say we all know Obama is not an idiot, in fact very intelligent. This being said, I think the bulk of the jokes about Obama are without his control, and therefore nothing he can do about it. As Mike Lester from the article said, “If you we didn’t make fun of you, we don’t like you”. I completely agree with this statement and think we should embrace political humor jokes and cartoons. Although I think it is inappropriate to make a racial joke that is deeper cutting like the cartoon with the monkey. I personally thought it was a little humorous, but at the same time I could understand how it may be taken more literally. When we start calling black people monkeys or having cartoons of blacks being lynched or something, then we have a bit of a problem. But at the same time it bothers me that people have nothing better to do than write in to a newspaper bitching about how offensive an article or cartoon is. No one is making you read that, and your dissatisfaction of it really doesn’t matter to the company, so please keep your thoughts to yourself. As Sam said, and I’ve tried to follow that belief for most of my life, people really need to not take everything so seriously. You only live once, so don’t take the little things so seriously I always say. For the cartoonists and satirists I say keep those jokes coming, I like the entertainment. Plus, it doesn’t seem to affect President Obama in any way, in fact, he seems to get a kick out of them himself. Judging by his personality, at least portrayed by the media, he seems like he could even dish some out on himself. He’d be an excellent Saturday Night Live host.
I don't know how anyone else feels, but for the most part I found all but one of these pictures and cartoons to be funny. The food stamp one was funny but in a way took it too far. It's one of those jokes that you laugh about in front of others but then curse out the person who thought all black people need food stamps in secret. Out of all things to have your face on the front of, especially being the first black president, don't you think it makes more sense to put him on a higher bill to show how far we've come. Like putting Obama on the 5,000 dollar bill... lol. Anyways, I feel like these jokes all have other race jokes to fall off from so they are not so bad. Political cartoons can be wrong at times, but they make our Presidents seem more humane and essentially like us.
In the beginning of this blog when Sam mentioned that most people don't take us seriously if we can't laugh and relax about racial jokes, I thought that was deep. At first I was upset but then I realized that no one really cares about how you feel about a joke because it is just that a joke... but then I asked myself "Is it really?"... I mean Bush was made fun of for being a bad president, southern, and downright funny at times, yet Obama is being made fun of for the color of his skin and the history behind it. Yes! We all know he is black and he is proud, but I feel like his confidence level is so high that in order to get through him to make him feel inferior, the jokes are to touch "the people" and make them feel some kind of secret hostility to those who make fun of their BLACK PRESIDENT!
Sam mentioned another thing about how Obama has this swagger of being "God-Like", but Obama knows it was only God that got him to where he is today. I was like WOW! The poem/rap at the end when Obama told God that he was in his chair was deep. Someone is bold to write such a statement. That to me is offensive if you are religious or believe in God. That is when the political jokes have been taken too far. Nevertheless, someone had to express theirself so in order to not seem racist a joke is the way to go!
And who cares if Obama gave the Queen of England a darn iPod... last time I checked music equals love and it was never a crime to enjoy. WHO DOESN'T LIKE MUSIC. Black people, white people, red people, yellow people can pretty sure express themselves through songs. Anyways this blog was funny and interesting at the same time... maybe one day when the race card is not so hard to deal with, all of these racial jokes will really be funny with no hard feelings ;)
George W. Bush was really the first President who I paid attention to in the media. He was elected when I was 11, and from that point on, he was the subject of thousands upon thousands of news stories, articles, internet sites, and jokes. And since I wasn’t that interested in the politics, other than knowing about all the mistakes he was accused of and the war criticism, the jokes were what I remember most. It was almost too easy: the stupid quotes and made-up words, Texas heritage, father was president before him, his background as a cheerleader, average student, and cocaine abuser, etc. However, there was one simple fact that made many jokes possible, that until now, I had overlooked: G.W. was white.
Before I knew who Obama was and began following his campaign, I probably would have never guessed that my next President would be black. Going from a white to black president was a significant change, and one that the media will have to adjust to in their news coverage and jokes to avoid offending people. During Bush’s presidency it was perfectly normal for negative news coverage and jokes to be made directly at him. But with a minority now in the white house, white people are a little more nervous to make jokes, especially because there are already plenty of jokes about black people that could be applied easily to Obama. This is where the internet comes in, as Dr. Richards has demonstrated. People on the internet can remain anonymous and make whatever jokes they want to about Obama without fear of being labeled racist.
Personally, I am not offended at all by the jokes that were posted on the blog. “Basketball Obama” is one image that I think even Obama would find funny, since he actually plays basketball and it isn’t just a black stereotyping in this case. “Obama’s Stimulus Bill” was funny as well, since it’s mostly just poking fun at the current economic state and the ‘Obama’ branding that we saw during his campaign, as Sam mentioned. If there was something referring to fried chicken or watermelon on it, I think that would make it offensive. “Obama Fried Chicken” I didn’t find as funny as the first two, as I only see it as a New York restaurant trying to profit off Obama’s success and make a quick buck. I could be wrong about this though, since I don’t know anything about the restaurant other than what Sam said. “The Gift of Music” is moderately funny, the first thing I thought was that an iPod is a pretty lame gift for the Queen of England, unless it was studded with diamonds or had a lot of pre-loaded music picked by Obama which would at least give it some meaning. “Swagger Like Barack” is an OK joke, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get the punch line and thought, “Obama thinks he’s god?” until Sam mentioned swagger, making it a much better joke.
LMAO…LMAO…Most of these jokes and or stereotypes were very amusing. Except for the last one because it touched bases on blasphemy and that was not cool. But other than that, they were knee slappers. Plus, I laugh at anything. 5. Basketball Obama: This one was expected. Not only does the world believe that all black people play basketball, but now it is confirmed because our commander in chief is a BALLER himself. And he actually is good!!! See, us Black people possess something that white people do not: SWAG. It is very rare to find a white person with SWAG. Although I have to admit that Sam does possess some of that SWAG, but Sam is a different type of White man, he is what us Black people would call light-skin, meaning , he is White, but he is looked at as a light-skin Black guy, it is confusing I know but WE get it. Put it like this, he is not your typical White guy. And yes, I am waiting for the day to hear about that Spades game that popped off and got heated in the White House. That story will have my full attention. But back to my point about SWAG: SWAG gives Black people the finesse they need in order to perform well at sports.
4. Obama’s Stimulus Bill: This is exactly where Obama’s face should be put because I do not care what Black community you go to, there will be broke people. But one thing is for sure and two is for certain, there will be that one chick that everybody calls to get their food stamps: $50 cash for a $100 worth of food stamps!!! Come on you cannot beat that. Listen people, if you are deciding to have a graduation party, or a birthday party, or even a cookout, I suggest you get hip. And if you don’t know anybody that sells them, I do: They’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
3. Obama Fried Chicken: Umm-hum!!! I love fried chicken!!! Wings, thighs, and legs, no breast. In all my 21 years, I have never seen a Black person not like fried chicken. I seen people that did not like Bar-B-Que sauce, Grape soda, watermelon, even hot sauce, but never did I ever see a Black person turn down fried chicken. I believe it is a crime to do that.
2. The Gift of Music: Black people are prone to like music because of our ancestors. While they were working in the fields, they were not only developing SWAG but they becoming musical geniuses. They even turned escape plans into songs. Have you ever heard Steal Away to Jesus? Yeah, escape song. But seriously, music is embedded in our souls. It is a part of who we are. It is like our therapy. See White people go to shrinks, but Blacks, we turn on AL Green, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Biggie, 2Pac, Jay-Z, and Beyonce depending on what age group and music genre your into. Music is fundamental to Black culture.
1. Swagger Like Barack: This was not a funny joke to me. All the other ones were understandable and funny. They were stereotypes, generalizations; Things that will not go away. So instead of being mad and saying, “All Black people don’t eat fried chicken or play basketball,” you embrace it, and play with it. Stereotypes are funny. They are jokes. Do not take them so seriously. Besides, some parts of them are true because they accusations did not just come from anywhere. But the joke about Barack telling God he is in his seat is not funny to me because of my religion. That is Blasphemy, and I am pretty sure Barack knows that and resents this joke as well. Other than that, I had a good time reading the blog and responding to it. Keep em’ coming Sam!!!
I never gave any thought to the effect that having a black president would have on editorial cartoonists, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a really good way to illustrate the racial discomfort that exists in this country, and the pressure to be politically correct. As much as it seemed to rejuvenate the nation by electing a black man as president, we can see now that people are still far from comfortable with the issue of race. Editorial cartoonists, especially conservative onces, who have caricatured every president in office are now uncomfortable trying to caricaturize President Obama, for fear that exaggerating his features will brand them a racist. It reminds me of something Sam said in class after the election. He made a joke about George W. Bush, and he said, “I made fun of Clinton, I make fun of Bush, and I’m going to make fun of Obama”. It goes without saying that people in the public eye are subject to intense scrutiny. This is especially true for the President of the United States, arguably the most recognizable man in the world. If we were fully comfortable with the issue of race in this country, than poking fun at President Obama would be seen as the same old ribbing traditionally geared towards presidents – not making fun of a black man.
I think that a lot of this comes down to people taking themselves too seriously, like Sam said in the blog. Luckily, growing up with an older brother and sister, I learned early on not to make this mistake. I owe most of this to my siblings, because as brutally as they made fun of me, every once in awhile they let me know that the more they make fun of me, the more they love me (just like the cartoonist said in the article!). It was the best thing they could have done for me, because it helped me to recognize that sometimes I say and do things that are goofy and stupid, and it’s good to laugh at myself. President Obama seems so good-natured that I definitely picture him laughing at the jokes and cartoons aimed at him. I’m not sure if the black community, or whoever is offended by these jokes, are upset about the jokes themselves, or the fact that many times white people are behind them. I can sort of understand this; I know that to me and all my friends, it is okay for someone to make fun of the town we’re from, as long as they are also from the same town. If it is someone just visiting, then forget it – they are a butthead. My hometown is something trivial, and there’s no way I’m going to get all up in arms about it, but I wonder if this is what’s behind the scrutiny. If a person of color was behind the Obama cartoons, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Unfortunately, this is a damaging mentality and it is pushing the divide between the races even further. Obviously, we as a country have not come as far as we need to on the race relations scale, and once we do, we can start to see these jokes for what they really are – jokes – rather than racism. I admire comedians so much for taking a no-holds barred approach to comedy and putting it all out in the open. Like Sam said in class, being able to comfortably point the finger back at ourselves and not just out at everyone else, is a big step at the race table.
Maybe it’s because I’m fairly liberal (eek! not in the political sense) with jokes and the occasional off-hand comment, but I think the Barack Obama jokes are funny. I also agree with Sam, when he says that people who get offended so easily should really lighten up. As an opinionated person, I like to say things along the lines of these cartoons because it pushes people’s buttons—gets at that those little spaces everyone is hiding but never wants to say or admit are there. Comments, jokes, cartoons—all the above—are invaluable. If it weren’t for people saying such things, we’d all live in the most boring PC world we could maintain.
It’s also about free speech. In America, we like to pride ourselves on the image of freedom that we have, and in this sense, it is definitely true. That doesn’t mean people are going let you slip by and say whatever you want whenever you feel the need. Listen when I say that there are certain words and phrases I don’t say and cannot stand to hear. I think they are just too much. I’ll call people out around me for saying them. I don’t think there is ever a place in my life for hateful things like faggot , cunt, or nigger. I don’t want to hear them. It’s not about free speech. It may sound contradictory that I would even type them, but I that’s my point. Words like this need to exist and people must acknowledge that they are there. By shirking around their dangerous borders and ignoring the pink elephant in the room, they only get stronger and carry more power. We, as human beings, owe it to ourselves to bring this kinds of words out in the open.
I guess you could think of it this way—if you we put that same pink the elephant in the middle of an open field, every sees it. You can’t miss it and you don’t try. It’s there but that doesn’t mean you need to stand next to it and prod it with stick to see how far you can push it before it lashes out. However, if that same pink elephant gets stowed away in an attic (a fairly large attic, that is) no one sees it. Oh, it’s there alright, collecting dust and making the ceilings whine with stress below. But that’s its extent, inside the home, stuck in that moldy, stagnant air of closed up box. Neighbors still know you’ve got a pink elephant in the attic, but they don’t hear the creaking of the boards and certainly aren’t going to ask you about it.
So stands the situation with Obama cartoons. If we can merely talk about the fact that we have a black president, then we, as a people, can allay the sting that remains from the situation for some people. It’s really the only way. That doesn't change the fact that some of the cartoons put a pretty deep gash into the situation, but I still feel it is fair more progressive than detrimental to us all.
After reading this blog and looking at the 5 stereotypes, I was not at all offended by any of them. I feel that there is no way to keep people from making the stereotypical comments that are bound to come from the introduction of a black president. The one thing that I found crossed the line was the cartoon at the beginning of the article with the two cops and the chimpanzee. I think that the illustrator who made the cartoon then tried to cover his tracks by saying that the cartoon meant anything other than comparing to Obama to a chimpanzee. I felt that this cartoon really crossed the line and could almost be seen as some sort of a threat towards Obama’s life. In reference to all of the individual stereotypes addressed in the blog, I think they were funny and posted tastefully. I thought that the joke at the end was funny, though I was not aware of the “God complex” that Obama apparently has. I think that some of these stereotypes, like swagger, basketball and music are more focused on the fact that Obama is cool, not that he is black.
About the issue at large, I think it is insane that we live in a country that needs to have something for which we can make fun of our president. Bush made it easy to poke fun but Obama is seemingly flawless in the comedic sense. I think that people have really run out of things to do with their time and so they have decided that it is Obama’s turn to be picked on and all they have is his race. Though I think the stereotypes are somewhat funny, I think that they are purely the result of a nation with far too much time and desire to have someone at whom they can poke fun. I wish that people could take Obama for what he is, in my opinion, and that is the best thing to happen to this country in about a decade. If people feel it necessary to continue to harp on the fact that Obama is black, let them, it is not hurting anyone. However, the cartoonist from the actual news article was absolutely out of line and took the comedy from a typical political cartoon and pushed it to a new level.
In conclusion, I think that a political cartoon or typical stereotype will not ever really hurt anyone, but people have to be careful of when they have taken those things too far. In truth, it is somewhat stereotypical that Obama’s name is on a chicken place and that he loves basketball.
To make things clear, I wanted to look up what the dictionary had as the definition for political cartoon. It is as followed, “A drawing representing current public figures or issues symbolically and often satirically.” I personally am a big fan of political cartoons and just any of those types of cartoons in the newspaper or wherever they show up. These cartoonists don’t try to draw these political figures and people exactly how they look. They overemphasize on things. That is their job. When I was little, I used to go to different occasions like birthdays where the host of the party would hire a cartoonist who would draw caricatures for all the kids. Caricatures are those self portrait’s that I’m sure everyone has. The point is, the person would over emphasize different characteristics. The main picture kind of looked like you, but in reality it is no Mona Lisa. What I am trying to say is that making Obama’s lips bigger or anything like that is not at all wrong. Sure that’s a stereotype that all black people have big lips, but in the case of a political cartoon it is okay to do this.
People who make political cartoons should have some leeway in their depiction on things. But to what extent? I think that the cartoon of the policemen shooting the chimpanzee and relating that to Obama is pretty distasteful. “This cartoon appeared in the New York Post on Wednesday and drew criticism from some who said it likened Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.” I personally agree with this statement. I have a large sense of humor myself, but I think this just is unnecessary and ignorant.
I really enjoyed the picture of Obama in a shirt and tie with a basketball where it says “Obama Got Next.” I think this is a good one. To say that all black people play basketball is wrong. As a matter of fact, I have seen many who cannot. But this is a funny image. It is funny that Barack Obama is an avid sports fan and actually in reality does play basketball regularly. I saw a special report on ESPN that Barack Obama plays full games with guys who are a lot younger than him.
Alright, now with the Obama’s Fried chicken… I don’t think it is very funny. I could have seen that joke coming from a mile away! It was very unoriginal. On the other hand, the graphic designer did a pretty good job of cropping that Obama into the store front. The Obama Ipod is a pretty funny image but I don’t really understand its significance. And finally, the Swagger Like Barack joke is pretty cool. It symbolizes Obama as the man!
All in all from this blog, I just want to make my point clear. Political cartoons need to know where the “line” is so that they do not cross it.
After reading the article “Cartoonists Tread Lightly When Drawing Obama,” two thoughts came to mind. The first was that maybe people are reluctant to mock or parody Obama because they genuinely respect him. While I am sure there are some right-wing political cartoonists out there, Obama’s approval rating is roughly 2/3 of the population. It makes me wonder if that is why people are less brutal with Obama than they were with George W. Bush. However, I have kept in mind that this is the early stages of his presidency and he still has a lot of potential to make mistakes. Either way, it seems that people generally like Obama, if not for his policies then for his personality, and may refrain from really poking fun at him.
The second, more logical thought that came to mind was that America still does not know how to react to having a Black President. We have spent years saying that racism and inequality would be combated if we elected a minority into office, but we failed to mention how our society would adapt to this change. Some would say that we should not have to change what we say, how we say it, what we think etc, and that we should just treat him like any other president. This ignores the reality of the situation in that people are going to act differently. People are treading on shallow water trying not to offend anyone, while trying to pretend that they do not even see Obama’s race. There is a balance that people, considerably political cartoonists and comedians, are struggling to reach because America does not know what to do now that we have a Black man in office.
Personally, I think that comedians and cartoonists should mock Obama, just as they have mocked every other President in the past. The freedom to do that only reinforces the idea that America is a society that values freedom of speech and the rights of its people. To censor one-self is to submit to those who will scream racism whenever they get the chance or those who are afraid to be labeled racist themselves. Honestly, by treating Obama differently, we are only further acknowledging the fact that we see him as Black, and not as any other President. We are drawing more attention to his race by not trying to offend anyone. It was easy to make fun of George W. Bush because he was just another Christian Caucasian, and no one had a problem with the extent to which he was parodied. I think it is funny that people are not afraid to exaggerate Obama’s big ears, but they are afraid to exaggerate his lips because that is a characteristic associated with many African Americans. Obviously there are lines that must be drawn between racist depictions of him and harmless ones; however, I think people should be aware enough to recognize the difference. People who cannot accept that whoever is the President is going to be mocked need to look to their own beliefs first. Maybe they are the ones who must confront their own racist ideals.
As a Black woman when someone makes jokes about black people sometimes I find them funny, other times I don’t. These jokes that were made in this blog are not funny to me. I just see them as stereotypical comments made about black people. Sometimes when people make jokes it depends on how the person will interrupt the joke for it to be funny or offensive. I don’t find these jokes offensive but I don’t find them funny either.
Now President Barack Obama is not just black but he is also white. So when we look at these jokes we can not base them on the fact that he is black but the fact that this is something he likes to do. I can’t believe we are still making jokes about President Barack Obama. I don’t think we should be criticizing President Barack Obama who he is but for what he does. He has accomplished something we thought would never happen, He became the first man of color to become president of the United States. When I was sitting here reading the jokes about Barack Obama liking basketball because he is black I thought to myself “this was so stereotypically”. If he likes to play basketball let the man play basketball without being criticize for it. We didn’t care about what sport George W. Bush liked to play or what sport Bill Clinton liked play so why should we worry about what sport Barrack Obama like to play. It shouldn’t be a joke about him liking basketball because he is black. If he likes basketball let him like basketball. If he played soccer would it be different? People would probably found a joke about that too. Now the next joke about food stamps and Barack Obama’s picture on them is not right. People use food stamps to feed their families when there is no money in their pockets. Food stamps provide assistance to families who are in need. I don’t think the joke was funny with Barack Obama on the front of the stamps since so many people in urban communities are using food stamps. When they made a joke about President Barack Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an ipod I would say that is the only thing funny about this blog. When you think of this you would think he would give her something more formal then an ipod. A year ago The New York Times published a magazine cover with a picture of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in Iraq clothing and carry guns. They were calling the first couple terrorist. Now I think this was offensive to publicly call them terrorist. To call them terrorist because of his name or because they showed a certain gesture is not right. I think when you joke about certain things you don’t know how people will take it, some might be offended and to others it just might think is funny
Personally, I did not find any of the five jokes up on the blog to be very offensive, but this is coming from a white male’s perspective. I am not sure how people of color feel about this topic, but it would be interesting to listen to their views about it. It’s true that sometimes when artists, cartoonists, or whoever makes these jokes based off of political figures that they might be offensive in some way. However, it just seems like the five posted on the blog were in good taste, and hopefully they did not mean to stereotype.
First, the one about Barack and basketball I thought was kind of funny. It was creative, using the colors from his campaign posters, and of course, his love for basketball. As the college basketball season came to a close earlier this week, I think many people saw that President Barack Obama had his own bracket filled out for the tournament, and it was displayed on ESPN’s website. There have been videos of Barack practicing with the North Carolina Tarheels, getting a picture with the Chicago Bulls, and he was even said to have played basketball with another political figure here at Penn State.
Second, I also think that the one about Barack giving the ipod to the Queen of England was creative. The artist took the simple two-tone ipod advertisement and put Barack’s head on it with the ipod ear pieces. It made me laugh a little when I saw it, but when I read what he had done, then it made more sense. I don’t think this was an offensive joke at all, but one that was created simply to entertain.
Finally, the last one on the list, titled “Swagger like Barack” really made me laugh. It was a funny joke to me, but I don’t know if others felt the same way. Honestly, I think that jokes should be taken with a grain of salt, because that is what they are meant to be. They make fun of things in real life, and in some cases, particular people, place, or things. However, they are done so to entertain and amuse its listeners. I did understand that the last joke was making out President Obama to be a god-like figure, but I wouldn’t say that it offended me in any way.
In response to the cartoon about the monkey being shot, however, I must disagree with the comments of the newspaper editor trying to protect the artist. I don’t see how the cartoon was making fun of the monkey that mauled somebody and then was shot by police. The comment that the one police officer makes about the stimulus bill is what really makes this cartoon questionable. Usually, when you hear something like that, you think of politics. When you add a monkey getting shot, who do you suppose the monkey is referring to? Out of the few examples shown about jokes of Barack Obama, I think that this one was the most provocative and offensive.
The blog that Sam posted does not surprise me at all. People do not seem to poke fun at Obama for anything but race. Obama’s Fried chicken wow, that is ridiculous. When was the last time we saw “George W. Bush BBQ Pit?” the basketball picture is kind of funny. But the reference meaning black people [play basketball is ignorant. The reason I think its funny is because Barack Obama is good at basketball. Few months back, he played Ball with The tar-heels. He was good. He also made a reference on how he was going to put a basketball court in the white house On the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. People right away have to make a racial reference right away. This disgusts me to know how people can be. I feel many of the attacks made at Obama are not always in fun.
The race card is played against President Obama by his critics. Sure I love to hear racial jokes. Comic geniuses such as Chris Rock and Dave Chappell have the ability to make a racial joke in good taste. The Article with the kids who said Obama has bigger lips to the Cartoonist really shocks me. The fact that parents teach their kids these ignorant stereotypes shows the class that some American’s have. I think Parents need to teach their children early about diversity because if not they will grow up one minded. People who are one-minded tend to have racial views and have the inability to relate to people of Color.
One student in class this week said her parents feel the race issue is over because now we have a black President. I feel the issues are not solved. However, I feel in some sense the references made towards President Obama should not be taken serious. For instance, the ITunes Obama picture shows just how people poke fun at the president. As Sam said he has a swagger. I recall watching an interview with various celebrities. I recall George Clooney saying he was at a party with many different politicians. He said when Obama Walked in every politician stopped to greet him and talk to him. And this was prior to Obama running for President. HE is a very educated man he has this extraordinary appeal that is hard to describe. As Sam noted Obama is well-respected. All his accomplishments are greatly appreciated. I heard that he is an Intellectual among his peers. I do not feel this gives him a “God-like aroma” But it demonstrates his leadership. I feel his ability to capture the emotions of people of all races has contributed to his inauguration as President. I Shook Barack Obama’s hand at a campaign rally last year and he took the time to say a few words to me. He was so sincere and very thankful for my presence at the campaign. “It may be a campaign tactic” but it’s a moment I’ll never forget. He has the ability to influence anyone whom he comes in contact with. It is Swagger and I do not feel people understand it. I have met people who have said people think he is God in a demeaning fashion. I think they were jealous because their candidate did not have the charisma of Barack Obama.
I found this article to be very amusing. I purposely waited late in the week in the hopes of a new article to write about because I really wasn’t feeling the other one available. I never LOLed to this article or anything, but I definitely found it a great read. I really don’t consider this article to be racist either, it was meant for humor. Yes there were a lot of stereotypical things said in the article, but I really feel like it was made in good humor. There weren’t any attacks and at no point did the writer mention anything political about him. The jokes were made about Obama himself, and I feel like Obama would find this article funny. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then there’s something wrong with you. The basketball Obama was pretty funny. It’s his choice as to what he likes to do in his free time. If he really does like basketball, then great! I’d rather have a president who likes to play a pickup game to relax than fly all the way to a Texas ranch for a month to hunt. Like, when Barack goes on vacation he’ll be going to places where he probably can’t manage to stay away for a month at a time. Bush for example was able to hide away in his ranch for a month at a time and basically do jack shit for the country. It is one thing to take a vacation to clear your head, but when you’re gone for over a few months out of the year something’s going wrong. The stimulus bill was pretty funny; I’ve never seen that before. However, that restaurant/store called Obama is just ridiculous. It seriously does have every type of food there just based off of their advertising. I suppose that’s one of the most politically correct restaurants I’ve seen in awhile. I wonder how the food tastes? Obama’s gift to the queen was pretty interesting. I heard about that in the news how he gave her an ipod. The funny thing though is that I also heard she will probably never be able to learn how to use it. Good stuff. Lastly, the swagger was just hilarious. It’s really stereotypical, but at the same time it’s so true. I have black friends and in the black community if you have ‘swagger’ it means you deserve respect or are important. The cartoon article was also very interesting, but really doesn’t surprise me. All throughout history people have been making fun of others through cartoons, and it just means that the person is liked. However, when it comes to making cartoons about Obama I definitely see how it can be difficult to make cartoons without being too racist.
Okay first and foremost I found these jokes to be wigidy wack!!! I was looking for a good laugh but I didn’t get it. Nice try though. I mean there were dry and unoriginal its like people can’t get over it or something. When “you” think of black people is that all that really comes to mind? However I don’t find them offensive because it takes a lot more than someone’s dry humor to get me hype. Really it’s like damn get over it the man’s black, now just let him do his job! Being a black woman, I found these jokes harmless but yet another poor attempt on someone’s part to be funny and it just wasn’t.
And if response to Cine yes Obama may be of two races but I feel as though because he was elected president everyone wants a piece of him. If he wasn’t president would people still feel the same way about his race? Put it this way if he were on a plantation, born to a black woman who had been carrying around a white man’s child, he wouldn’t get kudos for being half white. They’d put him right in the fields next to his mother and tell him to get to work. Am I right or am I wrong??? Or maybe if he was a little lighter skinned they’d give him the privilege of serving his masters guest in the home, oh isn’t he lucky. Obama refers to himself as a black man so give him that. I just feel as though people aren’t quick to say other black/white people are half white until their doing something with some form of power, then ohhh yeah well don’t forget he’s white too?!?! C’mon! If he didn’t run for president would people be so quick to point out that Obama is just as much white as he is black too, honestly I find this hard to believe… I’m not saying he doesn’t have white blood in him but do you see where I’m coming from….but sorry to rant back on topic.
Yes the majorities of players in the NBA are black and yes it likely that you will catch some watermelon at a black family reunion. These may be “harmless” jokes but how can one not understand that after a while they can become very offensive. I’m black and I sure as hell don’t like watermelon, but I do like chicken and that doesn’t have to do with my race. Stop throwing people into a box because when I was born I came out of a woman just like everyone else. And how come when any other president was in office there wasn’t an uproar for white stereotypes, because there are plenty to be dished out. Think about it I might think it’s funny to say Bush is a bad dancer and his wife probably doesn’t know how to cook, but that would be offensive would it?
I have previously said that I do not follow politics very much and don’t know much about what is going on- therefore it could go without saying that I usually don’t understand the political cartoons that are printed in newspapers. While I did at least understand the ones in the blog, I didn’t really find them amusing. But it’s a step in the right direction, right? That I could at least understand what they were satirizing. The Obama chicken joke did make me laugh a little, especially after last night at work, when a few people from the store next door came over to get a big bowl of chicken meat from our nacho line “because [they] are black” and therefore wouldn’t want nachos but just the chicken. At least they have a reason. I have always enjoyed people making fun of themselves by blatantly exploiting a stereotype.
What I found interesting was the article about political cartoonists (who make money by making fun of people is the unkindest of ways) are avoiding making fun of Obama too much, in fear of taking it too far and offending people. I’m sorry, but where was that consideration when they depicted Bush as a complete and utter moron (and I have seen a few where he too was drawn like a chimp), among other things. If I remember correctly didn’t George Bush have some sort of learning disability (like a real one, not something made up to demean him), dyslexia or something? In my mind, it is more distasteful and hateful to make someone with a learning disability look like a complete idiot than to draw President Obama with big ears or big lips.
So I guess what my biggest question is: what is it about Obama that has people walking on eggshells? Yes, he is black- so what? These cartoons, and other similar pop culture jokes, have been done for centuries. Just because someone is a minority doesn’t mean they should be treated any differently. Isn’t that what equality is all about? Maybe it’s just me, but I find this situation similar to that of employers not holding minority employees to the same standard as other employees. It all seems to go back to white people not wanting to be seen as “racist”. And it also seems like people are looking a little too deeply to find a racial slight in these jokes or cartoons. Now maybe the chimp cartoon was in bad taste; I don’t know. But I don’t foresee there being a middle ground here. If cartoonist finally find it in themselves to treat Obama like any other president, minority groups and more will always find more to it than was meant to be. And this criticism will then make cartoonists hesitant to put out another one. Until the protesting groups understand that they aren’t making fun of Obama because he is black, but because he is President, then the situation is at a stale mate. Although that doesn’t bother me much, since I don’t understand them in the first place- I won’t miss them.
Haha I love number one on that list. I think Obama does have confidence and he has swagger. This swagger allows him to command respect when he enters the room. It is an air of confidence that not many people have. Not only black people can have swagger though. For instance if Bush even tried to have swagger he may be gunned down at any point in time because that would just be cocky of him. I mean let’s think about it, why should he have confidence? Would it be for ruining our economy or for starting a war that had a major role in our economic repression?
The way I feel about these jokes is somewhat neutral. I personally have not heard or seen any of these before so I have not sat down to think about it. However, if you run for president and become such a hugely popular public figure, criticisms and jokes should be expected. Now I am sure some of these things are done with no malice intended at all and in just a good and humorous spirit. I just do not even think for one second that Obama looses sleep at night or even gives these things a second thought when he sees them.
I can understand how some people may be offended by these jokes and this fine, but keep a few things in mind. When bush was in office I can remember hearing plenty of redneck, Texas and stupid people jokes I heard. So just think how offended Texans may have felt. Personally I find these things fascinating. I love that Obama is a real person and when he goes to foreign countries I know I can rest assured that he will make a good impression and represent America in a decent and tasteful way. He gives everything a human aspect and keeps people down to earth while remain intellectually stimulating.
For instance, the fact that he gave the Queen an IPod is awesome, the British Monarchy could use it I bet. It doesn't matter what was on the IPod, the fact of the matter is that Bush would have given her some rare china while Obama is at least trying to stay in this century. Honestly, I can imagine myself presenting her that gift if I was in office and that's why Obama is president because he is relatable. People need to stop getting so offended by things and try to see either humor in them or not reacting so harshly because then “they” win and I am sure you do not want that to happen. I hope things like this continue to happen because all it makes us do is delve deeper into ourselves and question further the things that we want to know about ourselves.
I think as a political cartoonist, your job is to poke fun and make things funny. That is your job. I can’t see why so many people get caught up in “untouchable” game when it comes to certain issues like Obama. Cartoonist for 8 years have been making fun of Bush, so why not Obama? As president everything is on the table and things are subject to be criticized. It’s just like being a celebrity, if you don’t like having your picture taken then don’t be a celebrity.
The cartoons shown are funny to me. It’s stereotypical and entertaining. I think the only one that may have crossed a line or came close was the one with the police officers shooting the monkey and then saying “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” I see that being a little edgy because of what the idea of being a monkey means or at least what it insinuates. The term monkey I see often being used to degrade a person of color. It isn’t neutral like the cartoon where Obama is holding a basketball. That’s funny and mostly true. Obama loves basketball. When he came to Penn State, he played basketball with a couple of students. It’s what he does with his free time.
I am having a hard time seeing the arguments being made about cartoonists needing to watch what they draw. I don’t hear anything coming from people about Chris Rock and his comedy or to any of the other comedians whose JOB it is to make people laugh and almost 100% of the time make fun of someone whether white, black, latino, asian, etc. None of what I see is degrading in anyway. When we saw the videos in class I thought they were all entertaining. Then Sam said something about how white people take some of the BS that is thrown on them instead of standing up. I agree with standing up because why should I take your shit? Am I responsible for what people have done years ago? I think not. I will not apologize for what I have, now will I let someone take anything from me that they didn’t deserve that includes my pride and dignity.
There are a couple books by the author Ayn Rand that are truly eye opening. She writes about several types of people in this world; those who work for what they own, those who live off others which are called looters, and then those who do nothing. The books are called Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. That is what came to mind when discussing that particular situation. We shouldn’t be judged solely on what people years ago have done. We should be judged on who we are and what we do.
i would ahve to agree with what a lot of other people have said. i do nothing think that these jokes are rude or mean or anything at all actually i think they are pretty funny. i also believe that no matter who is president or famous or anything that there are going to be joke made one way or any other. these jokes made about obama are just typical "black" jokes i feel. i think that tevery race, type, or culture of people have different steryo types and will be joked about always by different people. if people get angry at these i think they just need to take a chill pill because i bet they have made jokes like that before or laughed at one that someone else said at one point or another. i dont think that people make these joke esp the ones about obama to be rude i think they are just inocent jokes that a clever person thought of and wrote down or told someone else. i do not really know where the black people like fried chicken and watermelon came from but people will always joke about that. also the i pod one is kind of funny just because their ads are always the out line of a person and black in color, not saying that the person is black or not just the human is black in color with a bright background, for all anyone could know the people in the ads could be white. the swagga like obama was just a typical joke that anyone would make about some one that was high in power. i think it was some what funny, but over all i did not think that the jokes were overly funny or ruse, just typical jokes any person would make.
Any individual in a position of power or in the constant eye of the public will face a large amount of attention from the media. Such individuals must realize that the media is a powerful force that reports the good and the bad. There has been a long history of political cartoons in our society and often are viewed as controversial; funny for some, but offensive for others. The list presented in the blog, I find to fit the category of funny, but on the edge of controversial. On the other hand, the link to the cartoon depicting President Obama as a chimpanzee is disrespectful not only to a public figure, but to any person of color. The cartoon depicts an extremely discriminatory image which is very offensive.
The other images in the blog in my opinion are not very different than many of the cartoons mocking former President George W. Bush. A lot of the jokes that were used towards President Bush were making fun of the way he spoke, where he was from, and other aspects that were out of his control. Although race is a touchier subject, the media is not being racist, but just mocking the President like they have in the past.
To scream out racist as soon as you see this image is the wrong reaction. You can feel that the images or jokes are wrong, but it does not mean it is racist. For all we know as the viewer or reader the author or artist could be black. If the author was black then it would be not be considered racist, but I am unsure whether it would still be considered wrong. I always find myself debating with myself and others whether it is ok for me as a Jew to make Jewish jokes. In my opinion if I am going to me cracking Jewish jokes then I can only expect to have others make jokes as well, Jewish or not.
Any new experience with a new person or different type of person takes understanding and getting used to. Presidents Obama swagger, is often misinterpreted among most White people as a Godly Complex. It is expected that we understand the differences of others, especially when it comes to other races. My question is, why we were able to make fun of President Bush’s antics and way of speaking, when it is just that he was different than many of us, especially from the east coast. Even though it is not race should we not have attempted to understand his differences? There are many commonalities among discrimination in our society, but as we have spoken about in our class, when it comes to race, the issues are more difficult to speak about.
Personally, I consider myself to have a pretty good sense of humor. Not only can I make a good joke, I can also take one. I guess I would consider myself as somewhat insensitive when it comes to humor. As a result, I found these Obama comments and jokes to funny and humorous, rather than offensive. Of course I realize not everyone has the same attitude as me and certainly would get offended about the jokes made about Obama. Since Obama is a political figure and is always in the public eye, there are of course going to be jokes made that poke fun of him, and his family. However, the way I see it, is that these “jokes” are meant for humor and entertainment, and are by no means meant to actually offend anyone. Take Chris Rock for instance, although in all of his comedy routines he pokes fun at groups of people, he also is able to point the finger at himself, and poke fun at his own race and life style. To be completely honest, I only found one of the cartoons located in the blog humorous. The rest, in my opinion, were not as creative as I would have expected from a cartoonist. If it were nor for the descriptions located underneath the cartoons, I don’t think I would have fully understood each of their meanings. To me, a cartoon is meant for humorous purposes only. This is why after reading the blog for this week I was not offended by the cartoons. Yes, I voted for Obama, and yes, I think he will be an excellent leader for our nation, but no, these cartoons do not offend me. Maybe some of this has to do with the fact that I am a white person, rather than a person of color. However, I truly believe that if I were a black person, I still would not take offense to these particular cartoons. After reading some of the blog responses this week, I did find it interesting that one person brought up the fact that Obama is of mixed race. While reading Sam’s post, this particular fact completely slipped my mind. It is very interesting that all of these cartoons are aimed towards Obama’s black roots. There is nothing in this blog that pokes fun at the white said of him. I can’t help but wonder if this is because the cartoonists could not think of any “white” material or if they just thought poking fun of his black roots would just be funnier and receive a better response from the audience. All in all, I don’t actually consider these particular cartoons to be extremely racist because I do not believe this was the purpose for creating them. I think if anything it was only for comedic effect. I understand that not all people see the cartoons this way, but I think some people just need to lighten up because they are jokes, and that is all they are.
I have one response to white people, black people, and anyone else who has a problem with making fun of Barack Obama: LIGHTEN UP! The five examples given in the blog are all quite funny and ok in my book. The basketball one isn’t even based on a stereotype. Barack Obama is widely known as a huge basketball fan. During the election he played basketball with the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team. Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, is the head coach of the Oregon State University men’s basketball team. Obama is on record as saying he wants to build a basketball court in the White House. He wants to have pick-up games with the secret service. This is a perfect example of how so many people are so focused on finding examples of racial stereotypes that they can’t see that race isn’t always issue at hand. Barack Obama filled out a bracket for the March Madness on SportsCenter. The man obviously loves basketball more than any president we’ve had and that is what the cartoonist is making fun of in this image. I think that the “swagger” joke is hilarious. I don’t think that Obama has a “God complex”, but instead many of his supporters have produced that image of him themselves. I think that we are just overanalyzing every joke that might be directed at Barack Obama. To interpret the iPod image as being about race is a big reach in my opinion. I’ve seen countless images that use and make fun of the same black image with white headphones and a colorful background that iPod commercials have come to be known for. The Obama Fried Chicken isn’t very funny but I don’t find it at all offensive. It’s just someone trying to capitalize on Obama’s name to make a profit. Whoever owns the restaurant, whatever his or her race may be, is clearly using the stereotype of black people liking fried chicken, but I don’t find it very offensive. It’s just one stupid person making a joke that isn’t very funny. The Associated Press article about cartoonists struggling with drawing Obama also shows how people are making too big a deal about race. If a cartoonist draws big lips or ears on Obama, it doesn’t mean the cartoonist is making fun of black people, just Obama’s physical feature. The caricatures of Obama have been much more flattering than those of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, etc. A very important part of a cartoonist’s job is to draw presidents and other high profile people in a humorous manner. If a cartoonist drew a cartoon of Barack Obama with other black people and gave everyone the same outlandish characteristics, then I’d definitely understand why people would have a problem with that. If we really want Obama to be treated as a president instead of a black president then we he needs to be fair game to the same jokes and insults that Bush, Clinton, and other presidents have been open to while in office.
I grew up in a family that was sarcastic and ready to crack a joke at anyone’s expense. Dinner tables were free range at making fun of your loved ones. So, after reading these jokes I think they are really funny. I think that as President of the United States you have to be ready to made fun of. Barack Obama will not be the first or the last President to have jokes made about him. All of the President’s before him, even George W. Bush himself, was made fun of in the media. Saturday Night Live has made some of the greatest Presidential jokes to this day. To be completely honest I think that it really stupid to find these jokes offense. It is not like the media has singled out ONLY Barack and they are definitely not singling him out because he is a black man. I think that politics in this country has become so heavy that a simple joke here or there has really been able to lighten up the dark aura surrounding it. Laughing is a great fix to the stress that is going on now, especially what is happening in the economy. I think the jokes were great.
On the other hand I could definetly see people taking these jokes too much too heart and calling them racist and slander jokes. I do not think these jokes defame Barack, instead I think if people can see him laughing at himself the President will then become more personable and human to us. He may be President of the United States but he is still a human being. He is still a husband, a father, a son, and a friend. He is normal just like all of us, and I think that he too would find these jokes funny. George Bush was made fun of all the time for his accent and the way he pronounced words and he was even able to make fun of himself. I would understand people being upset if Barack was the only president to be made of fun, but he is not so I do not think people should be taking the jokes offensively.
I personally enjoy “racist” jokes that poke fun at stereotypes. For the most part. These five jokes aren’t LOL funny but they’re definitely chuckle-worthy. What was funnier was Sam’s commentary on them, which also make fun of stereotypes. I don’t really know why they’re funny. Maybe it’s because we know they’re not true and it’d be ridiculous to think stereotypes are true for the entire group. I also think the funny-ness depends on the delivery of the joke and who tells it. If it’s someone you know isn’t racist and isn’t telling the joke to be racist then it’s ok. However, if someone whom you know or suspect to be racist is telling it, the joke would be received in poor taste. But sometimes it can be hard to tell who is racist and who isn’t. Here the line between funny and inappropriate is blurred. In this case I think we should just laugh and enjoy the joke instead of getting offended. Jokes aren’t meant to offend people, they’re meant to entertain – that’s the whole point of the joke. So racist jokes should be taken as such. They shouldn’t be seen as an attack of a certain group of people, but as humorous. Sure, there are some situations in which the jokes would be inappropriate, but that’s true for any joke. I don’t know, I guess there’s no definite answer to whether racist jokes are okay or not. It really just depends on the person telling it, the people hearing it, the social situation, the delivery, etc.
As for the cartoonists, I don’t think they need to feel so uncomfortable about drawing Obama just because he’s black. If they can make fun of every other president without worrying about it, why can’t they do the same to Obama? I know they don’t want to be seen as racist, but this sort of makes them racist in a way because they are treating him differently because he’s black. They’ve been making fun of former presidents’ characteristics and, well, one of Obama’s characteristics is that he happens to be black. I think it’s fine to poke fun at this fact and that people shouldn’t be so sensitive. I don’t think people should feel so uncomfortable when dealing with the minority races. It’s a terrible environment we’ve created. I think once everyone is comfortable enough to make racist jokes (in good taste) around anyone of any color, we will have made progress. This discomfort keeps the gap between the races present.
After reading the President Barack Obama joke blog I must admit that I did laugh. Although I did laugh at the images, I found the one in the article to be quite offensive. It is stereotypical that black people play basketball, eat fried chicken, listen to rap music and have a swagger, but it become offensive when a black person is portrayed as a gorilla. I think that the basketball, friend chicken and rap music are things that a black person can read and laugh at because they are not offensive stereotypes. To me, that would be like a person coming up to me, as a Jew, asking if I liked challah and matzoh ball soup. Of course there have been a number of Presidential cartoons portraying candidates as ugly or exaggerating their features but I think it is extremely absurd for the cartoonist to portray President Barack Obama as a gorilla.
I don’t think that political cartoonists should feel like they have to tread lightly when satirizing President Barack Obama, but they should be respectful and not bring race into the cartoon. There were never cartoons making fun of how white former President Bush was, there were cartoons based on that he was from Texas or a “red neck.” If they want to make fun of President Barack Obama I’m sure there are plenty of other things to poke fun at not just, oh, you are black let’s make fun of your race. I think that the reason why theses cartoonists are satirizing President Barack Obama’s race is because they cannot think of anything else to poke fun at, it is obviously the easy burn.
After seeing the New Yorker magazine of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama fist-pumping and dressed as terrorists I think that was completely out of line. This was just playing into the fears that many Americans had that President Barack Obama was a “scary Muslim” or somehow associated with a terrorist party. To me, that cartoon showed how idiotic some people are and how uninformed they were during the 2008 Presidential election. This fear was a big part of why some people did not vote President Barack Obama into the White House (thankfully he won anway).
I think that the swagger joke was pretty funny as well. I don’t really understand the g-d complex that people think President Barack Obama has, but I do think that jokes that relate to politics and race are part of our society. If a person found this offensive, I think they would be the blonde that found a dumb blonde joke to be hateful. I think we all need to stop being so wound with the small jokes and jabs, but try and be more respectful to not poke fun hatefully.
Alright alright, where to start here? Well I chose to write about the funny cartoons about President Obama. On a side note, my Microsoft Word puts a red squiggly line under “Obama” and I think that’s pretty rude. I mean I get all these updates for my computer that are always bothering me and you’d think that maybe they’d consider our president’s last name spelled correctly. And if these updates aren’t directed at word I wonder how long it will take for this error to be corrected because frankly that red squiggly line says slander all over it. Anyway, all those pictures of Obama jokes are hilarious, I love especially the Ipod one because it’s only a silhouette (took me forever to figure out how to spell that word!) and yet you know it’s my boy Barrack somehow. Yeah so are these blogs getting longer to read or what? Like an article on top of what Sam writes, crazy. I find it harder to get those magic 450 words onto a word document every Friday each week. Alright so back for real, how you going to get offended by a cartoon? I mean come on, it’s a joke for crying out loud, it is supposed to be offending. I liked the quote in the article that said, “If we’re not making fun of you, we don’t like you.” And I like to think that sums it up, its all in good fun. I mean yeah cartoonist are supposed to pick out the most obvious features of people and over emphasize them in their drawing and obviously Barrack looks a tad different from any president we’ve had before. He’s got huge ears, and black people tend to have bigger lips than other races so those are emphasized too. It’s not racist, cant you see it’s just picking out the most obvious features. One thing I don’t get about the monkey cartoon is that it tries to explain that the monkey just killed the friend of its owner? How could you ever tell that happened just from looking at the cartoon? I guess what their really trying to say through all the mess of race and Obama being black that the stimulus bill was so wild put together and seemed to not make sense at all that a monkey with a pencil had to be responsible for writing it. That is how I feel. So for those 100 people who lined up in protest outside the New York Times, you just have to look a little deeper into the cartoon and read what it really means. Similar to those pictures that you have to look at but kind of un-focus your eyes to see the 3-D picture, just like that. Those things make me so angry sometimes because I used to be so good at them and now it’s so difficult. I like to think that it’s because kids have a bigger imagination than adults, and I’m all grown up.
Ever since our discussion groups have been debating “what’s funny” and “what’s not”, “what’s right” and “what’s wrong”, I’ve been trying to observe, in the real world, on campus, on television, some examples of these types of potentially racist statements. I noticed an overwhelming amount of racist jokes made by my friends---white females---and couldn’t help but think back to the discussions from group. I didn’t want to jump in and say “HEY GUYS! I’m in this race class and ….” Blah blah blah, play the cop. Because I’m not really sure what’s right and what’s wrong, since I believe it depends on your own race, perspective, and views.
That being said, I don’t find the Obama jokes insanely offensive, or insanely hilarious. They are slightly dry, I suppose…but that’s it. I wasn’t insulted, either, though (I’m white). I just thought they were kind of “obvious” or “cliché” ways of joking about Black people. “Fried chicken, watermelon, music, basketball”—I mean, that’s been done and overdone for years. I found them kind of lame, like…old. But, just my opinion, obviously. I feel that it’s totally up in the air as to what African Americans could think of these jokes…Some could be very offended, while others might just brush them off as the stereotypical rap that Black people get. It definitely depends on the person’s perspective in the race debate. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy a good joke just like anyone, but personally, I’d look to comedians to do the joking and comedy about Obama. Maybe Chris Rock needs to have a new stand up act, featuring material poking fun at our new President.
As for the political cartoon, we talked about this in my Public Relations course, and the consensus (from the professor) was that people misinterpreted the chimp image to be alluding to a black stereotype. And that you needed to understand the details and ins and outs of the Stimulus plan to be able to interpret what the cartoonist was trying to say. Personally, I am not properly educated on the details of the Stimulus Plan to be able to make a judgment on the cartoon. At first glance, I’d never associate the cartoon or depiction of a chimp with a racist image, but more as an act of violence. The article talks a lot about the criticizing of portrayal of Obama’s larger lips or big ears, but it also says that the history of political cartoons always emphasizes presidents’ facial and body features. Just because Obama’s happen to be “Black features” doesn’t mean the cartoonist, newspaper, or periodical is racist.
Overall, I just don’t find the presented Obama Jokes to be funny, but they don’t make me overly uncomfortable either.
Whenever a new President is elected, there are always going to be people taking sides and trying to get their opinion across about what they think of his ideas and his character. President Obama is no different. As for the jokes about Obama, I don’t think people should take it so seriously and assume that every comment someone makes is a racist one. I don’t find the basketball Obama joke offensive at all. When I first saw it, it didn’t cross my mind that all black people play basketball, so of course we need a picture with our President playing as well. I know that playing basketball is one of his hobbies, so I didn’t find it weird at all that he would be pictured with one. I could see where the Obama stimulus bill might offend some people who think that it is portraying all black people as poor and needing discounts, but to me I just think it’s a unique way of making the stimulus proposal more relatable to everyone. The Obama fried chicken could definitely be seen as offensive, since fried chicken is a stereotypical food of black culture. I think it is a good way to advertise the business and at least get people talking about the restaurant. If it offends someone, then they don’t have to eat there. I don’t see how in any way the picture of Obama with the iPod could be taken in the wrong way. It might be a little strange the he gave the Queen of England an iPod as a gift, but I think its actually a very practical gift, hoping that she knows how to use it. I also think it’s a good marketing campaign to show that everyone has an iPod, even the President of the United States and the Queen of England. I think being a cartoonist, as a profession, is automatically makes you be more careful and have to step around certain issues. Obviously someone will be offended by what you draw and not everyone is going to like it. I can see where drawing Obama as a monkey is offensive but exaggerating some of his features is what is done to all people. By making his lips larger in a cartoon, this is just seems to be to be the most obvious feature to draw in a cartoon. People interpret things differently and whether or not a cartoonist meant to offend or not, it’s up to the interpreter to decide what the picture is really trying to portray. I think people just need to take a step back and take everything with a grain of salt. If they are offended by something, that is fine but I don’t think they should assume that that is what was meant by the drawing, or restaurant name, or iPod commercial.
I found these cartoons pretty funny. They are certainly stereotypical, but I don’t see them as offensive at all. The basketball cartoon is funny because it’s not just a stereotype that all black people play or like basketball, Obama is actually known to be a big fan. I thought the “Obama Fried Chicken” cartoon was funny because the sign also said the store sold a variety of ethnic foods, which goes along with his mixed cultural heritage and diplomacy. The Ipod cartoon is funny because I just feel like it shows how cool Obama is. He gave the freaking Queen of England an Ipod! The found the dead chimp cartoon offensive, but I also just didn’t really understand it. What would the chimp who attacked it’s owner have to do with a new stimulus plan? I don’t really buy the cartoonist’s explanation, and I certainly see why some people took it very offensively.
I think that political satire is important, funny, and should be protected in a democratic society. Public figures, politicians especially should not be spared from this satire, but I do believe there are limits. Cartoons should be obviously exaggerated in some way. I think that stereotypes are fine to use, but stereotypes in general are funny when they contain some amount of truth. Irony is funny, but elements that are generally accepted as offensive may be crossing a line. I like to think that intelligent people understand what things would be offensive to most people. Different people of color have different definitions of what is offensive, but things that are excessively offensive or unnecessary should probably not be used in public forum. I think what bothered me the most about the cartoon in the New York Post was the fact that it was in such a respectable publication. Someone should definitely have realized how offensively that cartoon could be taken.
I think that satire is offensive or even just bad taste when it is not clever. This also applies to jokes and comedy involving race and ethnicity. They are funny when they are clever, and when it is clear that the one saying them has an understanding of race relations. People making ignorant jokes is not funny because they are obvious, cliché, and tend to come across hurtful.
I understand how right-wing cartoonists may feel like the now have to be hyper-sensitive about their content involving President Obama, however, I think as long as the brunt of the joke is based on his politics, not his race, they should be fine and inoffensive. I believe that there can be clever political satire of Obama, but since there is so much to admire him for, people just need to be more creative and not fall back on black jokes.
Everyone seems to be crying wolf too much-and by that I mean everyone seems to be pointing out injustices and prejudices and racism more now than ever before and what I have to say is: can’t you take a joke?
I don’t mean that to sound harsh or rude, or god forbid, ignorantly racist, but frankly I don’t care what you think because I know what I am and I know what I am not and I don’t need to defend myself to anyone. Personally, I think it’s ridiculous to think all these pictures, slogans, etc. are anything other than a joke and are certainly not done out of hatred or racism. Be it the first black president or not, Obama is going to be the brunt of many jokes because he is just that-the president- and it has nothing to do with his race. But I do want to get one thing clear here-not everything done is a joke and I understand that, but for the most part they are and we shouldn’t scrutinize and criticize all of them just because one person might put out a racist or overtly offensive “joke” and ruin it for the rest.
So what- he’s black, big deal. It’s about time that we move on from the fact of
Obama being black and move towards just recognizing him as the President of the United States, we should be looking at his words and actions now, see what he is doing as president, rather than talking about him playing basketball or smoking or even what fashions his wife is wearing. It seems to me that this country tends to get hooked on little things and unimportant things and overlook the big picture or even realize what is actually happening in and around the world.
We’re a nation that tends, well excuse the analogy, to get our “panties in a bunch” over ridiculous matters. We pride ourselves on our freedoms and our rights-but when someone uses those rights to the fullest and, heck, goes against the “norm” or society, we see them as being weird, we make them the scapegoats, and we uncomfortable-but what’s so weird about living their lives and living their freedom? We’re a society dominated by ourselves, and this “freedom” we pride ourselves on seems to be a façade-because the minute someone goes against the norm, we freak out. Well, what I have to say is: What is “the norm” and why do we choose to follow it so strictly. That doesn’t seem to be so “free”, does it?
It seems to me that these jokes are considered “crossing the line” in some peoples eyes, but who set the line? Or why can’t we talk about WHY it “crosses the line” instead of pointing then out and pretty much forcing the creators to apologize or defend themselves-they should have to defend their humor, their art, etc. and who are we to make them defend themselves? We’re hypocrites.
After reading the article about Obama and the typical cartoon making fun of him, I thought of one thing, George W. Bush. I am sure many of us have seen cartoons in the newspaper in the past servel years that makes fun of president Bush. It occurs to me that they are making fun of him, not the white race. Of course I think we should expect the same thing for President Obama. If people that are drawing the comic are truly making fun of him then it’s ok. Go ahead with the chicken and the basketball jokes. If something is a typical black thing to do, but President Obama have not been found to do that, then they have no right to made fun of him. In the first picture, Obama was portrayed as a monkey, well if you think back to Bush, he was usually a mouse figure. I doubt that means all white people look like mousse, but it’s really what he looks like, it has noting to do with race. If you ask does president Obama really look like a monkey? Well I am sure you all have seen pictures and videos of him, you be the judge.
The second one was about the basketball. I don’t think that one is inappropriate or offensive in anyway. If he likes to play basketball, even though it is a stereotype, there is nothing wrong with it. What’s wrong with liking to play basketball? If he likes it, then people have the right to make fun of it. The chicken one, however, is a bit more on the edge. Did the chief of the white house really confirm that he likes chicken? Or is that based on the stereotype that all black people likes chicken? If it is based on the stereotype then it is no ok. It can be considered offensive and I don’t find that funny at all. The same kind of concept can be applied to the music and the bill, just depends on whether it was him or black people in general.
It’s actually funny reading the first thing about the swagger and the god complex, because I remember my parents said the same thing the last time when I was home. I think that if the god complex doesn’t have a negative effect on him being the president of the united states, I really don’t see any problem with that. There is nothing wrong with having confidence, not overly so, but have a need for respect is nothing wrong. I know it’s hard to look at our president and say you do not see a black men, but we should try to see him as Obama, the president of the United States and race has nothing to do with it. Like Tablo said,” I 'BA-ROCK' the show, 'O BA MA'self.”
The first time I looked at these I thought they were pretty funny. After I looked at them another time and read their descriptions, I can see how some people would take this as being offensive. I see how black people would be offended by these jokes, but like the article says, look at the jokes as if Dave Chapelle would be telling them. I have watched the Chapelle show many times with some of my black friends and they laugh so hard at the things he says and are almost brought to tears with how hard they laugh. This also goes hand in hand with one of the videos we were watching in class on Thursday. In the one video, a white male comes onto stage and starts playing a trumpet, I think, and then starts to dance, and like one of the white stereotypes, he is not a very good dancer. The majority of the audience is black and they show the audience laughing and even getting up and dancing with him. That brings me to my point. These are all jokes and are not being used to be offensive. Yes, there are stereotypes that blacks like to play basketball, but what if Barack Obama really does enjoy playing basketball? I mean the majority of basketball players are black and the majority of hockey players are white, but that does not mean that ALL black people like basketball and that ALL white people like hockey. But it is true that Obama likes to play basketball. He even went to a team’s practice, I forget what team it was, and played basketball with them. I even heard that when he came and gave a speech here, he made time to play basketball with the men’s team at the Bryce Jordan Center.
I am a white male and I can see how black people could get offended by looking at these pictures of Obama, but they are only jokes. They are not aimed to be offensive but are made to make people laugh. If people cannot laugh at these jokes, how are people ever going to know what is okay to say and not okay to say in front of people of different races. No, white people are not going to go up to black people and ask them if they like fried chicken or ask them if they like rap music, but they know that these are general stereotypes that are made. So, I believe that even though these may be offensive, I feel like people need to put racism aside and just laugh when these types of jokes are made. I feel that if people cannot see these as jokes and offensive, it s going to take a long time for racism to be out of the question.
I am a white male. So obviously my opinion on these jokes is going to be slanted. However, I find these jokes not offensive in the least. I have heard numerous black jokes, being from a basically all white high school, and admittedly laughed at them before. Now, the thing with jokes are, they are just that: jokes. If we can’t laugh at ourselves what else can we do? I laugh at black, Jewish, fat jokes, anything, not because of any ill will toward these groups, just because I find them funny. If you turn on HBO or comedy central, you will find comedian like Chris Rock or Steve Harvey telling jokes making fun of black people, and the audience, mostly black, some white, laughing. Do you think the black people in the audience get angry at the white people next to them laughing when Steve Harvey makes a joke about blacks on welfare, or how dumb some black people can be? (his words, not mine). No, of course not, because any intelligent person will see the jokes made are not just about them being black, but something stupid the person does. For example, how many jokes do you hear about Colin Powell or Nelson Mandela? I think that like the article says, people take themselves too seriously, and not to sound cliché, but sometimes, especially with touchy subjects, laughter is the best medicine. Now, thinking about black jokes, most of them don’t make to much sense. For example, the classic chicken and watermelon: Chris Rock said it best, when he said that it’s kinda dumb people make fun of blacks for liking it, because in reality if you don’t like chicken and watermelon, you’re the weird one. There both great, and whenever my family has barbeques and cookouts for holidays, they are always there. And as far as Obama liking basketball, yea, blacks like it, mostly for socioeconomic reasons, all you need is a ball. No fancy equipment, etc. But what about white people? I love basketball, it is probably my favorite sport to play with friends, because its easy, competitive, and doesn’t take much to get going, and isn’t much of risk for injury. And as for the god complex joke, I don’t know about you, but we had a president for 8 years who was “the guy you want to have a beer with”, and from the looks of it, he drove our nation into the ground. Personally, if I had to pick someone to run the strongest, most powerful and influential nation in the world, I would want him to have confidence. I want an elitist, I want someone who is better than the regular guy, because the previous “regular guy”, was just that: Regular. But seriously, he is our president. He is going to be made fun of, Bush constantly got it, as did Clinton. Whenever you are in the limelight you must expect criticism, but as for those which I saw, they seemed to be in good fun. Honestly, if the worst someone can say about my president is that he likes basketball and fried chicken, than I think we as a nation are in an alright position.
In evaluating the article, Cartoonists Tread Lightly When Drawing Obama, and reading the post on the blog entitled What’s Funny About Obama…And What’s Not, it opened my eyes to the whole idea about how it is decided what is appropriate and funny, and what is inappropriate and unsuitable when joking or making political cartoons about not only the president of the United States of America, but our black president. First off, people view Obama as the first black president. I do not think that he will ever be identified or described as just the president by most people, it is part of his identity and part of our culture to recognize the fact that he is black. Secondly, taking jokes to the next level and crossing that line is something that is a risk that almost all cartoonists and practical jokers must take. However, when joking about a serious figure such as the president, one must be aware and extra cautious not to be offensive not only because of the detriment to society it could cause, but also because of selfish reasons of pure embarrassment and for the sake of maintaining one’s reputation and or job. Taking this into consideration, I also think it is important to realize that society plays a major role in telling us, humanity, what is appropriate and what is not. Society has already shaped this idea and created certain “guidelines” as to what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad, and what is funny at the expense of one person and what may not be so funny at the same time. As stated in Jesse Washington’s article entitled Cartoonists tread lightly when drawing Obama, she stated that “editorial cartoonists are bending over backwareds a lot these days, as they try to satirize the nation’s first black president,” and sometimes this causes controversy “intentionally or unintentionally evoking racist images of the past.” If our culture had not turned race and differences of skin color and ethnicity into such an issue, things like this would not even be an issue. The fact that cartoonists have to be “extra careful” when creating their cartoons about our black president says it all. Race is an issue in this country and always will be, or else this issue would not even pop up in the minds of artists or anybody else. Jesse Washington also states that “the problem is, cartoonists make their living by making fun of people – especially presidents – and exaggerating their features and foibles.” Just because a cartoonist draws Obama with big lips does not mean that this was done intentionally just because Obama is black and black people are stereotyped ot have big lips. It is not something that is meant to be racist; the same cartoonist could have drawn a white president with big lips, but it would not be an issue. The fact that it is an issue just because Obama is black reminds us that race is something that cannot be ignored in our country and it is something that will always remain.
I think that besides his ability to unite, his strong presences behind a podium, and his uncaning ability to smooze over everyone he encounters, President Obama’s greatest quality is his swagger. As Sam said many white people don’t really know what swagger is because a lot of people don’t have it, but I am fully aware of what the term means. Obama is the “God” of swagger if you will. The coolness with which he walks on stage before a debate, or a speech, all the way to how he deals with all of the things published about him that may or may not be funny. In regards to the things that were posted in the blog for us to read and reflect on, I found a few of them to be so funny that I actually laughed out loud. Something I rarely do when reading things or watching tv. I normally don’t laugh out loud unless something is really funny or I’m in the presence of the person making me laugh. The joke was extremely funny, I found myself actually retelling it to family members and friends who all share the same sense of humor for it. But then again, every person I have told it to has been white. I don’t necessarily think that black people would find these posts offensive. Maybe the friend chicken and watermelon one, but I think that stereotype has been played out for some time now. I mean sure people say it but watermelon is my favorite and my grandmother makes me her fried chicken every time I come home from school. So I fit the stereotype, I also love music, hip-hop and jazz music being my favorite. So there are two stereotypes that I fall into, and I’m just a white boy from Virginia. I think that its pretty funny that Obama gave the Queen of England an ipod. I wonder if she even knows what an ipod is, more than likely she has heard the term before, but I’m sure she didn’t have a clue what to do with it. And I don’t think white people think Obama have a God complex, I’m not even sure what that really means. But what I do know is that Obama seems to be a pretty level headed guy and I’m extremely excited to see what kind of impact he can make on our country. I think our country needed a little swagger back in our step and has the most swagger of them all. I mean swagger like Sam said is respect in its simplest form and for once a black man got enough respect in our country to become President of the United States.
Since the start of our nation, Europeans have created labels to identify people from them. Why do we select the racial, ethnic, and ancestry labels that are applied to us? The socialization of racial identity has been used for generations. I feel the Obama advertisements are not comical in the least bit, and are rather distasteful. Racial prejudice has been a major problem throughout the United States. I see it as a cancer. There are ways to alleviate racism for short periods of times, but overall it can not be cured. These so called jokes do not do anything to better race relations in the United States. The advertisements stereotype black people to be a certain and to do certain things. I really did not expect there to be a lot of controversy over race when Obama was elected. I naively thought people would have gotten over the fact that he was black, and would start caring about issues that really matter, like the recession we are currently in. After looking over the five posters that poke fun at Obama’s race, I came to the realization that people feel uncomfortable with Obama’s race. It is disheartening to me that people judge Obama on the basis of his skin color rather than his credentials and intelligence. The different posters stereotype black people to partake in certain activities, to eat certain kinds of food, and to be in a certain socioeconomic status, none of these prejudices elude to power or presidency. It just goes to show how racial discrimination plagues the United States. Racial prejudice has existed in America longer than democracy. The perpetual cycle of negative racial socialization underscores the race problem that still exists today. This needs to end. Racial discrimination is used to belittle individuals, in this article it belittles black people. This prevents progress. In order for race relations to get better in this nation, the publication of racially ignorant posters have to stop. Obama, a man that represents the idea of change, can go to great lengths to reduce racial prejudice. Change and unity are two things that do not come easy, realistically everyone should know that. If you look at American history, change, has never come easy, it has always been a struggle or a heated controversy. For example, the Civil War and the civil rights “struggle” were two issues that pertained to harsh treatment and inequality of colored individuals. The midst of the Civil War brought forth the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. The emancipation set the stage later for the civil rights movement. There was a hundred year span of struggle for equality among colored people from the Emancipation Proclamation to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In essence, the Civil Rights Act was a revolution, it granted political, economic, and social to all, regardless of race. It was a turning point in history because it encouraged people to see each other as equals. Inequality still plagues our nation, despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act, but a revolution is a long, slow process. Obama is a catalyst that make this revolution progress faster.
When considering all of the different ways to poke fun at the first ever black President of the United States, Barack Obama, you need to also consider the fact that he really does not take himself that seriously (especially compared to our former leader). Obama has been photographed smoking a cigarette and waving the Terrible Towel in the streets Pittsburgh, PA during the Steelers 2008/9 Super Bowl run. He has also made an appearance on Jay Leno where he slipped and compared his bowling skills to the Special Olympics. He has been featured in many highly rated television shows such as South Park, Saturday Night Live, Flight of the Conchords, and many more. But when watching these shows, he is being poked fun at in a very different manner than our former leader. Where we may be poking fun at the incompetence of Bush, we are simply poking fun at the man’s color. I have never seen his credibility or qualifications come into question, which is definitely a step in the right direction. Lastly, his NCAA Basketball March Madness bracket was more widely publicized than his recent trip to Turkey.
When times are as tough as we have been experiencing lately, especially with the war in Iraq and the credit crunch / economic crisis, I think it is good to have a leader that we can trust and poke fun at simultaneously. When it comes to white people claiming that Barack Obama has a “God complex”, it is pretty easy to understand why. The “Hope” campaign with the rays extending from the silhouette of our current president could easily work its way into anyone’s subconscious as a portrayal of Jesus which could lead people to think that Obama views himself as the savior of our nation.
In my own opinion, I think it’s the right leader at the right time. The fact that he gave the Queen of England an iPod as a gift speaks to the fact that he represents the new generation of voters, and more importantly citizens, of the United States. He is utilizing social networking tools to his advantage. I doubt George W. Bush has no idea what Twitter is or how to utilize Facebook and Myspace, while Obama has been doing all three. Using these tools are a great way to extend the issues of today to the people (the youth) who have not been able to tap into or understand them in the past. Even being able to poke fun at Barack Obama is a step in the right direction. It speaks to the fact that more and more people are starting to care in some fashion about politics and the leaders of the free world.
So here is the question I pose to everyone. At what point can the race table be successful if people insist on being offended all the time? How can we move forward with race relations if when racial stereotypes are discussed people jump down each other’s throats? When I looked at Sam’s post I wasn’t laughing my ass off but I also wasn’t offended. As a public figure you are going to be teased and you are going to be made fun of, that’s just the way it is. The job of the cartoonist is to mock certain features of the President for a good laugh. Coincidentally, our President is half black, therefore some of his features that might be mocked could be unique to the black race. Did all Texans become outraged because the cartoon of Bush made him look like a dumb white cowboy? No, we are talking about stereotypes here not outward racism.
I am not sure if I have referenced this song yet from the musical Avenue Q, but it talks about stereotypes and how everyone stereotypes different types of races and peoples. Blacks stereotype just as much as whites do. For example: in class last Thursday a person of color said something to the extent that he got upset when his white friends talked about a particular rapper as being really good. This young man’s reaction was no you don’t know hip hop. I wanted to turn to him and say oh because he is white he isn’t allowed to have an opinion on hip hop? Hmmm sounds to me like a pretty stereotypical statement. Not a single white person spoke up to call the guy out on his comment. It is so frustrating as a white person to have to feel like you must watch everything you say and walk on egg shells because if not you will be deemed racist. I then try to think about which one of the stages we have discussed in class I am in. I find myself in the middle of a lot of different stages because I get really frustrated with the extreme sensitivity and hypocrisy of our nation, perhaps that puts me in the reversal stage? Life is way too short to analyze the reasons for why people do certain things in cartoons or chain emails that are stereotypical. Lighten up, it’s just a joke and doesn’t actually affect you directly. It is the same kind of way the mocked every President before Obama and will probably remain the same way for the next hundred years. To go back to my very first point, these kind of sensitivities are road blocks on the roads of race relations. Until we can laugh at ourselves and can embrace our differences as people, we will be stuck forever.
Ok, this might be due to the fact that I am a white female, but I really do not see these jokes to be that offensive or touchy. I actually think they are funny. I don’t consider myself to be racist for thinking that. I just think they are taking obvious stereo types turned into jokes. My favorite one happens to be the “Swagger Like Barack,” being white, I do not fully understand swagger I guess, but I still find it comical. Again, I really don’t know but I believe that if you think they are crazy offensive, then you need to lighten up a little. It is not like these are some absurd unknown things that everyone feels should be unspoken, obviously because they are stereotypes they are out there, so they have been said before. It is nothing new.
Second, I believe the fact that cartoon artists now have to ”censor” themselves now is utterly ridiculous. Well, I was never a fan of President Bush, but none of the cartoon artists had to censor themselves if they were making fun of his stupidity. They would not have to try to make him seem smart in hopes of not offending anyone. So now why must they censor themselves and make President Obama not seem black. I hate to break it to you America, but he IS half black. I know that is not the true is, the true issue is not seeming racist by pronouncing his African features. One of cartoonist in the article said that they did not want to draw President Obama because since he has “no other flaws” he would automatically be going at his race. Don’t get me wrong I love President Obama just as much as any other hard core supporter, I voted for him, and I think he is and will make an amazing president, but everyone has to have some type issue to make fun of that is not race. There has got to be some policy or action he can think to make fun of. Just imagine if Hilary Clinton was president? Would they not be able to draw her like a woman because people will assume they are making fun of her because she is a woman.
I think people just need to lighten up a bit and not take everything so seriously. I understand I am saying that as a white female, but if people make fun of whites I just take it. I also understand some people might say it’s not the same because I am white, but I still think that I would be able to take everything lightly. Just because people talk about President Obama does not mean they are attacking his race.
I personally did not laugh or even smile at any of these jokes, I do not really find them amusing, but maybe that is just me. I am not one of those people who fall into that category of “people who get easily offended”; I am definitely one of the most sarcastic people I know and joke around most of the time, but that does not mean that I just let everything slide either. I do find some of these jokes offensive and some just plain out right stupid, but I cannot speak for anyone else. It is hard to draw a line between what a person can say and what they cannot because everyone has their own ideas of what might be “right” or “wrong” to say, and there never will be a complete consensus on this issue. To say that Obama plays basketball and likes fried chicken is pretty stereotypical and unoriginal; those stereotypes are fairly played out in my mind. The whole “gift of music” joke I really do not even get at all, but maybe I am missing something. I do not see why it is funny or strange that Obama got the Queen of England an ipod as a gift. Does anyone else find it amusing that I got an ipod for Christmas or think it is weird when anyone else receives an ipod as a gift? The Queen is just a normal person and I am sure she likes to listen to music just like everyone else. Also, the original poster says that “it seems to be well established that black people love music”, which I do not understand either. I did not know that black people enjoyed music more than white people or any other races, that is something I have never heard before. And as for the cartoonists making fun of Obama, I find that offensive too. I do not read comics or know much about them, but I do know that having Obama be a monkey in a cartoon is just obviously inappropriate in my mind. It is ridiculous to say that the monkey does not refer to Obama when the only caption in the cartoon says, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill”. How does this cartoon make any sense if it is not referring to Obama? Especially if it is referring supposedly to a chimp that was shot to death by police after it mauled a friend of its owner, it really makes even less sense. And the whole making Obama’s lips big in caricatures just because he is black is not only fulfilling a stereotype, but is not even any where near accurate or playing off of or exaggerating an already prominent feature, like caricatures are supposed to do, when Obama’s lips are not even big in the first place. I literally just looked up pictures of him and they are average size or if you are being stereotypical could even say they are “small” for a black man. Maybe I am being overly critical, I can admit that, but just my opinions.
I thought the jokes were harmless and very funny. Although I am a white male, I do not see the harm in these jokes. Hence, the word joke. These are jokes, and I suspect that that most black people, if not all, would find these jokes funny. Barack Obama is a very respected man by everyone in America, after all he is the president of the country. Therefore, a couple humorous jokes should be allowed, if not even laughed upon. Honestly, I do not even think Barack Obama himself would even take offense to these jokes. I feel like he would welcome them with open arms, and enjoy the humor.
As a Jewish male, many people often make Jewish jokes towards me. However, I enjoy these jokes! Most of them are very funny, I know that they are only jokes, and in the right context (such as a joke), they are not directed at me as an individual. Many times, I will actually contribute some of my own Jewish jokes and make fun of myself.
All my black friends also do this. They love making black jokes, and especially love it when I make black jokes. They find it hilarious and welcome it. They know I do not mean any harm in it, and would love to laugh at some black stereotypes. For exmaple, Chris Rock made everyone laugh talking about how black people love to buy rims, and a joke like that was no offensive to the black community. It was actually hilarious. They would pay money to listen to jokes being about their own race.
I believe when put in the right context, these jokes are completely harmless, and I think Barack Obama would say the same thing. When people make jokes in general, about certain obvious stereotypes developed from many years ago, most people can laugh and enjoy those jokes. The jokes that become offensive are jokes about an individual's personal life, such as his or her family, work life, love life, friends, career choice, etc. When expressing or telling a joke, the context in which a person says it is extremely important. In the case of those top 5 jokes about Obama, those are obviously JOKES and are extremely funny. Obama is a very smart and powerful man, and everyone knows and respect that. So why can't everyone loosen up a bit and laugh at a joke?
Also, when people think that the features of Obama as a cartoon are exaggerated, I find that ridiculous and unfair. A character, or a cartoon is supposed to have exaggerated features, and I feel that certain people are just looking for an excuse to use the race card. Completely unfair to the man who drew the cartoon.
I found this article very funny actually; I mean I know there is a lot of people would get mad, because not everyone could take a joke. The joke about Obama playing basketball just because black people play basketball is just stereotype, because not every black person likes basketball. Plus I could also imagine Obama playing Hokey then, because he is white too. I think that they should make fun Obama in the black and white side, because he is black and white. The joke about Obama giving queen of England an IPod, that its funny, I mean why and IPOD well it’s a good gift for someone that has everything and the last thing that this could thing of its to get herself an IPOD, so Obama got it for her. Nobody would imagine that Obama was going to give her an IPOD, but as you could see you could expect anything from our president. But the one that surprise me the most was the one about the friend chicken place that has Obama’s name, just because it’s a friend chicken place. I mean we all know that black people like fried chicken but damn I never thought that it was going to have the president’s name, which is funny. And like I said people should make fun of Obama in both way in a black way and white way, so now someone name a white restaurant with Obama’s name, like a place that the make macaroni and cheese . Imagine that someone would make a plate with Obama’s name, like Obama’s dessert. But I think the one joke about the bill for black people food that’s mess up, but it’s still funny. I would never imagine that they would make something like this, because is that saying that the majority of black people get food stamps because they are poor, or the joke is that Obama is just helping black people. I mean that I don’t know how to take that joke. But the only thing that people could do is laugh, because no one is going to stop making fun of a president specially when is the first black president. Jokes are things that we can’t do anything about it, because nothing is going to stop the people of making these offensive or non offensive jokes. Is like racism, nobody can change a person that’s racist and see everyone equal because nobody sees that. All races make fun of each other, so nobody could get mad about these jokes, because if you are going to be making jokes then learn how to take a joke. People are going to make un of the president, so deal with it.
This is a really interesting topic to bring up, considering that it has been something that my friends and I have argued about long before it was an issue of race (referring to when a joke is not funny, and where to draw the line, that is). For a long time, it has been my opinion that most jokes that are really funny are really just reality from a different angle: don’t all jokes have some measure of truth to them? Most things that are funny are usually at least partially true…either that or really ridiculous. That being said, it is probably not too difficult to imagine that I have been subjected to the “that’s not funny” argument more times than I care to remember. The only reasonable thing that I have figured out to do is apologize for the offense and move on: everyone is different, and what offends one person makes another person piss themselves with laughter. Arguing over a person’s offense just seems fruitless to me, and I acknowledge that people experience the world differently than I do and really may have legitimate reasons to be upset. Alternately, it’s pretty easy to step back from something that happened when you were a kid and laugh at it today, making me think that in some of the “that’s not funny” cases people will eventually laugh about it. For example, when I was young I went to a car show with my father, and at some point during the day I had to use the bathroom, but couldn’t find one. I urinated in my pants, and my brother made fun of me for it, and laughed (my brother is 18 years older than me, so if I was 5 or so that would have made him 23 at the time). My brother brought this up recently, and my entire family was rolling with laughter, including myself. At one point (or for many years) during my life, I would have found that to be pretty offensive, but at this point in my life it’s pretty easy to laugh about it.
Changing gears a bit, the article talking about how difficult it is for cartoonists to portray Barack Obama reminds me of how irritating it has become to have the racism finger pointed at everything questionable. If you’re going to yell racism at comics like this, you need to yell racism at every comic that’s ever had a warped portrayal. What about all those pictures of bush that likened him to a monkey? Is it only racist when a cartoonist who’s a different race draws the picture or makes the connection? Can white cartoonists just not make fun of the physical appearance of Obama at all? Honestly I hope that Obama’s term in office forces people to come to terms with how much “racism” there really is in depictions like this. Ultimately, while I don’t think you can tell black people that it’s not fair to challenge depictions like this one, I do hope that through all the exposure these issues start getting ironed out, or at least openly discussed.
This entry strikes directly on one of the philosophies I’ve tried to live by in life: nothing is sacred. If you can’t laugh at something that is perhaps one of the greatest disrespects and insults you can give it. If you can’t bring yourself to laugh at the things you hold most dear, if you can’t look critically at your object of worship and see the humor in it, then you are truly denying yourself a larger understanding of the object. You stunt your own mental viewpoint to the flawless, untouchable image that is set before you by your peers or by yourself. If you don’t examine your object until you find the humor, you are missing what could be a large and important part.
I’ll compare this idea to religion, as I’m more familiar with the idea. People hold the entire idea sacred and untouchable. Many, when presented with a religious joke will give you a dirty look and often react with more extreme hostilities. This has happened to me personally on many occasions. I’ll tell a joke to one of my extreme Christian friends and they’ll turn on me immediately and become quite irate. However, in doing this mindblocking, this intentional ignoring of ideas, they inadvertently limit the extent to which they are able to understand their own spiritual connection with their religion.
This translates into race relations, as is shown by Obama. I’ve yet to meet a black person who reacts favorably to a white person pointing out his flaws. In the same fashion as my friend, they see Obama as an untouchable. To point out, or even consider his flaws is taboo. He has become a god-like symbol to them. And, due to the nature of racism, it is very easy for them to effectively return-fire against anyone who attacks their idol. All they need to do is whisper the word racism, and the attacker backs down with his tail between his legs. Even a perhaps meaningless comment like “his lips look big,” referring to a cartoonist’s caricature of him, will evoke a heartfelt and hasty apology.
However, as with religion, not being willing to laugh at your idol often makes you a blind follower. What happens if Obama really does screw up in the future? Will his loyal guard dogs still growl and snap at any damaging comment? Will they entirely ignore it? Will they even go so far as to make up stories to cover for the mistake? It really is impossible to look critically at the performance of people if you aren’t willing to see the humor in anything that they do. Furthermore, it is this critical eye, this acknowledgement of mistakes that allows us to improve.
And besides, most of those jokes are really quite funny.
With every President come the enviable jokes about them. Every president has gone through that and I don’t think Obama should be any different. I think the best way to the race relations discussion going is to put the stereotypes out there and one way to do that is to joke about it. It was said in class the other day that jokes by comedians could be a good thing when it comes the race discussion because sometimes people don’t respond to the discussion format and joking maybe the only way that some people will open up and talk about race. I think today’s society is too uptight and they can’t make fun of themselves and it just brings us to the point where we don’t talk about issues at all because we are too afraid we may offend someone. The reality is that joking often breaks the ice. I found it to be true in my situation, when I first meet someone they may be freaked out by the wheelchair so I often say things like I just have this because I’m too lazy to walk, when I’m home and able to use my walker my mother will often say things like “Run Forest Run!” when I’m walking down the sidewalk. It’s nothing I ever get offend by and it often opens up the discussion when I’m around people I don’t know who may feel uncomfortable to approach me or talk to me. If you think about it every candidate went through his or her own stereotypes and jokes during the campaign. McCain was often seen as the old guy who knew of nothing of what was going on in the world. There were so many Alzheimer’s jokes about him on late night television and Hilary Clinton had the same thing. She was seen the “cry baby” or the “emotional woman” when she cried during an appearance, so when November rolled around I was happy that finally the Jay Leno and David Lettermans of the world would finally get some new materials, so I didn’t have to hear the same tired jokes over and over again. It’s now Obama’s time to face the late night joke circuit and I’ve already to tried of those jokes. As for the white people thinking that Obama has a God complex I don’t think that is true. I think this country as a whole regardless of race sees Obama as their savor in a time of hardship. I think it wouldn’t matter who was in office at this time black, white, Native American, Asian, man, woman, this country would see them as their savor because they are a change of government from what it has been for the eight years and people hope that with that change comes better times for them and this country.
I think that most of these jokes are funny, but it depends on the context in which they are being represented and by whom the person presenting these jokes in perceived. For instance, if the individual is perceived as being a racist than some African Americans may take off3ense to it and see the jokes as a personal attack, and not a joke. In contrast, if the person who is presenting the jokes is someone who is humbled and not ethnocentric that they joke will be interpreted as merely jokes like they should. I actually am African American and I do not think these jokes are offensive because they were presented to me in such a neutral manner and I am pretty sure if I showed this to my friends of color they would also not take it to offense and laugh at the jokes because they are funny.
The joke that was ranked number five about basketball is actually a somewhat positive stereotype about black people, it defines one of our many talents as the NBA is dominated by African American’s so that is more like a plus to me and recognition of our cultures talent in something. In addition, this stereotype being applied to Obama illustrates that someone can be very athletic and at the same time very knowledgeable, so this joke will never really offend me. The fourth stereotype about Obama’s face on the dollar I did not find it offensive but at the same time I did not think it was very funny either. Now the third joke about Obama fried chicken is very hilarious “lmao”, it is not very offensive to me, because even we black people make fun ourselves for this strong liking for fried chicken, so I thought that was a very good joke. The second one about music is so true about music, because black people love their music, and I don’t think that is very offensive at all. If someone were to come at me with that joke I do not think I would ever get offended by that. The first one about Obama having swagger is very true that is why he was elected as president. Any Black person that can dream to even ever become that big must have some serious swag.
I do not think that these jokes are offensive if when presented the atmosphere is well for them, meaning no one is racist, and when I say racist I mean from both sides of the spectrum white and people of color. If these measures are taken care of then these jokes are not offensive and people can enjoy a good laugh otherwise some people’s feelings may get hurt along the way.
Personally, I find this kind of humor hilarious. I guess I have just accepted the fact that I do not get offended by any type of racial jokes if they are done out of the context of humor which these jokes are here to do. Obama's Fried Chicken. Come on. That is so funny! If black people owned a shop and called their store Knickers fo' Crackers... I would laugh my ass off. I think if something is such a hardcore stereotype, there is no reason why people can not make fun of it. Now, if it is done out of hate, it is a totally different story. If a white supremacist made a joke about a black guy, I would not find that very funny because the guy is so close minded and hateful. Vice versa with black people. If a black guy hated white people and called us some racial term, it would be a little different. For example, like that one crazy guy speaking at that conference. He said that all of the white people need to be killed. If Dave Chappelle said it, I would probably laugh. However, some nutso guy said it which scares me a little. Therefore, I do not care if people make fun of Obama. It's funny. All presidents get made fun of. It's easy comedy.
As for the cartoons, I guess it's hard to come across as joking sometimes. If it's just a one picture cartoon (without a story), things can be taken the wrong way. However, if a cartoon is published in a newspaper, I would never view it as being racist. I just do not think the media would let that be in the newspaper.
I always use my roommate as an example since he is from Guam and is a Pacific Islander (half Johnny Tsunami with a hint of Jet Li). See, I can make those comments to him and he will laugh because he is totally comfortable with his race and makes fun of it as well! Apparently, some Dominican Republican guy called him Susuki and Guamboy laughed extremely hard. I just think people need to lighten up. When people make fun of racial stereotypes, the racial barrier is knocked down if everyone is comfortable in their own skin. It is simply comedy. Not hatred. Not racism. Just comedy. I am sure some people got offended by some of those jokes. If so, they are just not comfortable in their own skin. That is my opinion at least. I do not care who makes fun of my race, my hair, my interests, my likes, my food choices, anything. I simply do not care. They can make fun of me all they want. It is who I am and I am totally cool with it.
Reading these jokes towards Obama was astonishing. I have personally witnessed little minor parodies towards him but none that equal up to this. This is blatant racial disrespect towards the leader of our nation. This book is not meant to be a textbook but on how to manage dying patients, nor is it intended as a complete study of the psychology of the dying. It is simply am account of a new and challenging opportunity to refocus on the patient as a human being, to include him in dialogues… we ask him to be our teacher so that we may learn more about the final stages of life. (Preface) Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s book, On Death and Dying, is one of the classic works in the field of death. It is still used to educate and inform medical, counseling, and pastoral professionals. Kübler-Ross did extensive research in the field by actually talking to those in the process of dying, something that had hitherto been considered taboo and an unthinkable, uncaring thing to do. She took an outside empirical approach to find out details of the what people go through while they’re dying. Kübler-Ross asked for volunteers, and never pressured people to do or say anything they didn’t want to. One of her unexpected discoveries was that the medical professionals were more reluctant to participate than were the patients, who quite often felt gratitude and relief at being able to be heard. Kübler-Ross also spoke to families, and followed people through their ailments, sometimes to recovery, but most often to their death. She let the people guide her in her research.We do not always state explicitly [to the patient] that the patient is actually terminally ill. We attempt to elicit the patients’ needs first, try to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and look for overt or hidden communications to determine how much a patient wants to face reality at a given moment.This caring approach was often an aggravation for Kübler-Ross and her staff, because they would know what the patient had been told but was not yet ready to face. In retrospect, Kübler-Ross takes a turn from looking at the patients and rather focuses on those still living that are inevitably affected by thi6.s. She recounts stories of attempts to deal with death in different ways; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance -- in fact, the various stages of grief were first recognized in Kübler-Ross’s research. A lot of controversy was aligned with the stages theory of grief, but it is important to know that these are not set-in-stone processes, but rather dialectical in nature. It recedes and flows with an individual’s circumstance, so that where a person was stage-wise would vary from meeting to meeting. In the book, she broke the stages down by chapter. It seemed as in each one, she took a slightly different approach.
In political cartoons, the issue that they are satirizing is always the focus of the drawing and the cartoonist always makes a point to enlarge or emphasize the main point. For example, if the cartoonist was making fun of the fact that a political figure was egotistical, he or she might draw the figure with an enlarged head. I don’t see what the point would be to draw Obama with big lips and a broad nose because there would be no satirical purpose for that. I would completely understand if cartoonists were being cautious when drawing Obama, although there is probably quite a lull in material for political cartoons – President Obama does not have nearly the humor that President Bush brought to satirical cartoons. Personally, I don’t believe it’s terrible offending to draw President Obama with “black characteristics”. It’s not like the American public doesn’t know that Obama is of African descent, and I doubt the cartoonist would be making fun of the fact that he is black. Usually political cartoons are drawn because of the words or actions of the political figure, not because of his or her ethnicity. I can predict that there will probably be some scuffles in the future about how he is drawn, but I don’t really see the point of being very offended by it. Ross Perot has a huge nose, so people draw him with a huge nose. If Barack Obama has larger or blue-ish lips, people will draw him with larger lips because, well, that’s what his face looks like. If he was of African descent and did not have the facial characteristics of a stereotypical “black person”, I doubt there would be many cartoonists drawing him with said traits.
It’s understandable that cartoonists are “treading lightly”, and I think we all kind of are. No one wants to cause controversy or put their job on the line for the sake of one cartoon. And I hate to admit, but I kind of agree when it comes to people needing to “lighten up” in terms of racial humor. There’s a big difference between jokes about black people liking fried chicken and Holocaust jokes, of course, but I don’t believe that the majority of racial stereotypes/jokes mean harm. A lot of jokes and stereotypes are grounded in truth, also. And like another poster wrote, people are going to have to start getting used to people making fun of Obama. A lot of people viewed him as some sort of deity during the election, but regardless of how bad or good of a president he is, there is going to be a lot of jokes. A lot of the public will probably immediately have an “Obama is perfect, all of these jokes are about how he’s black and they are all malicious”, but every President has been made fun of, whether it’s cartoons or skits on Saturday Night Live. I think we’re going to be in for a long road of Obama jokes, so people should probably get used to it.
There is something to be said for poking fun at yourself and others. However, I think there is a way to tastefully do it without purposely hurting someone’s feelings. It is one thing to poke fun at somebody you know, but it is another to make fun of somebody who you know nothing about. For me, I only joke around and poke fun at the people that I know really well. I also think there are right ways and a wrong ways to going about this. When it comes to race, I find it interesting how the white (dominant race) in the United States can only poke fun at themselves. If a white person were to joke around and poke fun at a black person, society’s standards would deem that to be racist and offensive. On the other hand, I have noticed that African-Americans as well as other minorities seem to have a “free ride” when it comes to joking about race. Regardless of what race a person of color is, it seems that they can get away with saying “edgy” jokes that involve race, compared to that of white people. It seems that the majority of white standup comedians only joke around about race - when it is his or her own race they are poking fun at. It seems as if there is a sort of double standard in America that people are unconsciously unaware about. White people who poke fun at people of color seems to be almost always wrong while at the same time, minorities seem to have the upper hand when it comes to race-related jokes. I am not saying that this is right or wrong, or that certain people should get a free ride when it comes to poking fun at other races. All I am saying is that there is some unwritten rule guiding race-related comedy. The reason why I think that the pictures and jokes about President Obama are seen as so controversial is because America is predominantly a white society. I believe that this is the first instance where an African-American of power is testing the “unwritten rule” that white people are not allowed to make fun of people of color. It is very interesting to see that the countless jokes that were aimed at George W. Bush were not deemed as racist but racial jokes towards President Obama are seen as distasteful. I just think it is interesting how our society thinks when it comes to these issues. If we want true equality when it comes to the race conversation, then I think that our society needs to change are attitudes towards race related comedy. Everybody of all different races should get equal treatment when it comes to race-related comedy.
I think I agree with Sam on this one—everyone needs to lighten up. None of those jokes about Obama are malevolent, and some even seem to portray him in a ‘hip’ positive light. I especially like the ipod one and actually find it quite original that he gave the Queen of England this as a gift. I bet that’s by far the most fun and interesting present she has received. It also shows that Obama is a real person, and makes it easier to connect with him.
Also, if you are any major figure in American society, you are going to have jokes made about you. I think this is ten times truer if you are the president. Everyone loves to make jokes and laugh about the president regardless of his race.
I can definitely see how some of these jokes could be offensive depending on who is saying them and how they are saying them. For instance, someone that considers themselves a racist probably should not be broadcasting these types of jokes because it is done with hate. Especially the “Obama Fried Chicken” restaurant could be taken offensively by some, although I find it cute that the restaurant includes many different types of cuisine exemplifying his diplomacy.
It seems to me that if we are ever going to have discussions about race, we should take the edge off and laugh at ourselves and each other (with the person, not at them). Many good examples were shown in class, especially with Chris Rock and also the comedian that put on a nice dance show to make fun of white people. People of all races are able to find humor in the way they talk about race, and it seems to bring people together. It helps us to understand raw realities that we may not otherwise be able to discuss, or are too afraid to bring up. Comedy when done tastefully can even shed light on different sides of issues we may not have considered before.
There are some jokes, however, that I do not consider to be in good taste. I usually hear these in groups of all white people making fun of another race, and I always feel uncomfortable hearing them. I am positive that if someone from that particular race was present, the jokes would never be said at all, and they almost always draw on negative stereotypes that only hold a grain of truth. Of course everyone says it is just a joke and not to take it so seriously, and maybe I shouldn’t, but I don’t really like to surround myself with this type of negative humor that is very unlike that of the more positive jokes of famous comedians.
Absolutely hysterical!!! Haha, to take the phrase that Dr. Richards said, LMFAO. First off there is the basketball Obama. Now there is an ongoing stereotype about how all black people play basketball. In many polls of the top ten basketball players of all time, two are consistently in the top three whom are black, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Who can forget MJ’s miraculous 6 NBA titles or his clutch shots at the end of games, and one record that will probably stand forever in NBA history is Wilt’s 100 point performance against the New York Knicks in 1962. It is only fair then to put Obama, seen practicing with the North Carolina men’s basketball team during his election campaign, in this number 5 joke. At number 4 with Obama’s stimulus coupon, this could be a little touchy. The description to it is hysterical, but I feel that this was taking it too far. Most of us pray that the economy does not spiral so far down that the government begins issuing these coupons. Number 3 is also addressing a somewhat touchy stereotype for some, but I think it is very funny as well. Naming a fried chicken restaurant Obama is doomed for people to make jokes about it. If the description is right, than this store is one of the funniest stores built in the entire United States. Built to address every type of nationality, this store, like President Obama, tries to appeal to every type of person there is. The success it is experiencing is something else worth looking at later.
The Number 2 joke is by far my favorite. When I heard that President Obama gave the Queen of England an iPod I almost lost it. I mean come on, even if it was an iPod touch, that’s around $300. I think the Queen of England deserves a little more credit than that. I mean, picturing it in my head, having the Queen of England photographed rocking out to her iPod is hilarious, but I think that Obama could have found a more appropriate gift. But that is why I love these jokes and I love Obama. He is so current. No president in my lifetime has been so current with the latest trends or involved in my favorite thing, sports, like Obama has and that is why he can get away with it, and that is why I totally respect the man. Lastly, the Swagger like Barack was a perfect way to conclude the blog. How Barack said that God was in his seat just made my day. So many people are trying to place Barack on such a high pedestal because he is “God-like” and trying to bring us out of these economic hardships. I feel if we just give the man some space, he will get it done and do what is right for the entire nation. I loved these jokes, and know that Barack Obama would have seen the humor in these rather than the stereotypes addressed.
The funny part about jokes is that sometimes they’re not that funny at all. Of course, sometimes a lot of us just need to calm down, and not take a joke too seriously. The thing I find funny about jokes is how much the person making the joke matters. Comedians are not really anything more than truth tellers. However, should a comedian and the president of the United States make jokes, they would both be interpreted very differently. It is because the average comedian knows how to tell a joke which is what makes it funny.
Let’s consider the fact that some of us can say things about our own culture. Just recently, I watched as a young man from the Netherlands who has lived in India for two years, publish a blog/article/note on Facebook. He disclaimed himself at the start claiming it was all a joke and what he did was nothing but to point out some of the small trivial funny things in India. These are things like how Indian traffic rules are never obeyed etc…. His classmates, who like me are Indian, chose to get angry at him. However, as an Indian, I can tell you that if I made the same jokes they would have found them funny. Why?? Simply because of where I’m from?? Yes.
Likewise, I think that sometimes people assume that the people making Barack Obama jokes are white people, which is not necessarily true. But that assumption allows people of different cultures to feel that other people hate them, which then gives them a reason to hate each other, and that’s how fights begin. I think that it’s about time that we started listening to what is being said by people rather than who is saying things.
This is the very essence of race relations. We all need to learn where to draw the line or where to back down. I feel like everyone wants to be represented in the race relations dialogue around the world all the time and that is not a realistic goal. I know that it is important for all of us to have our say but if we can’t make racial jokes then what do we talk about?? The jokes we make are inevitably about other people, and if somebody does something stupid and we make fun of it, then it can be taken out of context and people assume that’s a racial joke too. Where is the line??
I am truly not sure how I think about these cartoons. As a white male, I have never been subjected to the racist undertones that many minorities face on a daily basis. However, I thin we can all agree that a cartoonist job is to make fun of people. The cartoonist himself is confused, explaining that, "But editorial cartoons are supposed to be offensive, and provocative. We're entering new waters here. What can you use or not use?" The problem is, the cartoonist have no idea what is off limits or on limits in regards to making fun of President Obama.
With all of this being said, I think that the monkey cartoon was somewhat out of line. For whatever reason, historically there have been connections made between black people and monkeys. Because of this, this cartoon crossed some rule (written or unwritten) that race is off limits for cartoonists. I just get worried with the offense that people take to this cartoon. The cartoons about Bush were also offensive and downright mean, but there was no general outcry about these.
I believe that maybe the most interesting part of this article was the quote uttered by Ted Rall, president of a cartoonists association. He admitted that, "Without a doubt, people are stepping more gingerly. People are tiptoeing their way through this." This is dangerous simply because the goal is to treat all people. While maybe race should be a topic not touched by cartoonists, it is essential that they do make fun of him in some way. If he is not made fun of, it would mark perhaps the first time in history that a president would not be made fun of by people whose self proclaimed jobs it is to do just this.
Cartoonists will in fact eventually make fun of Obama, although what about him I am not exactly sure. Will his race always be something that is avoided, or will cartoonists eventually be able to make fun of this? But should that even be made fun of? These are questions that we as a human race need to ponder. I do not believe that it is funny that Obama is black (obviously) but by limiting what we make fun of in minorities are we really treating them equally? And what about in fifty years, when there is no minority in this country? At that point will it not be okay for white people to be compared to some sort of animal that is offensive. These are questions that only time will answer, but the bottom line is: comparing Obama to a monkey (whether or not intentional) had racial connotations that are not okay in today’s society.
I also found the satires to be comical, however I can understand how some would be offended. But then again some people are offended by anything, just as Sam said. I try to think if the roles were reversed and there were jokes about white women whether I would find them funny. The truth is, I do not really know. I think that whether something is funny or not, especially with sarcasm, depends on the intentions of the writer or joke teller. For example if the “Obama Fried Chicken” was meant as a joke to truly insult black people, not poke fun at the stereotypes that already exist, I do not think it is funny. However if the individual, as I think they were, was trying to poke fun at stereotypes and bring light to the ridiculousness…have at it. I think it is pretty hilarious.
Every person that listens to a comedy act has to take what the comedians say with a grain of salt and not let it bother them. I understand that some jokes sting, as they do sometimes, however that is because most of the time you may feel there is an element of truth or it hits a nerve for someone. As far as poking fun at the president, every comedian from fifty years ago to now has always done this. It is almost part of a comedians job description. It is an individual and a figure that every one, or hopefully every one, knows in the United States. Comedians make fun of celebrities, and the president is the biggest celebrity in the States! Why would they not make fun of him? Now this election is a obviously a huge deal for an entire people as well as a nation. And it is a situation that no one in this country has gone through before…having the first black president. So as far as comedians treading lightly, I think it is only natural. It is still clearly a sensitive topic, and people do not want to get labeled as the worst word for whites… “racist.” It is unknown territory and each comedian that draws sketches writes joke is saying things that have never really been said before. Each comedian that says a joke, makes more paths for other comedians to start to poke fun. However it is taking that first step which must be the most difficult for all comedians.
These days I think people take things too seriously! Like take a chill pill. I like to laugh at myself. I’m not perfect and I never will be even if I tried. People that are too serious are insecure. I am pretty sure that Obama finds most of the jokes made about him funny or just doesn’t pay attention to them. Some of these jokes are a little raw but everyone knows that there are stereotypes and we know many of them. The one about Obama’s Food Coupon is a prime example. I know many people that would be offended by this joke. But that’s exactly what it is…a joke. It is there to make people laugh…so laugh. I can be very serious at times but I now when I’m supposed to have fun and laugh. I participate in the NAACP organization here at Penn State and we had a discussion about the monkey killing cartoon. Me and someone else tried to explain to them that it was not right but it was a joke. The whole organization was trying to get the cartoonist fired and the publisher or executive who let the cartoon get in the paper. I do agree that it was a little racist because people associate a monkey with black people and that is offensive, but there are so many jokes about white or Asian people that no one takes heed to. There are commercials, cartoons and comics that play into the stereotypes of all races. Since, it was Barrack Obama, someone in power, people thought it was offensive. They tried to say that it was an assassination threat to the president. What people fail to realize, is that the president is a very dangerous job no matter who you are, even if you are a well known and like president. People are always trying to knock someone in power down because they don’t have the power. The president usually gets at least one hundred threat calls a day and that is just something that comes with the job. I am pretty sure that Obama did not even play into the cartoon or the whole controversy because it was not that serious. I don’t think that it should have been published like that. I would have had another quote on the picture and then maybe I would publish it. I don’t blame the cartoonist and I don’t think that he is racist. He has a job to do and keep. The executives or the people above him probably give him certain requirements that he has to uphold. I am pretty sure that was not the first semi-racist picture he has drawn. I think the publisher or the person that looks over the blueprint for the newspaper should have taken another closer look at the drawing and told him what he should do to change it. Obviously everyone who looked at it, if they even did, thought that it was fine. I just think everyone should take a couple chill pills and relax and stop taking everything so serious. I think that would eliminate a lot of problems.
What makes a joke funny? What makes a joke offensive? In order to answer these questions we must consider culture, and in this case specifically, race. I personally think these jokes are funny and I do not find them at all offensive; however, I am a Caucasian female. It is hard for me to say whether or not these jokes would be offensive to a black person.
I would also agree with another student’s blog. When he described how he would be more offended by a comment about his intelligence, than one about his race. I think this hits the nail right on the head. Race is not something you can change, whereas there are things that a person can do to increase their intelligence (or at least their knowledge).
If McCain were out president right now, I think there would be just as many jokes going around about him as there are now about Obama. Of course the subject of these jokes would be different, but the outcome would be the same. Some people would be very offended by these jokes, while others would find them absolutely hilarious and harmless. I think someone in class said it very well when he said that it’s ok to make these (what some would consider racial) jokes because they are not said to hurt or upset others, instead, they draw attention to the fact that some of the racial stereotypes are laughable. In addition, from my experiences, stereotypes are often true. So maybe the picture of Obama playing basketball is used to point out that black people are good at basketball… Well then so what. Would you deny this assumption?
Specifically relating to the article by MSNBC, I would agree that “editorial cartoons are supposed to be offensive, and provocative;” however, I would also argue that there is some point when these cartoons may become offensive. This connects directly to a subject that we discussed in class. Some black students in class stated how they do not mind answering white people’s questions about things such as how they do their hair, but they said that at a certain point they just get tired of saying the same thing over and over. The article relates to this because I am sure that most black people would not initially get angry at seeing an exaggerated representation of Obama with big lips; however, I feel like after seeing this a few times, black people would just get tired. It is like, “ok I get the point. Obama has big lips… Can we move on now?” In political cartoons, I think the focus should be more directed to the content or the point the author is trying to make.
Well I would certainly agree with Sam’s opinion on the racial jokes. I have always been of the opinion that every single one of those jokes as long as not made in a malicious context is funny. Racial, ethnic, religious, any of them really are all exceptionally funny to me. Sometimes I think to myself though that of course I feel this way. I am white. Why would we be offended by anything? But the more I think about it though the more I realize that people really just look for reasons to get upset, in my opinion. The same joke can be interpreted two very different ways coming from two very different people. So if everyone just took a step back and just chilled out society as a whole could maybe just take a couple of chuckles at itself.
Regarding to the specifics of the individual jokes, they certainly fill out racial stereotypes, but I feel as though their anonymity sort of provides them with a level of acceptedness that would otherwise not be present. If a normal white guy would be the one to post those pictures without any attempt to establish repertoire, I feel as though he would be filleted. In a culture that attacks first and asks questions later, it is essential to establish yourself (mostly if you are white) as a non racist before venturing down that road of racial humor. More often than not you will see comedians of all races do this. We’ve seen a few examples of this in class with various comedians. Often times they will point out funny issues within their own race. Once the crowd says, “Oh ok, this guy is making fun of himself,” it is almost like he is given the green light to say what he wants past that, almost to any extent he seems fit.
I feel bad for cartoonist too. Just a small slip up while drawing the lips or the nose can cause a cavalcade of problems. If either of these happen, the picture could be seen as a caricature of any black man really. Accidentally giving Obama big lips or a wider nose than he has would without a doubt label the cartoonist as a racist trying to over emphasize Obama’s black characteristics. And if he were to do that it would simply be just because he would want to make fun of him, or at least that’s how society would perceive it and in this society sometimes perception is more factual than fact. Ultimately though, I would just like to say that I think racial humor is one of the funniest things out there because it takes the things that we all think and know but never say and just puts it out there on the table for everyone to hear. Because of this it never gets old.
As I see these things and jokes I am not really sure what to feel. On one hand making fun of the president of the United States of America is one of Americas favorite past times. I remember George W. Bush being made fun of on Saturday night live all the time and now as it seems it has become Obama’s turn to be the one being made fun of. The only question I can ask myself is will he be made fun of for his policies or will it be because of his race? I have a feeling that the race jokes will be uses just as often as the policy ones and the blog examples shown here are proving that point. First the one of him playing basketball is a pretty obvious use of stereotyping the fact that all black people are going to be playing basketball is text book racial profiling anyway you look at it. Second the Obama food stamp is a little insane; I don’t know if it is a play on welfare and black people or what but it I really do not find it funny at all. Third the Obama fried chicken, again playing with the stereotypes all black people love fried chicken well I love it too I don’t think this one is so bad but they still are making jokes that have nothing to do with anything except his race. The point I am trying to make is these jokes are all about race just like a lot of George Bush jokes were all about his intelligence level. No one really made a big deal about that and I can see how this might be offensive as well but I can’t help but wonder why no one made such a big deal then. Like it says in the article everyone seems to be bending over backwards not to offend Obama and even more so black people as a whole. Well where was everyone when all the other presidents were being made fun of and made to look like common stereotypes? I do believe that we need to stop this whole attitude of tip toeing around race and let people act the same way toward everyone. If we have people treating others differently at all, good or bad, because of the color of their skin it is just the same as racism and no one is equal. We need to stop this scared behavior where people are treated differently and it should be all over, everything from presidential cartoons to real interactions between people. I personally think these cartoons were not that funny and people need to start treating Obama like they would any other president.
Some of these jokes are pretty sketchy. Of course every president has jokes and pictures that make fun of them; however, I feel like Obama gets the most heat and criticism. Lets look at every picture and I will explain to you which ones are funny and which ones I feel are offensive.
Starting with the fifth picture: Before seeing this picture I saw some computer animation of Obama playing basketball against Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Of course it was not them but someone creatively Photo-Shopped their heads onto these basketball players bodies. Until now I never thought of that funny clip to be offensive. The idea of the stereotypical view that all black people play basketball had never crossed my mind. Now this is where it becomes offensive. It the undercover ideas behind this cartoon that make it a negative blow against our new President. And the comment about spades was really over the top. That also was offensive to me because it insinuated that all black people play spades; however, I am black I do not know how to play spades.
The fourth picture: This picture was the least offensive to me until I looked a lot at it a second time and noticed that it read “U.S. Department of Obamaculture”. Is this supposed to mean that all black people are poor and on welfare? Another stereotype associated with black culture. Obama is not just the “black president” he is the President of all types of people.
The third picture: Now I feel this was the most offensive picture of them all. Obama chicken? Wow! Yes here at the Penn State Creamery we had an ice flavor named after of president but it that in no way brought up any controversy. Naming a run down, rinky-dink fried chicken restaurant after him I blatant disrespect. Also after doing some research I discovered that the Obama watermelon, fried chicken (stereotypical black foods) jokes are all over the Internet.
The second picture: I also do not find this picture or the idea of the funny. I think it is nice that our new President is able to bridge the gap between mainstream America and other countries.a
The first picture: This I think was the joke I enjoyed the most. I did not think that any one besides my friends and I talked about the so-called swagger that Obama has. We once found ourselves sitting around the TV trying to figure out what it is that we like so much about him. One of us said his swagger and everyone immediately agreed in unison, “yea his swagger that’s it”. The idea of a “God complex” is totally extreme and the heaven joke is not offensive but just wrong in my eyes.
Although President Bush got heat about the war and President Clinton got heat for the Monica Lewinski scandal President Obama seems to be getting the worst heat. Of course not all people are ever going to agree on the same president and it is not expected. When this issue becomes disrespectful to someone who did what he need to do to get where he is and much of the heat he is getting is based on his race this becomes offensive and a problem. Jokes are funny not disrespectful and I do not feel that even Dave Chapelle could make me laugh at some of these ideas.
Ok so this is a quote from the article that I find worth commenting on, “Perhaps race relations would improve, Lester said, if black people lightened up a bit: “They're not too good (at being) made fun of. We can all take a joke.”” As a Black female I can understand Black people being uptight about being joked about and I agree that sometimes it is stupid to be soo uptight. But with a ‘Black’ president in office, it’s a good thing because it’s finally like ‘we are’ and can be just as good as other races that are seen as better than us. So when you come at Obama in these Black people take offense because it takes us down and puts us back into the position as the bottom people. Not saying that having a ‘Black’ president changes everything, it just proves to everyone that we can do anything as well. I think this serves as something that can open up the conversation of race & the interaction between races. I was not pissed by the chimp cartoon but I was taken aback because I know for a fact that that chimp represented Obama, and to have two white people shown shooting, it felt subliminal, like they wanted to kill Obama, almost like an assassination like when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. Black people were upset at the fact that that is what it seemed like. I don’t see how the cartoon made any sense if the chimp wasn’t Obama. How small of the artist to deny it, I believe that if you have the heart to publish it, then you should be proud & honest about the meaning. I found the Obama Fried chicken restaurant really funny. I think we all need to accept the fact that things are changing, our world is changing daily. People are becoming more and more accepting of different things, and more and more will we continue to move into a place where there are no standard or conformity. Starting now we need to be able to be come to anyone no matter their race or social class, and view them as an equal, we should not be in this place where we will not approach someone because they are white and look like they are rich, we have to come to a place where we can get past this. In the end we all have many things that we have in common, starting with the fact that we are human. “Can’t we all just get along,” I’m not saying that we will live in a perfect world, but we have to get past this. In the end hating is stupid just work it out, rather than hide the differences under the rug.
In the society we live in people use humor as a way to ignore the problems they have in their own lives, and usually people use humor if they are ignorant. When a person becomes President they need to understand that they might be made fun of if they are in the public light. I think the stereotypes of African-Americans are getting old, I do not think the jokes are funny and should not be used. I think because President Obama is the first African-American president he is more accessible to jokes. However, some of these jokes like the food stamps, or the chimp being shot by the white policeman go to far. These jokes offend people and are disrespectful towards African-Americans. I do not think these jokes are okay to say in society and are highly offensive. I understand that there are certain stereotypes about different ethnicity groups. For example, African Americans enjoying fried chicken has always been a known thing. As a Jewish girl, I grew up eating lox and bagels every Sunday and that is usually a well-known stereotype for Jewish people. As for Italians, they have always eat pizza which is also a well known stereotype. So the question must be asked do these stereotypes offend everyone or have they just become a way of life? I think stereotype are fine if they do not cross a line. The line needs to be known and the jokes and stereotypes need to be as funny to the person giving it to the person receiving it. I think the media adds a lot to this behavior because they have given so much attention to the fact that President Obama is African American. Usually the President of the United States is made fun of regardless, but because President Obama is African American he is more vulnerable in the public spotlight. I think people just need to grow up, as I have said in previous blogs America is a country built on diversity and yet people are still ignorant to differences. People do not like people different of their own kind, and as a result they choose to make fun of these people. This is the result of the jokes about President Obama. People in this country have never been exposed to an African American president so instead of accepting it, and learning from someone else they choose to make fun of him, but as a result African Americans in general are being made fun of as well. I am not sure if people in this country will ever be accept differences but in the meantime I think they are going to use jokes as a way to mock the differences.
I feel that people nowadays are too easily offended. They take things to personally, when there really meant to give you a little chuckle. It is hard to decide whether a joke is too racy. It was a joke I heard one time that I feel is very true, what does everyone do before you tell a black joke? They look left and right. It isn’t a funny joke, but it holds very true to reality. When people tell jokes they look around to see if anyone of that race is near them. If they are in the clear, then they are miraculously allowed to tell the joke: it is socially accepted. I am not a racist, but once in a while I find myself in the spot that I am telling a stereotypical race joke. So is that racist? Is okay that I sometimes laugh at racist jokes? Am I a bad person? Yeah, yeah, yeah we live in a smart world, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t have racist views. And I personally do not think that if someone tells a racist joke then they are racist.
One thing I’m very confused on is why it is socially acceptable for people of a certain race to make fun of their own race. I kind of understand it but it’s weird to think about. We talked about this in my section once how it would be so strange for a white guy to walk in a room full of black guys and says, “What’s up niggas?” People would be in aw, and a fight might break loose. However, if we were to turn this situation around and a black guy walked in a room full of white people and said, “What’s up crackers?” I think the majority of white guys would laugh, because it’s a term that most old colored people use, and is outdated.
The last thing I want to comment on is lingo. Sam is right; I don’t understand this swagger thing. My roommate, who is white, was in the commons and she got her food to go. As she was putting her frozen yogurt in her drinking cup, a black man turned to her and said, “Girl I like your swagger.” I was led to believe it meant style or ways. I guess I am wrong. Is swagger like the new “jaun.” Jaun was a phrase coined by colored people and was used in many different types of ways. Why can’t white people use these phrases, is it because it is part of their culture? Maybe we, whites, should create some phrases.
In conclusion, I feel that it is okay to say some racy jokes once in awhile as long as you don’t offend anyone or truly believe in the stereotypes that you are making known.
I think these pictures and comments are funny. Look everyone can not take life 100 percent seriously all the time, people need jokes and to look at things more lightly. I do not think anything that Obama is doing is based on these thoughts or what other people are saying about his race. I feel that Obama is making choices based on his policy and what the people around him are telling him is best for the United States. I was in DC, when Obama was being sworn in and believe me, people of all races esp. people of color were loving Obama. The love the were having for him was not because he was putting money in their pockets as being the first black person ever elected president of the United States. No, he was not giving them a check, Obama gave people to chance to slap his image on a tee shirt and sell it, or put together a calender and have white people and people of color fork over ten bucks for it. I was standing in line to get a beer, pretty funny they sell beer for the president to get sworn in on the lawn, and the two black guys in front of me had a suitcase you pull, they were selling pictures of Obama and other black people who make history in a calendar. I had started to talk to the guy asking him where he was from and such and he told me from Florida, he said he drove up for the weekend for the event with a friend. I asked him how many he had left to sell and he told me " I wish I had more", he went on to tell me he and his friend had sold over 850 calendars, and that they came to DC with 1000 of them. This guy and his friend made $100.000 cash, in one weekends of work just walking around and having people come up to him and buy this calendar that he made on his own computer back home, it was nothing special. He told me he loved Obama and that his "stimulus plan" was the best thing in the world. At this time Obama did not have a plan put in place the black man selling the calendars was simply showing love for Obama because he was able to profit and make money, a lot of money off the event. I feel a lot of people tried and did very, very well making money off this but it will slow and come to a stop in the months to come. I feel like I missed the ball to make over 100,000$ cash, surly he is not going to pay tax on all of it, if any. I feel people use the image in a good way to help themselves out, no matter how much it costs someone else, and in this case it is Obama.I feel Obama will do a good job and people will still always make money off his image because its hip and sexy for right now, but over the long run it will take what he really does in office to show if people can really benefit from him still.
The line between funny and offensive can either be a fine one or a rather expansive one. Remember when Bush was President? I think my most memorable satire of him has to be some of the cartoons drawn of him in newspapers. In many of the cartoons of him he is a monkey looking man. I guess this was to make fun of how sometimes stupid and silly he sounded. I remember the SNL skits of Bush as well. Hilarious. Seriously anytime I saw President Bush give a speech I couldn’t take him seriously; I thought of Will Ferrell doing his impersonation of George W. The point is when your famous and put yourself out there for the world to embrace you have to expect the jokes and the satire, especially those that are in the political circle. The thing is I never remember hearing much about these Bush cartoons or any other degrading satire as being offensive to the President. Now I’m sure he didn’t like the fact that he was portrayed as a monkey and that Will Ferrell did an excellent impersonation of him. However, now it seems as if our political cartoonists have to watch themselves when creating political satire about Obama. I feel like there is a fear out there that because of Obamas race, if a cartoonist makes something even remotely edgy, that they could get in big trouble. My next thought is why race has to be such a big deal. Of course I know this is a loaded question. Sometimes it gets frustrating to talk about race and all the controversy that surrounds it.
I’d like to reference the cartoon that was posted with the article, “Cartoonists Tread lightly when drawing Obama.” The cartoon depicts two police officers that shot a chimpanzee and they are saying, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” This cartoon was criticized because many thought the chimpanzee was in reference to Obama however, the cartoonist said it referred to the chimp that mauled its owner. I’m not sure I believe this cartoonist. Perhaps I just don’t understand fully the cartoon or the satire behind it… whatever. If in fact this cartoon does reference Obama (which I kind of think it does) I would find this cartoon offensive. The reason why is because why would they depict Obama as a chimp? Again, perhaps I just don’t get it but it just doesn’t make sense to me. I mean I get the whole stereotypical reference between monkeys and black people (because this is a common stereotype of black people in cartoons or other satirical things). But like I said, I really don’t believe the cartoonist here.
For one thing, I really do not think that we are a world of smart people. Educated individuals are definitely a minority, I know that is not your point, but I am just saying. Today's popular comedians tend to take it all the way and focus on border line material. The reason for this, is that border line material sells. Racial and sexual material is the kind of content that appeals to adults. The main focus of many performers' gigs is the shock value. They say what everyone else is afraid to say. For example, many of these comedians would not be funny if they did not swear or use shockingly racial or sexist comments. It is the, "wow did he just say that?" kind of thing that makes them funny.
As for the people that find this material offensive, I feel they need to loosen up a little bit. However, I realize that some of the material does cross the line. Whatever, it is going to happen, just look at it as entertainment. Much of the content is not meant to be taken seriously. How often should we be taking the media seriously? As the author of this article says, "These people take themselves too seriously." They just need to loosen up a bit and be open minded towards the media. I personally think comedians like Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and that Frankie guy are pretty damn funny. Some of their content is border line; however, some of the content speaks the truth. Some of the stuff we saw in class from Chris Rock left me saying, "Damn he is right." There are very few people who would stand up there and say these kinds of thing. I think that some kinds of racial comedy can be good for our society. It may spark conversation that otherwise we would never talk about. It brings race to the table and makes us think about racial problems that we would otherwise never think about. When I say "kinds" I mean appropriate stuff. I'm not talking about the degrading type of comedy.
The other day I was home watching some stand-up with my parents. They were saying that the stuff we see on television today, would give people heartattacks if they saw it back in the day. They said that they were not even allowed to show two people sleeping in the same bed. I thought this was very interesting to see how much our society is changing. I think we are becoming more open to certain things.
As for the examples posted in the article, I think most of it is just innocent racial comedy, playing into racial stereotypes that we are all aware of. So black people play basketball most likely of economic inequalities, but I do not understand where the watermelon and fried chicken came from. I just think that white people are picking out the differences of another culture.
Some of the Barack jokes were funny, but some were just lame. I don’t find black fried chicken and watermelon jokes funny anymore. I think it’s a played out stereotype. However I do recall how funny it was when Dave Chappelle commented on black people’s ability to make lemonade from lemons as they took pig’s feet and called them chitlins. I guess the more I think about Barack Obama being the first black president, I think more and more about Chappelle’s Show.
On the show, Dave used two images of black presidents. His first black pres rendition was a satire of Morgan Freeman’s black president character in the movie Deep Impact. In the skit, Chappelle accepts the doomed fate of the world and starts revealing all of the government secrets like the cure for AIDS, how cloning is possible, who shot JFK, and the fact that alien’s exist and are friends of the government. The character was poised and collected just like Barak Obama, well to me at least. The second and most stereotypical portrayal of a black president could be viewed as a lot more offensive. The skit had Chappelle dawning the sit in the Oval Office but acting black. He was yelling constantly, brought a posse with him, and was simply just “acting a fool,” and yes, I know I most assuredly used that phrase wrong. I loved this skit. It was fun to imagine if that would happen, and how much more fun politics would be.
So going with Chappelle’s light-hearted approach to a black presidency, I want to paint a picture of comedic imagery to go along with the five listed. Imagine Barack Obama, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell all hanging out in a small nook-like section off to the side of the White House. Surrounding them would be more black people in suits representing more black United States politicians and what not. Some people are smoking cigars and clouds of smoke are filling the dank, stagnant air. In each person’s hand is a wad of fives, tens, and twenties as Barack is rolling the dice. He’s jive talking as Powell and others and doubling down their cash and the game just keeps going along. Obama is on a ridiculous hot streak and has his wife blowing on the dice as his good luck the entire game. It would be hilarious to watch Obama shooting dice and taking more and more money from the others. I guess those out there who wish to Obama-bask can change this image to a political cartoon with racial accents and have the money he’s winning coming from the public for his stimulus package, but I just see it as good-ole fashioned Chappelle style humor fun. The only thing that might make this image better is if Ashy Larry showed up or Obama stated how he wanted to go to Mars. RED ROCKS.
In response to “What's Funny About Obama...And What's Not.” I really don’t think that these jokes cross the line. They do use stereotypes but then again so does every comedian who uses race in his or her comedy show. These jokes don’t use bad stereotypes either. It’s not like the jokes are insinuating something ridiculous like all black people are stupid or something. The jokes are pointed at a love of chicken, basketball, and music. What is inherently wrong with any of these things? Even if every single black person on this planet loved all of these things (obviously not the case) what would be so bad about it? Maybe the food stamp one is potentially crossing the line, but that is the only one that even comes across remotely offensive. The last joke seems to have more to do with attacking Obama’s personality and his personal swagger rather than that of all black people. Every President of the United States gets satirized by the media. It part of the job in a sense. Not everyone is going to approve of everything the president. Fortunately I think Obama has thick enough skin to handle himself.
I think when it comes to jokes in general people get offended way too easy. Many people are quick to make a joke or comment about other people but go nuts and get offended when someone says something about them. People need to stop taking themselves so seriously. What ever happened to thick skin? It definitely hurts the race conversation when everyone is afraid of offending another person. If people simply didn’t get offended so much then people could finally start talking real instead of just saying things that they think they’re supposed to say so that they do not offend people. I think that as a society we have let political correctness take over. Everything needs to be politically correct otherwise the media will lash out at someone or the people around them will. Now obviously there are some things that just shouldn’t be said but I think that’s just common sense. If someone’s speech is derogatory or meant to attack someone than it reflects way more on that person than on whoever they are addressing. It comes down to a person’s intent. If a person’s intent is to offend someone then they are probably just douche bags and should be ignored. Getting offended by them is exactly what they want. On the other hand if someone’s intent is to voice their opinion then instead of getting offended, people should explain themselves and voice their opinion right back. Then each person will know where the other is coming from regardless of whether or not they agree. It’s not practical to think that everyone is going to agree on everything, but we should at least be able to exchange ideas civilly.
I found this article making fun of Obama to be a little comical, I mean it did not make me roll on the floor with laughter, but it elicited a quick smirk. I agree that anyone who would take offense to those jokes is probably taking themselves far too seriously. Half of these jokes do not even have to do with racism. Trying to stretch the iPod joke out to make it having to do with race is a little far-fetched and the last joke definitely has absolutely nothing to do with race, it is making fun of his God-complex, which I was not even aware existed until reading the blog. The fried chicken and basketball jokes I could see having to do with race, but neither were really very edgy or tasteless in my opinion. Obama did say he was going to put a basketball court in the White House, so the man likes basketball. If he were white and doing that you could still make a racist joke about how the new white president thinks he’s black. As for the third joke about the stimulus package food coupon, I am not sure I even see the humor in that, let alone whether it is racist or not. Quite honestly I find the commentary underneath the jokes to be more intriguing than the jokes themselves. If anyone is making racist jokes, it would have to be the commentator, extrapolating fairly non-humorous jokes into blatant racist remarks. I did not get the sense that the commentator meant ill-will by the remarks, however. Some of the commentary itself was indeed quite ridiculous. For example, “Since it seems to be well established that black people love music”…really, only black people like music? Since when and by what evidence has that been well established? “Swagger is a subtle thing that many people who are not black don't seem to get”…the only thing I have concluded this to be related to is that black people must all use Old Spice deodorant. The first part of this blog was just all in all silly and if they want to be taken more seriously I would suggest not including “LOL” in every paragraph.
The second part, which lead to the cartoonist article, was of a more serious and intelligent tone. Cartoonists must be under a great deal of pressure, with “racism” on everyone’s lips nowadays, especially if the cartoonist is white. I think people might be less offended by slightly racist cartoons, if the person doing the exaggeration or mocking is black himself. I feel like then it would be seen as just a person making fun of his own culture, whereas if it is a white person there tends to be a racist twist on the matter. I think for the benefit of the cartoonist industry and for the sanity of humanity in general, everyone needs to take things a little seriously, a little less to heart, and find the humor in life.
What’s funny and not funny about President Obama
I think the image of a black president from time to time often gets distorted. First there was the image of the black superhero that was portrayed about President Obama. Then, from that escalated into just about anything that people thought raised money for the cause, or apparel and items that people could profit from by putting Obama’s face on it. But I think that it’s a little disrespectful and demeaning for people to take the image of someone of a high ranking position of power and image them with a basketball in hand, or something of that nature. With that said, I don’t agree with the way President Obama is often portrayed to the public.
Yeah, the reality of it all is that it is all done in fun and games and making President Obama the face of black welfare in the U.S. now that he is president seems to be amusing to some. Yet, I think that the mass majority of citizens, voters, etc. don’t see the image for what it stands for. Therefore, there may be all kinds of thoughts and ideas that are misconstrued in the process.
Like, the fact that Obama serves as a type of Nelson Mandela figure, or that he engages in common things like he association between people of color and basketball, or rather, people of color and music. And just because Obama openly expresses what he does in his spare time, does that give just anyone the right to exploit that? Do we see Bush’s face in iPod campaigns or holding golf clubs, etc.
I just think that everyone pretty much makes Obama’s presidency into something that it is not, and separates him from the traditional way of thinking by making him look like this image of radicalization. This does not go to say that in some cases, one can have fun with the idea of having a president that is more down to earth, but it’s the way In which we present these things to the general public that we have to look out for.
One prime example, is the Obama is my homeboy t-shirt. To be honest, I am not opposed to representations like this at all, but if it were to be that Obama had a t-shirt on in the picture with a fitted cap and baggy jeans, that would not be the case.
In those circumstances, I think that people more so have to understand that it is not the funny aspect that is demeaning, but rather, the negative connotations associated with a man of color being portrayed as such.
Therefore to all my citizens of American culture, I will say this…don’t put Obama’s face on anything you would put your own face on.
In response to the jokes posted…hilarious. It is always custom to make fun of the president, no matter who it is. We had eight years of Bush jokes (well deserved though), but now some feel that the jokes are over the line because some involve his race. I was very curious after the election to see if the comical world would take some swings at Obama and so far they have. They haven’t made fun of him nearly enough as they did Bush but Obama is actually intelligent. It can be hard to make fun of someone with so much integrity like Obama. But when it comes down to it the position of power has many responsibilities. Aside from politics and governing, he also has to deal with the jokes attacking him. Hopefully he takes them all in good humor for his own sake. It was a little odd for the president to give the queen an ipod as a gift. Maybe he didn’t want to give something so formal for the occasion. Ipods are “American’ so to speak so maybe it was giving her a piece of our culture. The Obama fried chicken store is priceless. But it was probably there long before Obama was a known name. Making fun of Obama for being black would be similar to making fun of Bush for being from Texas. In my opinion, racial jokes (in good taste) are good for conversation. It breaks the awkward barrier that can sometimes exist. People need to be able to laugh at themselves if they laugh at others. Hopefully not too many black people got offended by any of these. If anyone did, I would tell them to think about that next time they appreciate a white stereotype joke. If someone enjoys that, then they should let some of the other jokes slide. As the saying goes, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.
When it comes to these Obama jokes, I simply found them to be funny and not offensive. Yes they were stereotypical, but like many of the other posters on this blog, I am white so I may not fully understand the offense. I tried to put myself in the situation of those who are offended by these Obama jokes, but it’s hard to do that. Every president in the past has been white, and constantly been poked fun at. If for instance a president was being made fun of for being white or doing stereotypical ‘white’ things, I personally would not be offended. I probably would still laugh at these jokes. At the end of the day, jokes are jokes, they’re meant to be funny, sometimes at the expense of others. Sure some jokes can be taken too far, but I do not think these Obama jokes have crossed any lines. It’s my opinion that those who do take these jokes seriously and are offended by them do need to lighten up.
I do think it is kind of funny how late night TV and newspaper comics don’t really have much to say about Obama. Before this blog, I didn’t even realize that the reason for this might be because they were afraid of offending any African Americans. I had just assumed that the reason was because Obama is generally a good guy. There are no real reasons to poke fun of him… at least not yet. Going from George W. Bush to Obama has definitely been a much noticed change in these regards. Bush was constantly poked fun at, while you almost never see any jokes about Obama. After reading that article linked in the blog, I can see why people would be afraid to offend anybody by their jokes or drawings. If I was a cartoonist for a big newspaper chain or a writer for a late night talk show, I would definitely be afraid of creating something that people would find too offensive. This could lead to even being fired to creating such uproar. Then again, if we want everyone to be politically correct, we shouldn’t be treating Obama any different than any other president. No one was ever afraid of holding back against any other president, so people shouldn’t be afraid to now.
When it comes to jokes like this, there’s always going to be a fine line between funny and offensive. It’s pretty much up to the individual however just how close these lines are. People overall just need to lighten up and realize it’s only humor. If you are comfortable enough with your own race, you should be able to laugh off silly jokes like these Obama jokes and realize that they truly are not that offensive.
The whole issue on race and racism in comedy is an interesting one. At one time I found it very difficult to know if it was appropriate to laugh at certain things and what I should and should not laugh at. I am at the point now where I feel fine laughing at nearly anything. At times though I only feel appropriate laughing as long as white people are being made fun of to the same degree as people of other race.
The clips that Sam shows in class are always amusing and I have not yet found any to be offensive. I often wonder how others feel about this though. From the laughter heard throughout the class though, it appears as though many people feel the same about the humor.
I did not find the jokes to be particularly risky or near as offensive of some other the other things I have seen and read. I did not find the jokes to be amusing though either. The article on the cartoons was interesting. I did not think they would be something that would receive much heat, especially a protest against a picture. I always assumed they were meant to be in poor taste and as close to crossing the line, if not taking that step across, and something that I didn’t think people would get too worked up over. I cannot say that I am surprised to hear how sensitive people are being though. I think that things are being taken a bit too far. The cartoons are all the same- they make stabs at the touchy places and people need to relax and not take it so personally (as Sam mentioned in the blog) People need to learn to laugh things off and especially to laugh at themselves.
I understand that the race conversation is an especially touchy subject, but the fact that people in the field of humor feel the need to tip toe around the situation seems a little silly. We need to all be adults here and lighten up. Not everyone is out to offend someone else or make a jab at another person.
I think humor is an important and interesting part of our culture and I enjoy seeing what some people find humorous and what others do not. We are all so different and our tastes vary so much, so it makes sense that people feel differently about different forms of humor but I find it slightly ridiculous that people get so worked up over things. especially when the comment is not made to be offensive which I feel is often the case of entertainers- they don’t want to piss people off- they wouldn’t be nearly as successful in their work.
I have to say that I am really glad that Sam chose this topic for discussion because I think that it is something that every single person has dealt with in their life. I am willing to bet that every single person has at least once in their life either heard or told a racial joke. Racial jokes are everywhere, even if you’re not telling them and just listening to people tell them on occasion. And there’s always that awkward moment when a racial joke is told that you’re like, “Ok is it cool for me to laugh at this?” or you’re thinking to yourself, “Let me look around real quick, is there anyone in this group who would get offended by this or think that I am racist if I find this funny?” So you’re definitely treading lightly and trying to get a quick feel for the present company and decency of the joke as its being told; and, I think it’s important to note that this is mostly an issue with white people. So, unless you are with a group of your all white friends, or with a friend of color who you personally know to have a good sense of humor and knows that you are not racist, being a part of a racial joke exchange can be pretty awkward and risky.
For instance, I consider myself to have a good sense of humor and open, outgoing personality. But when people say racist jokes, I can get a little uncomfortable. It’s not that I think every single person who tells a joke pertaining to race is a racist, or that I’m afraid of getting dubbed as a racist. I guess it’s just that I’m unsure about what’s ok to say and what is crossing the line. Generally in the past I felt I knew what you could say about race and what you could not say, but lately it has seemed hazy. With all of the discussion in class about what white people should know not to say and what is offensive, I’ve become confused. I get really irritated when I hear comments like, “Well you should just know not to ask me about my hair.” All white people do not own manuals that tell us exactly what is ok to say to a person of color and what will get you in trouble. Let’s get real here.
I guess there is no real solution to knowing what is appropriate or not, other than to just use your best judgment, and try to get to know people of color in order to broaden your horizons. The editorial cartoonist, Scott Stantis, said it perfectly,” I'm more than willing to accept that I don't know what may or may not be offensive.” So if white people, and people of color meet half way, caricatures and racial jokes like the ones about Obama, may not be so offensive. And I agree, LMFAO!
I don’t think it’s even a question that these things are funny and shouldn’t be scrutinized. Obama seems like a guy who can take a joke. If he couldn’t he wouldn’t be in the white house. Humor about public figures is always a big market for comedy. The more famous, the easier it is to crack a joke and the more laughs you’ll receive. Everyone in America knows who Obama is, so most of these presidential jokes are one’s everyone can understand, but might not draw laughs from everyone. Shows on Comedy Central like “Little Bush” and “That’s My Bush” drew in viewers solely on White House Humor. Two of the network’s biggest shows are “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” both use satire about public figures and political news to get laughs. The basketball joke is hilarious, I’ve seen pictures of Obama playing basketball and I feel like he wanted everyone to see them. In my eyes, it was a campaign move to draw attention of those people in the slums and prove that he was in fact, black. The stimulus coupon is a lame joke. The bill is about saving the economy, so it is said, not help poor people get food. I don’t even find it remotely funny and I’m sure if a Poly-Sci major explained it to me, I would find it less funny. Obama fried chicken is funny, cause it’s real. I think it’s a good business move. A person from out of town is going to go to Obama Chicken before they go to Paco’s Chicken. As for the Obama iPod ad, I didn’t know he gave and iPod to the queen. I guess it would have been funny if I knew, but I just think it’s cool that he did it. That whole royalty thing over in England is just crazy that it’s still alive. History shows that there are much better forms of government, eventually they have to just let it go. Obama in heaven is very funny. Just the way Obama condones himself makes this joke funny. We all know Obama is a confident man, so why take offense to this joke? If I were him I would take it as a compliment. If Obama was as unconfident as Bush behind the podium people would be second guessing their vote. A confident leader is something the United States could really use right now. I don’t know what else to say about, political humor is and always will be funny and will never be outlawed. If you don’t like it, lighten up or just keep your television stuck on CNN. I loved watching those comedians crack jokes in class the other day and I hope we do it again.
This is a really intriguing article that I think really makes a good point about the situation now facing much of America’s media concerning satirists and cartoonists in regards to the new president. How far is too far and is that something we need to consider are perpetual questions with multiple answers that will probably never have definitive answers. Now that Obama has taken office and is the first “black” man ever to do so the typical jokes that always arise surrounding a president have somewhat been censored. As the article points out, the typical exaggerations that are drawn to accentuate a person’s facial qualities aren’t as prominate on this president as they have been in the past. And when cartoons are drawn (such as the monkey being shot because of the stimulus bill) it is criticized and accused of likening Obama to a chimpanzee. What’s annoying about this is that nothing was ever said when people would over criticize Bush, Clinton or even Hillary…it seems that yet again race is taking its toll to separate the way that, now, we even make fun of people. The jokes posted by Sam I don’t think go above and beyond the line of what is appropriate. Obama playing basketball, Obama with itunes or even Obama fried chicken; it may be sticking to stereotypes but what’s wrong with that. What really is interesting to me, however, is the joke concerning Obama being God. The comic puts McCain and Hillary Clinton to the left and right of God and Obama proceeds to ask God to get up from his chair. I’m a catholic, and while I don’t find this offensive I could see how some other people may . Comparing anyone to literally being God can take things to a whole other level . Obama is being portrayed as the savior our economy is looking for and has been put on a high horse since day one that he will do just that. I think it’s possible but whether or not he delivers is going to be very interesting to observe. With the value of the dollar being so low throughout the world, over five million jobs being lost, the unemployment rate at 8.5% and forecasts saying that the next great depression is upon us, it almost seems like it is going to take an act of God to dig our country out of this mess we are facing. Obama has the confidence and ideas to do it, but this may be an event in history that is inevitable. We have such a cyclical economy, with expansions and contractions that drops in the economy always seem to happen. Something this detrimental is very scarce, however, and hopefully the American people did the right thing in voting an out of character president like Obama to bring about the change that is needed to make sure this never happens again.
I think that the next four to eight years will test the level of racial tolerance and political correctness as pertains to President Obama. Being the president, he is obviously fair game and how people will handle the humor, satire and caricature will be one to watch. For instance a while back there was a New York Post Cover picture that apparently likened Obama to chimpanzee. This action certainly was very controversial and the response to it was heated. Many people certainly took offense to it and I think that that event is likely to repeat itself over Obama’s presidency.
Now back to Sam’s article, a lot of the imagery certainly fed on the racial stereotypes about African Americans, especially with the basketball, fried chicken, and to a lesser extent the food coupon. Granted that some of these stereotypes may reflect some level of reality (that is how stereotypes are formed in the first place), it still bothers me that any distasteful humor about Obama is going to reflect a wider negative stereotype about African Americans. Previous Presidents as far as I know, did not have any negative stereotypes that pertained to their race or ethnicity as well as the wider groups of people that shared the same race and ethnicity. It just reflected their personal screw-up’s.
Anyway, I still believe that every society needs humor even if it is a tad bit offensive but I still think it is healthy for a society to be able to subtly make fun of a segment of its population and at the end of the day still be able to eat, drink and sleep with each other. That would show maturity. In any case perhaps a dampening of humor towards the presidency is in my opinion refreshing. This is because the presidency of the United States as an institution is good fodder for vile and crude jokes, insults, humor, etc. With Obama’s skin color potentially limiting the veracity of attacks, this might in some small way restore some sense of dignity and respect to the presidency.
I’ll say what I say every week: people make too big a deal out of race, in my opinion. Jesse Washington was right, I think, when he said that people aren’t too good at being made fun of, and they need to lighten up a bit. He was speaking specifically about black people but I think it could apply to all people. Most people, especially groups of people (races or cultures or religions, etc.) take themselves a bit too seriously. I would agree that people in general need to lighten up and learn how to make fun of themselves. That being said, I suppose the political arena is not necessarily the time, nor is it really the place, for constant jokes. There’s not really a lot to say here. Political cartoons, and satires and caricatures in general, are supposed to be edgy and offensive. That’s the point of making fun of something and/or someone. It’s too bad that history and what people have done in the past get in the way of people being humorous: for example, drawing black people as monkeys. If a hundred years ago people hadn’t thought of black people as a lesser species, it wouldn’t be so un-politically correct to draw then as an un-human animal. If comparing them to chimps hadn’t been such a racial slur back in the day, it wouldn’t such an unacceptable thing now.
I can only think of comedians like Bo Burnham, the child YouTube star, or people on Comedy Central, especially the minority ones. I think of shows like Family Guy and South Park, which I tend to watch pretty frequently. These satirists make fun of everybody, no holds barred. They make fun of everyone equally, and no one is safe, so no one can really get too offended when someone or something that they are affiliated with gets made fun of. Why isn’t anyone mad at them? I mean, I’m sure some people are, but there’s no outrage, no huge cry against these shows and people. Family Guy makes fun of everything and everyone from disabled people, every race, specific celebrities, all religions, women, from animals to mentally handicapped people and back again. They make fun of God and Tom Cruise and old men and TV shows and books and movies and music. South Park is the same way, and stand up comedians cover every race, including their own. Bo Burnham makes fun of black people, homosexuals, and Helen Keller; you don’t see anyone going after him.
I guess what I’m saying is that people need to simmer down and let others do their jobs. Kind of. Is this one of those instances where black people need to just “let it go”? I can’t decide. I just think it’s kind of sad that it seems like these cartoonists can’t do their jobs because of people getting bent out of shape.
When it comes to racial jokes, especially those concerning our new president, the best plan of action is to keep it cool. Every individual on this lovely planet has their OWN personal opinion of everything in front of them. Let’s not take a trip to the E.R. with a heart attack scare over every little joke thrown out there. If a certain joke is offensive to a person, well what the hell else is new? Just as everyone comes with their own opinion, everyone also comes with their hurt feelings.
It’s hysterical to listen to every little social catastrophe that concerns President’s. Personally, I enjoyed the offensive blows at Bush, for I thought him to be a bumbling fool. In the case of Obama, I feel it is better to laugh at the tamer racial pokes he gets, for the creator of such jokes intended to either amuse or offend. How can we survive in this world if everything is too much to handle? There will always be someone to push the limits and more often, there will be those who blatantly cross the limits.
If Chris Rock and Eminem can make fun of everything under the sun, why can’t we sit back and laugh? (with them or at them) Wouldn’t it be nice to be Dave Chappelle? He is so ahead of most of us, in terms of racial identity, that it’s easy to be jealous of him. Chappelle’s show is one of my absolute favorite shows and in its entirety, it discusses race. Humorously. Chappelle is comfortable laughing at things many other people are either too scared to laugh at or not at the stage necessary to see the humor in such things. Everyone ought to aspire to be in Dave Chappelle’s mindset.
Personally, I feel it is ok for each and every one of us: white, black, brown, or yellow to laugh at a joke, race-related or not. If you go to see a comedian perform and you’re a white man, are you only allowed to laugh at the jokes “for white people”? Should the asian man only laugh at the jokes directed toward “his people”? It is 2009 and I see no problem with everyone joining in and having a little laugh. If we can’t laugh at a joke, how far have we really come?
When it comes to the four pictures posted I myself do not find them offensive at all. When it comes to people joking about race issues they can be positive or negative. When it comes to being offensive to a certain group, I would say that it’s a double standard. For example, when it comes to jokes that are presented by a person who is not white it is more accepted than if the person was white. But regardless of who says the joke they are going to offend someone anyway. Even I find me saying that he/she over did it on that joke myself sometimes.
When it comes to the pictures I would say they are not meant to be offensive but are there for marketing reasons. The picture with President Obama with a basketball and the food stamp doesn’t seem like a marketing ad to in my opinion, honestly I think they’re relevant to my point. But ever since President Obama was elected there has been so much merchandise with his picture or name on it. I would say that he is the first president in history to have so much marketing and he has nothing to do with it. Ever since he was running people were selling Obama merchandise. But when he was elected I saw even more Obama merchandise than ever. When I went home to New York for spring break I saw almost everything to Obama clothing down to food products with his face on it. So I wouldn’t say the I-pod ad and the Obama chicken restaurant isn’t offensive but exploited his name and face to make more money. If that I-pod ad is really from Apple, I would say that they are just trying to sell more products to his supporters.
I did find the political cartoon that was released in the New York Post on Wednesday to be real offensive though. I blame the editorial staff for allowing that cartoon to be published in the paper. Are they that naïve to where they don’t think that a picture of police shooting a monkey won’t be highly offensive to African-Americans? Now that is something that would really be considered racist. Those are the type of “jokes” that would highly offend a group of people. Regardless of who the chimpanzee represents it is not just making fun of Obama but making fun of a group of people as a whole. To some extent I would disagree to Sam’s statement about not taking people who are easily offended seriously because certain subjects are very touchy to some people. Just because certain things don’t offend a group of people doesn’t mean that it won’t offend another. I also agree with the statement but every person handles every issue differently.
After reading the article about “What’s Funny about Obama”, I have to say that I am somewhat confused as to who is supposed to be offended here? Obama supporters? Black people? Both? I’m not black, but I am an Obama supporter and I don’t quite find any of those “jokes” offensive. I guess maybe if I were black also I might find them more offensive? But I am not too sure. President Obama is definitely treated as more of a celebrity or a rock star versus just a normal president, but I do not really see anything wrong with that. He’s a younger president, he’s much more multi-faceted. We see many more dimensions of Obama than we ever saw with any of the Presidents before him. Part of it is our day and age I believe and our media. He also puts himself out there; he’s very accessible, which is not a bad thing at all. He has already written two books about himself so we knew so much about him before he was even elected into office. The fact that he is so young is what makes him so relatable to everyone. I actually thought the last joke about Obama being God was pretty funny. I might be someone who doesn’t take things too seriously though. The one about him playing basketball just shows that he likes to play basketball? White people play basketball too. I didn’t find that one too offensive either. I can see the Obama chicken joke being a little bit offensive to black people just because it is a huge stereotype for black people and most find it offensive. Also, with the cartoon drawings, I can see black people getting offended when cartoonists draw Obama with black lips because that is also a stereotype for black people. I don’t think its right for cartoonist to exaggerate ethnic differences such as that because it’s almost like they are trying to make them uglier. The iPod picture was humorous to me only because I did find it quite funny that he gave the Queen, who just so happens to be old enough to be Obama’s mother, an iPod. It just reiterates the generation gap that much more. Also, if Obama did actually put some of his speeches on the iPod, that just shows that yes he is a very confident man. Better than being insecure! And finally, as for the face of Obama on the food coupon, I don’t see why it’s any different than other Presidents having their faces on dollar bills. I think we have made Obama so popular, not himself. We pay him a lot of attention and the media is constantly watching his every move. I would much rather have a President whom I knew a lot about and could relate to versus one whom I knew nothing of and could not relate at all.
I have to say that I find pretty much all of the things posted pretty funny. My personal favorite is the Obama Fried Chicken. Fried Chicken for black people, bagels for jews, gyros for Greeks… that was pretty hilarious in my humble opinion. Myself personally, I take absolutely no offense from any of these things, but that may be because I am a white male. I can imagine that some people of color may feel that these things are offensive to them, but I think they really should just cool off and try and see the images for what they are; humor. Race and racism is something that is often brought up for comedic value, and those people that can take something as terrible as racism and twist and turn it into something that can get a entire theater of people laughing are truly gifted. This kind of humor is something that has endless possibilities. Comedians that have acts that are very racially charged don’t need to spend forever trying to think of some made-up situation that just maybe a large amount of people will find funny, they can just take real life experiences and real things that happen to real people and take these things that may seem evil to many people and switch them into something that will cause people joy. It truly is amazing that many comedians’ whole act is based largely around what some people think is the most evil part of our country’s history; racism.
I think the people that are most likely to find things like this offensive would be people of color that are in the immersion stage of the racial scale. Their strong sense of their own people and cultural could cause people in this stage to see things like this as very offensive to them and their people. What they would not realize is that in many cases, these kind of humorous images are meant to just be funny and not to try and offend or hurt someone’s feelings. Also white people who are in the disintegration stage may feel slightly offended by these types of images because they feel that they should feel that way, not because they truly, deeply feel that these kinds of images are wrong. They would probably feel that since some people of color may take offense to it, that it is completely wrong for something like this to be seen. However, what both of these groups need to realize is that everyone of every kind of race is going to be made fun of all the time. There is always some stereotype or something that people will take and turn that into something that can be used for comedy. People of power are especially susceptible to things like this, so it cannot be a surprise to anyone that things like this are popping up all over the place… and they are hilarious.
First I will respond to the jokes posted and then the article.
I personally found all five of those hilarious. I especially like the basketball one and the God joke. I honestly had not seen or heard many jokes projected towards Barak Obama. That could be that maybe people don’t say them around me because I am brown, but I think it’s just because I haven’t been watching TV and on the internet all that much as of late. I have seen quite a few product exploitations of Obama since he took office. A lot like the chicken place that was posted. I have seen the Obama action figure and cheap knock-off toys. I have also seen “Obama snacks” with all kinds of names. I cannot recall any at the moment, but some of them are ridiculous, in a funny way. The channel Current calls things like this, “Barak-spoiltation.” It is quite clever but totally true. People trying to make a quick buck off of a public figure, nothing new, but still retarded.
I agree that if you got offended by any of those, you need to take a deep breath and let go of your seriousness for a second. Chill out and remember not to take things so damn seriously sometimes. I love it when people make fun of others and me in a playful way. I crack on my friends all the time and they don’t mind it. I prefer it to be me because I rarely ever say something maliciously.
Now onto the article: Firstly, I want to address that damned monkey cartoon. I got into quite the argument with a few people when that cartoon was first published. Why? When I first saw it I took it exactly how it was meant to be taken, as a joke. The cartoon is an obvious poke at the stimulus bill and the fact that, to many people, it seems like a monkey wrote it. It was a jab at the fact that some things in the bill are a little to off the wall to be taken seriously and leave you scratching your head as to why those clauses were put in there. That is a lead into the whole AIG bonus debacle that happened a few weeks ago. “A monkey writing the stimulus bill,” I think its genius. Especially because of the story where the monkey escaped and went wild then was shot by cops. It’s quite brilliant to tie the two into each other. It’s a cartoon, but people just cannot seem to understand simple humor. People always have to take things as an insult and out of context. There always has to be some ‘tard that has to stand up for someone else, even though that “stand up” is quite unnecessary and quite unwarranted. I just do not get people and why people have to take things so far out of context and try to always find a problem. There was no problem with that cartoon. If you watch the news and have a fourth grade understanding of economics, you could completely understand where the cartoonist was going.
It’s ridiculous that cartoonists have toe tip-toe around drawing Obama for fear of persecution. Obama is a public figure and the President of the United States. He is SUPPOSED to be made fun of. Public figures are going to be made fun, it comes with the territory and I personally enjoy it. I never see Obama getting angered or annoyed over these things, why the hell is everyone else getting antsy about it? I mean come on people, stop being such tight-asses and start opening your eyes. Stop trying to find fault where there is no fault. You cannot let old wounds heal if you keeping picking at the scab. I also want to address the White people here. Laugh at the damn joke! Stop being so damn uptight and stop feeling sorry for what “your people” have done. Live your life and have some fun!
Marlon Chopra
Facing an era where we have attained a black president, it is a definitive time to discuss the topic of censorship. In addition to talking about this in our class, it also was the topic of our discussion group last week. I agree with Sam in saying that the more people allow things to offend them, the worse it gets. In terms of something like a word, it is only as powerful as its perception. Therefore if people give it a negative perception, it is looked at is so. In our group, there were two black girls and one said she isn’t bothered by hearing the N word from another race while another said she cringes. I am not powerful or wise enough to say who is in the right here, or if there even is a right. However, I have to feel like if all African Americans just began to think of the word as a joke, it would become useless. Racists who used it to generate hate would no longer have any power of voice. I don’t think any censorship should be necessary. In this day and age we don’t need a change of what kind of words we used; we need a change in attitude. One of my fellow group members mentioned that if we lose the meaning of words like that we are risking running into a 1984 type society. I think that is a little ridiculous to assume that would actually happen. Yet, I would not completely rule it out and by saying that I mean I do understand the danger of losing the meaning of words. That is not quite what I am going for though, I don’t plan to lose any meaning, just change it. Where as a word like fag used to be just an angry slur put towards homosexuals, it is now used so loosely that it is not as influential to the gay community. This doesn’t mean it becomes okay to say, it just becomes not such a bad word that causes people to take serious offense. I guess what I am getting it as that the more we hear a word in a casual context, the more we are okay with it. We would not need to worry about what kind of cartoons there are in the paper or how racist a joke is if we could just stop being so serious. If everyone would laugh at eachother and not take things seriously, there could be no anger. For example, recently South Park made fun of Kanye West pretty badly and instead of taking offense to it, he laughed. He claimed they were pretty accurate, smart guys, and they were funny. More of this would lead to a happier place to live in.
I do not think that as a country we can decide on one specific point where someone crosses the line from being funny to being offensive. Different people can become offended a lot more easily than other people so it varies a lot from person to person. There are also the people who do not really get offended by much of anything because they are just so relaxed and chill. I also feel that it depends on where and who the words or pictures are coming from. Because whenever we hear a comedian making a joke about race or someone’s color or commenting on stereotypes of a certain race they usually make fun of their own race first. Comedians make racist comments and jokes in a way that people just laugh at whatever they are saying they do not actually think about what the comedian is actually saying and how it could actually be taken as offensive instead of as just a joke the way they meant it. I feel like there could never and will never be a line drawn between when something goes from being funny and just a joke to being offensive and hurtful to someone. I do think that some people take things way too seriously. With the amount racism and the multiple problems with race in our country people should be able to laugh more at themselves and their own race when someone says something to them as a joke. If someone is able to take a look at who they are and be comfortable enough in their own skin to make jokes about their own race then I feel like there would not be so much racism in the world. I feel like there is a lot more racism because everyone is so uncomfortable in their own skin that they are always defending themselves to people of other races. They cannot just take something someone says about them if it has to do with their race so they defend themselves and just try and make the other people of different races feel bad and like they are inferior or point out only their so called “flaws” just because it is something different than someone else’s race. If people actually took the time to realize that each race is different and special and unique in their own way then more people would be able to talk about race and be comfortable saying just about anything in front of someone of another race. We just need to take the time and not take offense to every little thing someone of a different race says about our own race. We need to learn to laugh at ourselves before we can be comfortable enough to talk about someone else’s race.
Those cartoons are, in a word, hilarious. They are also, everywhere. I have seen countless Obama jokes, merchandise, and memorabilia especially walking through D.C, where I am from. Vendors sell Obama hats, joke posters, Obama chains, just about Obama everything. These jokes, though obviously playing up racial stereotypes, are just poking fun. They should not be taken seriously as some people have chosen to. If people take these too seriously, there is not a lot we can do to help them. These people rare the close minded of our generations that refuse to move with the times and laugh a little at themselves and our country. I can absolutely picture Chappelle doing some of these jokes on his show. I can picture him having a pick up basketball with Obama, and Obama being the reigning champ and leaving everyone in the dust. Obama is usually portrayed with the ‘God-complex’ Sam talks about, but I feel that we ourselves have given him that, it is not just his swagger. Okay so yeah, he is a bit cocky and very confident in what he does, but he is so well- backed by loyal devotees that it may get to his ego. Some people may as well make it a religion. I have seen people that look like they have gone to those Obama vendors and ransacked them for all they had, because that is how much it looks like the worship our current President. But I digress, I am talking about Obama jokes. It is not too hard to believe that there are Obama restaurants but I do wish it was made up. People are milking this for all it’s worth! I do hope that the part about the other racial foods was not true though, even though that is hilarious. That is probably a restaurant that I would point and laugh at, then take a picture of, but never eat at.
For all of Barack Obama’s swagger, I did not know he was confident enough to give the queen of England, the woman who has everything, something she would not think to have, or dare even use. Will a woman of her age and prim manners rock out with an iPod? It was a smart move on Obama’s part, because I’m sure she already had enough of the redundant gifts that previous Presidents of the United States had brought her and was surprised and maybe pleased by the change and modern gift. It is something no one else would think to give her, and once some one hears about it, they can only attribute it to the audacity and swagger of our President.
There are people protesting political cartoons that do not mean to offend but to shed light on the opinions of a majority of people, and these poor political cartoonists are at their wits end. Maybe they should stick to playing up Obama’s large and prominent ears instead of racially offensive caricatures.
How many times are celebrities and/or public figures made fun of? This happens on a daily basis and comes with the territory. People are always going to make fun of Obama. He is an easy target and is the head of our country. Some of these portrayals of Obama are in bad taste and are embarassing toward the artist who drew them and created them, however, much of what is created to make fun of Obama, just like any other president is funny. Personally, I found the "The Gift of Music" and "Obama Fried Chicken" very funny. Whether that can be called distasteful is all in the mind of the beholder, but so far we have made fun of every other president and celebrity that has been around and it is not going to stop with Obama. You can turn on any comedic show and find a skit or a joke of any of our presidents. Saturday Night Live frequently portrays our presidents and other political figures as funny characters and plays to their stereotypes. George Bush can frequently be seen playing the cowboy figure and we can all laugh about it. Whether it's Will Farrell dressing as a cowboy to make fun of Bush or Tina Fey dressing as Sarah Palin, in the public's eyes it is ok to laugh and find that funny. But, when someone jokes of "Obama Fried Chicken" and "Basketball Obama," there is sudden and harsh scrutiny. Obviously, the race card is coming into play, but this is how comedians are making their money, and it is how they have made their money for years. I'm pretty sure Obama can take a joke and if he was to be offended I am sure he would be able to come out and say that, but he also knows when to pick his battles. If Obama was not up to the challenge of the presidency and the realities that come with it, then he would not have ran and sure as hell would not have won. People are going to continue to make fun of Obama and there are going to be continued shots at his color and stereotypes that come with being black, etc., but this is no reason for people to get upset. To popular public figures this has happened forever and it will continue long after Obama. Can you imagine the jokes when a woman becomes president? This should not have an affect on what people think of Obama and what this says as his ability to lead. What this does show us, however, is that anybody can be portrayed in a joke and these jokes should always be taken with a grain of salt. Just because he is a minority doesn't mean that he can't take a joke directed towards a stereotypes of him. To be honest, if he was not able to take this joke and laugh about it I would feel as though he was not the man I thought he was when i voted for him. The jokes people tell about you can say a lot about you and if you are willing to take these jokes and are able to throw one right back then that also says a lot. So far Obama has done pretty well.
Journal 10 - What's Funny About Obama...And What's Not.
What is interesting about the topic of this post is that it is so predictable. The jokes are predictable and the fact that we are discussing it is even more so. When Obama announced that he was running for President of the United States, the country rejoiced and celebrated the possibility of change. The comedians of the country on the other hand, hid under the table in fear. They had spent eight years of their lives ridiculing President Bush for being stupid and now they had no choice but to make fun of Obama for being black. You see, every President, not to mention everyone else in the spotlight, has their “thing.” Bill Clinton is a pervert, John McCain is old, Paris Hilton is a slut and the Octo-mom is crazy. Comedians lucked out with President Bush because he was as safe as they come—white, rich, and dumb. Barack Obama is something that the media had never really dealt with before: a black man with power, intelligence, and yes, a whole lotta’ swagger.
I think a lot of the problems with jokes about Obama stem from double standards. The late-night talk show hosts are all white and that is where a lot of the jokes start out before they make their rounds. A comedian by the name of Jackie Mason ran into some trouble a few weeks ago. As a seasoned performer, Mason has had years of experience getting up in front audiences who have all different backgrounds and opinions and points of view. At one particular show he used the word “shvatzah” in his routine when referring to Barack Obama. “Shvatzah” is a Yiddish term for a black person that is sometimes considered derogatory. There was some backlash from the audience and when asked about it, Mason basically said that Chris Rock can call President Obama a “nigger” but he cannot call him a “shvatzah” because he is white, and therefore it is a double standard.
In response to the five jokes that were posted, I think that some of them are acceptable, while others are pretty obnoxious. Just a heads up, I am not black and therefore would not get as offended as I would if someone was ridiculing someone like me. However, I am usually a pretty open-minded person when it comes to jokes and sarcasm. Basketball Obama, The Gift of Music, and Swagger like Barack are all pretty legit. Basketball Obama is harmless enough—the guy plays basketball often and it plays into the whole “black-people-are-good-at-sports/white-men-can’t-jump” stereotype. The Gift of Music is interesting because Obama’s musical tastes were widely reported and it helped the country’s younger generations identify with him. He was able to connect with young people which helped him to seem cooler and hipper. The Swagger like Barack joke is just incredibly true. The guy has pizzazz, spunk, and all-around awesomeness leaking out of his ears.
I think all of these jokes should be taken for what they’re worth, and that’s as jokes. Some people are just too uptight and need to relax and laugh a little. The world would be a hell of a lot better place to live if people just took a breath and calmed the fuck down. It’s not like they’re calling Obama a barbarian or rapist or anything, and who the hell doesn’t like fried chicken, watermelon, music basketball or would like to have swagger? And it’s not like America was up in arms over all the jokes about former President Bush being an idiot, a spoiled rich kid or a redneck (all of which is was) and since Obama actually does like playing basketball and did give an ipod to the Queen of England (bad move in my opinion), these are not stereotypes, they’re just the truth and people need to calm down. Obama himself has been known to make jokes, including one about the Special Olympics, so why shouldn’t people be able to make fun of him as well? If people would not take everything so personally the world would be a better place, most of the time it’s obvious when someone is making a joke and when they’re trying to demean someone, so why don’t people actually try to listen to the context of what someone’s saying rather than choosing their own. Americans have a problem of choosing what they want to hear when someone’s talking rather than actually listening to what the person truly means, and that’s what happens with these jokes.
As Sam mentions, Dave Chappelle routinely makes fun of people of all races, just watch the racial draft or “I know black people” and you’ll see equal opportunity joking. Then there’s the “Niggar Family” and “Clayton Bigsbie, the black white supremacist,” or “the Madd Real World,” and “Trading Spouses.” All utilize black stereotypes to make jokes, so what’s so bad about doing the same with the president? He’s the most prominent public figure in the world and should be subject to some good-natured ribbing. I don’t think any of these jokes are all that offensive, and are rather funny, just like I think Will Ferrel’s impersonation of George Bush is funny. It’s been my experience that joksters are going to tell jokes about anybody and everybody, they don’t discriminate, they just go for humor. If we lash out on comedians for pushing it to the limit, we will end up with a very gray, boring society and kiss comedy goodbye. Pure comedy is about being edgy and people just need to take a step back, leave their ego at the door and relax and have a good laugh, maybe we could put some THC in the drinking water. . .
And by the way Sam, it’s swagga, not swagger.
First of all, I didn’t find any of these jokes to be offensive and I have to agree to Sam that “people who get easily offended shouldn't take themselves so seriously.” I usually don’t ever get offended when someone made fun of me unless it is something really serious or something bad about my parents. President Obama is the most important person in the United States right now and everyone is talking about him so there is no surprise that there are many jokes about him. When people are making fun of others, they tend to pick out their weakness or something that stand out about that person and in this case for Obama, it is probably race. He is the first black president in the United States history, so people stereotype him such as good at basketball, eat fired chicken, listen to rap music etc. This is going back to what we talked before about stereotyping people. I still don’t see anything wrong with that. It is just how we associate different kind of people with different thing. And we all know that stereotype people doesn’t mean that everyone in the category has to be like that. It is just mean that the common traits, interest, personality are just like that. In the article about cartoonists, I think as long as they respect and know where the line is, then they should not be worried. I am not saying that they cannot make fun of him about race, but there have to be some limit. Especially with Obama, since he became the president, everyone is talking about his race. This makes me think about what we discussed in the lecture class. We were talking about how people should know the limit when asking other person. But again, each person is different. Some might take it as offensive but some might not. So people should be careful when making fun of others. This whole joke thing also makes me think of comedians. Sometimes their jokes could be really offensive to someone but the way they expressed it make it a lot less serious. Not only that we should know the limit, but we should know how to make joke at the appropriate time.
I can’t imagine being a political cartoonist at a time like this. It must be really hard. To make people laugh you usually have to poke fun at someone else. It seems even if race is not the focus of the joke it undoubtedly becomes the focus when the subject is a minority. I agree with professor Richards that in general people need to lighten up. We have a black president now, but it not because he is black he is getting made fun of. News flash, the president always gets rips on by someone for every little decision he makes, whether he is black or white. I understand there are some cartoons that make race the subject of their comedy and if that bothers you then go after them, but in general I don’t think that’s the case. As one artist Rall said him before the election that an Obama presidency would be good for conservative cartoonists, but "it's been just the opposite. I find myself having to temper my comments. I'm tired of it. (Obama) wants my money, he wants me to pay for my neighbor's foreclosed house that he can't afford.” Just as there were issues with Bush’s policies, there are issues with Obama’s policies, and yes, for some, his race may be an issue as well, but that is not the focus of their jokes or cartoons. People need to forget about his race and read the jokes for what they are. Some people got very angered by the cartoon of Obama with apelike features, saying the intention was to make him look like a primal African creature and the artist must have been an extreme racist. However, when similar cartoons exaggerating president Bush’s features made him look like a funny looking ape no one ever brought up the issue of race. Maybe they want Obama to look like an ape because it’s funny looking, it could have nothing to do with race, but since Obama is black the first thing people turn to is racism. Sometimes I feel like it wouldn’t be as big of an issue if people didn’t talk about it all the time, but I also don’t think we can ever get past racism without discussing it. It’s a tough balance, but uptight people getting upset over silly presidential jokes are not helping it. Take it for what it is and laugh about it. As long as no one is getting hurt everyone should be able to express their opinions and views. Especially about the president, the president of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, people are going to have an opinion about him and his policies. If you put yourself in that position you have to expect some jokes. Try not to take them to serious.
This article about Obama and the stereotypes that surround him really intrigues me. It is great to read a piece about Obama that is light hearted and fun for once. Ever since it was apparent that Barack Obama would be our next president it seems that the only media stories that I’ve been aware of have been way too serious. It is relaxing to read a response that focuses on the outlandish stereotypes that are being placed on having our nation’s first black president. From the knowledge that I have about the president of this country, every president has the choice to have an area of the White House dedicated to an athletic activity. Since Obama is black and he enjoys basketball, the media and everyone who is not an intellectual thinker connects Obama with the typical black man. The fact is that basketball is an increasingly popular sport in this country and it has been inevitable that we were going to have a president who enjoys basketball. The fact is that basketball these days is linked to black people due to the fact that the most popular basketball league in the world is dominated by the black race. This simple fact and the fact that the current president of our country enjoys the very same sport, leads many to feel that Obama is nothing more than a typical black person, which is far from the truth. Not that being a typical black person is bad, but I have had conversations with conservative Republicans who feel that simply because Obama enjoys the sport of basketball makes him the intellectual equivalent of a thug like Lil Wayne or T.I. As for the food coupon and the restaurant adorning Obama’s name, I have never heard or seen anything like it. Because of that I am still having troubling digesting my feelings on that. It seems a little racist to go far with this subject matter, but it’s all in good fun I suppose. The story about Obama giving the Queen of England an iPod is hysterical. I had no idea that that situation had occurred recently. To me it seems like an appropriate gift considering that many American citizens possess the luxury of a digital music library at every second of every day. Finally, I think it is interesting that many people feel that Obama has a God complex. I highly disagree with that. Obama is simply a president who is more relaxed in his position than any other president that we have had in recent memory. Obama knows that we have many struggles ahead especially with the economic crisis and at the very least our sensitive racial issues. But, the last thing that Obama has is a God complex.
Swagger? Really? I mean I think that was a large jump from talking about Obama giving the queen of England an ipod, to a God complex, and now Swagger. I think that really feeds into the stereotype of black masculinity here and across the world. What is swagger anyway? I couldn’t really find a definition that I feel is suited to describe the issue with this word but I’m sure a quick read of a chapter of Black Sexual politics by Patricia Hill Collins would shed some light. I WAS going to quote the book but I can’t find it right now (that’s convenient) so I guess I will just move on. And what’s wrong with giving her an IPOD(aside from the fact that she’s like a million years old). I also think that its funny for someone to think that he somehow brought that joke on himself? I highly doubt he would just randomly give the Queen an Ipod unless they had talked about it before somehow.I think most of these joke about any president are really made by people who REALLY have to much time on their hands and I Do think that most of them are offensive and if I bothered to look at any website or newspaper cartoon that included one, I would probably be mad about it too. There is absolutely nothing wrong with acknowledging when people are offended by things and I really do not think that should ever be taken lightly. It may be easy for others to ignore or find humor in things but often jokes come at the expense of SOMEONE. To invalidate anyone’s feelings by saying that they should take things more lightly is like a stab in the stomach, and often said by people who are either ignorant or have the privilege and power to do so. So people who say that (cough cough) should really examine themselves deeply and stop trying to devalue others experience (personal experience=feelings). As far as the Obama Fried Chicken, that honestly got a small cold smile from me. It’s not funny at all but I wonder if anyone would actually eat there, if the owners though it would attract customers. I definitely would never eat there and I think many people would agree. Plus they serve Fried Chicken, Pizza, AND Gyros? Ew
Anyway, most of these jokes are not only tacky and offensive but also unimaginative. I can’t believe people laugh at these jokes. Its like watching comedy on regular TV, its hardly ever funny and its very predictable. As far the God Complex goes I had never heard of that one( Though I haven’t heard of 90 percent of these jokes) and if I cared I would definitely look for the reasons why some people have that opinion…but luckily, I don’t.
This has always been an issue I have pondered. It’s there is a fine line between funny and offensive and it varies either slightly or greatly depending on the person on the receiving end of the joke, who’s telling the joke, the time, context, so many factors play into how something is perceived. In general I can not stand when people are easily offended, to me it kinda translates to a bad sense of humor and that is something the I find extremely unattractive in a friend, classmate, acquaintance, lover, etc. It’s always nice to have someone to laugh with and people who are sensitive need to just chill out, relax, and not takes things so seriously. It’s just not worth it. You do not have to be a complete push over but people who are more at ease are far more pleasant to be around.
With the first black president I guess you kinda have to expect the jokes…I personally did not know what to expect. Race is obviously a touchy subject, but in our free country the president has been poked fun at since I can remember (granted, I know that’s not very long compared to our country’s history) but with Obama I was not sure what kind of comic relief to predict especially dealing with the sensitivity of race. I feel like Obama has an untouchable element about him and sure do not expect the same sort of criticism that Bush received. In my opinion Bush was totally bashed, deservingly or not, the man took it hard. Now this might just be my opinion because the presidency was the first one that I was at the age where I was actually politically aware somewhat. But I do not expect Obama criticism’s to run as deep as what Bush faced. I am comfortable laughing at whatever I find funny regardless of the nature of the joke. Whether I like Bush or not or like Obama or not, a funny joke is a funny joke and I’m gonna laugh, cause what is life without laughter?
Sam’s comment about “black” foods makes me think back to the concept of acting “white” or acting “black” that we discussed in my group. We look around the room and question what is “black”? But realistically I think we all know exactly what acting “black” is. Whether good or bad, you cannot deny it. I personally think it is unfortunate, but it certainly does exist.
I think it’s awesome that Obama gave the Queen an Ipod and I hope that it was pre-loaded with some sweet tunes. I’m sure the Queen would appreciate the exposure to some fly tunes. She seems pretty cool. She went along with Michelle Obama’s back rub/gesture without blowing the issue out of proportion.
I think people who get all bent out of shape about jokes like this need to have their head examined. Who the hell cares what someone else thinks? Sure they might be a little racist, but they don’t do any real harm. I mean its not like no other president has ever been made fun of, so why does it matter that people make black jokes about Obama? In my opinion if being black is the worst thing people can come up with to give Obama shit about, then we’re doing pretty good as far as presidents go. Look at George Bush for example. George Bush has been made fun of more often than I think any public figure in my lifetime, and the jokes aimed at him actually had some merit in discrediting his ability to lead the country, unlike in Obama’s case, when all its about is the color of his skin. Honestly the fact that “Obama Fried Chicken” is a real place in New York made me laugh pretty hard. Jokes based on racism are just words, they only affect people as much as those people let themselves be affected. The basketball thing isn’t even really racist. I mean yea there is the whole stereotype of black people all play basketball and whatnot, but Obama actually does play basketball! People don’t go around making fun of black pro basketball players for playing basketball, so what the point? The food coupon may have a little bit of a racist undertone, with the whole “all black people are poor” sterotype combined with the food coupons poor people use to get by. With the Obama Fried Chicken picture, the initial picture is rather hilarious, but the whole ethnic foods from around the world part of it doesn’t really make sense in the context of the joke. The number two picture is rather lame. All black people like music? I’m pretty sure almost all people in general like music. I mean if it had something to do with like rap music or something them maybe it would be a racist joke type of picture, but really its just kinda whatever the way it is. As for him giving the Queen an iPod as a gift, I think its rather weird that something like that would happen, but its not really something “black” to do. As far as the whole swagger, thing he’s the president of the most powerful country in the world, and he’s a confident and intelligent person, what isn’t there to be proud of yourself about. When you can back it up being arrogant isn’t really that big of an issue, in my mind. Overall I think there a lot more “more racist” jokes out there about Obama.
This particular blog entry that sam posted, I really like. To be honest when George bush was in the white house almost EVVVERYYONE made fun of him. To be completely honest, I even purchased a book that I have at my house called bush-isms which is filled with loads of funny or silly quotes that the ex-president once said. I think its completely natural for people in our society to make jokes about the president or any other political figure or celebrity. This most important thing however is for that particular person to take these jokes light heartedly and take them as they are… jokes!. Yes, yes I do understand that sometimes jokes can be mean or hurt peoples feelings but to be honest the ones on this list in the blog I don’t find to be offensive in any particular way… if anything, I only find some of them to be a bit cliché, but I could never imagine actually getting angry over any of them. But of course, just because I don’t get upset over it doesn’t mean that others wont find it offensive. None of these jokes are deliberately saying anything negative about obama, all that they are doing is just picking out certain famous cultural stereotypes and then applying them to obama. I find it difficult to understand why it is offensive. I feel as though if these jokes or similar ones, were made about george bush, people would not be up in arms about it, in fact most people would probably laugh or just not even pay attention to it. Obama is just like any other president, I don’t think that there should be an exception that we as society are not allowed to make fun of him just because he is the first president to of a different race. These jokes are not belittling him nor are they taking away from his image or lessening his ability to represent and lead a country strongly. I feel as though some of these jokes or photographs are actually quite funny, I particularly liked the joke with God in it. Of course I don’t believe that obama’s attitude is ACTUALLY god-like, I just think it’s a funny joke, to me, you could insert any celebrities name into that joke and I would probably still find it humorous. I am happy that most of our society is able to laugh at these kinds of jokes and understand them but it really irritates me that others take this kind of thing much too seriously. Nothing here is threatening or vulgar, I just don’t understand. Maybe it has to do with the way I was raised or where I come from, maybe it has to do with the fact that im not always politically correct to the point of obsession about it. Who knows really, but im glad that there are people out there with a sense of humor.
I personally find most of these jokes hilarious. Great idea to think of some of these jokes being told by Chappelle, by the way, he is the greatest comedian of our generation. Anyway, I think that most people need to lighten up a bit when it comes to making jokes about our new president. People had no problems making fun of Bush for looking and acting stupid, being from Texas, or doing cocaine. The same needs to be done with Barack, it just goes with the job. He also brings a lot of this upon himself. I mean he wanted to build a basketball court in the Whitehouse for crying out loud. I love basketball as much as the next guy, but it certainly plays into the stereotype, and if people want to make a few cracks at him for it, then they shouldn’t have to hold back. These political cartoonists shouldn’t have to alter their work just because a few people are getting offended. I’m sure there were plenty of people offended at the way Bush was portrayed, and that didn’t seem to stop anyone. They are just afraid as white people to offend the black community, and they really shouldn’t be. People are going to get offended by whatever you do, and it shouldn’t matter if the people you are offending are black, white, yellow, or red. Plenty of black people make fun of white people in their daily lives, and as long as it isn’t outwardly racist no one should have a problem with it.
At the same time, the cartoon likening Obama to a chimp is one of those jokes that cross the line. That is something you simply cannot do as a political cartoonist. You can make fun of his abnormally large ears. You can even emphasize his lips and make them bigger (although that’s treading some murky waters). Drawing him as a chimp or alluding to slavery or anything racist like that is something you cannot do under any circumstances. That is just messed up. The rest of the jokes about Obama are fine, and I wish people would stop getting so offended by them. They need to get some thicker skin, and learn to just laugh it off. If someone made fun of me drinking beer because I’m part Irish, I would laugh it off and offer them a beer. If you play into a stereotype, people have every right to call you out for it. Yes, some stereotypes are dumb, but it’s just a joke.
As far as the jokes are concerned, my favorite one is Obama’s stimulus bill. The other ones are good too, but that one is great because they put that picture of him looking to the sky on it, classic. The last one is pretty funny too, because he is chalk full of swagger. He has every right to walk with that swagger though, because he did something that many people thought could never be done.
I am a person that is not easily offended. If people make a joke I will not take it personally and if the joke is made to be hurtful I usually still won’t care unless it is someone close to me, I don’t take the opinions of people I don’t care about personally. Maybe it’s just me but I didn’t think any of the things Sam posted were funny except maybe the last one. Not that I thought they were offensive I just didn’t really think they were humorous. But like Sam said, people need to be able to understand jokes are jokes. When people get disgusted by a comedians act or their feelings hurt by a joke that person is either not mature enough to look passed it and realize it is not a personal attack or that person has a stick up their ass and just look for things to bitch about. To relate this back to race and discrimination, with racist and other discriminating type jokes it’s the same thing. Many people label others as racist because they’ve cracked a joke or even shows like family guy are frowned upon when they are made almost completely so people can laugh at themselves and crazy stereotypes. And I think it is more racist to say that can’t be joked about it is saying not ok and attention shouldn’t be brought to the subject and no levity can be brought to it. Many people are more comfortable discussing things in a more comfortable setting. When people make any joke based on some sort of stereotype most people know why it is humorous, understanding that it is funny to point out what people tend to think and laugh at how ridiculous it is. And the people that cannot understand the humor are people to fully of themselves and scared of facing the truth.
On the other hand, even though I do think people just shouldn’t take most things personally, if people are getting offended and the jokes aren’t stopped that’s when it is taking a joke too far. At that point if you know someone is getting hurt and you continue a joke you have to be doing it purposely to be hurtful. That’s a personal attack on a person to see someone is upset and to just say well it’s a joke, and not letting up.
In the public perspective of this, it really doesn’t matter how upset they get about the thing said about them. For example, with Obama, people are going to make tons of jokes at his expense and probably some of the joke will be on the more harsh side of the spectrum. People purposely putting themselves out there have to be willing to accept all things that come their way especially when trying to be a powerful leader.
If we all take everything so seriously all the time, where are we going to end up? Sometimes we all need a good joke to make us laugh and remember that even in serious times, we can loosen up and enjoy ourselves. Although I agree that there is a very fine line between offensive and funny that some people like to dance around, I would say that for the most part, people putting out these cartoons and jokes are not trying to offend people. In fact, I would say most people try not to even get close to that line because it is a hard one to stay on one side of. None of the images were inappropriate or distasteful, and I highly doubt that Barack Obama himself would take offense to any of these. He is in the limelight and knows that associated with that is ridicule, and cynicism. Quite frankly, the ridicule and cynicism used here is hardly anything cut throat, and probably is not even on Obama’s radar unless he is just looking for a good laugh. The stereotypes that the pictures represent are ones that I feel most people are comfortable with and are able to get a good chuckle out of because they are not used in a vicious context. To those who do get upset or offended by such pictures, I would say that it is all done to poke fun at someone, and have a good time, not to start a riot. Poking fun at people, specifically their features or faults, keeps us sane. If we instead interpreted every fault as a huge problem, we would be dealing with a whole world full of problems, but by joking about it, we are able to make light of the situation and not let it bother us. Despite the fact that these images and jokes are done with the intention of light hearted fun, there are people who make images and jokes that are flat out racist and that have intentions of hurting the subject. Jokes throwing around derogatory terms would be completely off hand and inappropriate are fine to keep to yourself, but there is no need to put these feelings on the internet. It will just make you look like an extremist freak more than an intellectual being. When dealing with the fine line between offensive and funny, or any fine line for that matter, we need to be more open minded and ask ourselves if we think the artist or author was trying to be radical and offensive or funny and amusing. In the case we are looking at, Sam’s countdown of his top five Obama jokes and pictures, I would say that the artists and authors were trying to get nothing more than a laugh, and if they were trying to make a point, definitely fell short because nothing other than a funny picture was conveyed. More often than not, we need to leave our extreme sensitivities behind when coming to the race table, so they don’t interfere with honest points people are trying to make.
To start things off, I want to say that I find these jokes very amusing and I don’t think people should take them so seriously. People who would actually take these jokes seriously either need to step out of the box or simply just lighten up. From the perspective of a white female, as females in general, I am constantly being criticized for having the stereotype of being the house mom where my primary concern should be to stay home with the kids and let the husband be the breadwinner. We are also criticized for not being able to hold as much higher positions than men in the job force. Although I am constantly criticized, I just let it brush off my shoulder and be the person who I want to be. Going back to the Obama jokes, I find them meaningless and harmless. I think these were just made for fun and people have to realize that everyone will always get poked fun at. Additionally, I also feel that the exaggeration of Obama’s features is supposed to be that way. I have had a caricature drawn of myself, and their main point is to exaggerate someone’s features. The way these cartoonists make people look is embarrassing, but that is the whole point. I feel that all of the presidents in the past, and including Obama, have all been made fun of in some way. I think it will always be that way, but they don’t intentionally mean to embarrass a president. There’s nothing we can really do to get rid of all the political satire. The only things we can really do are just laugh and move on with our lives and not take everything so seriously. Although I am not really into politics and don’t know much about it, even if I did understand all of these jokes, even if I was a minority I would still just let it brush off my shoulder. Every ethnicity has been made fun of in some way, so I think we all just need to calm down and not let the little things like these harmless jokes bring more stress into our lives. I definitely think that if we had a mix of black and white presidents in the past, we wouldn’t be stereotyping Obama as much. I mean seriously, how many times have you seen someone make fun of a president because he was white? I can’t recall any times. Maybe that’s just me, but I think if there was an equal mix of black and white presidents, then this wouldn’t be an issue. I also think it’s funny that everyone automatically labels Obama as being African American, when he is mixed. I think society labels Obama as what they want him to be and Obama just follows along with it. Overall, people shouldn’t take any of this from the article seriously, just laugh and move on.
In response to the article titled, “What’s Funny About Obama…And What’s not”, the first thing I want to say is that I do not consider myself to be a racist person. I have friends that are of different races, religions, etc. I don’t intentionally try to put people down who are not of my race and dislike when other people do things of that nature in a serious manner. However, I personally agree with the fact that people need to lighten up and find these jokes to be funny because if they do not, the only ones they are hurting are themselves. These kind of jokes are often told by comedians such as David Letterman or Dave Chapelle and are not meant to be personal insults to those involved, but rather to stereotype people in a funny way. They are almost never to be taken seriously, and that’s why I think people should stop being so serious when getting angry when jokes like these arise. If you cannot find jokes like this to be funny, the people that do find them funny aren’t going to feel remorse, so the only ones they’re hurting is themselves. They are all in good taste. The first joke is a picture from Barrack’s campaign showing Barack Obama playing basketball. Obviously the stereotype here is about how black people are all basketball players or enjoy playing or watching the game of basketball. I personally thought the ad/picture was pretty funny. This stereotype is one of the most popular when people stereotype black people. They associate the NBA with black people because about 85% percent of the league is in fact black. So is there some truth to this? Sure. Bottom line is that the stereotype is not meant to be offensive to black people in any way. What white guy is going to make fun of the fact that those 85% of black people in the NBA makes a heck of a lot more money in one year than they probably will in 10. The second picture is one about Obama’s Stimulus Bill. The picture contains Obama’s face on a food stamp. I thought this one was less funny than the first. The main point here is the stereotype that for the most part all black people are poor. Therefore they need food stamps in times like this. The third picture or joke shows a picture of a restaurant called Obama fried chicken. The stereotype here is obviously how all black people love eating fried chicken. I thought it was pretty funny. Apparently they have Gyros for Greeks, Bagels for Jews, Pizza for Italians, and Halal meats for Middle Easterners. The next picture of is The Gift of Music. Barack is pictured wearing an I-pod, and the main point is the stereotype that all black people love music. This is just another picture meant to be a joke that is in good humor. People should lighten up and see the humor in them because they are not meant to cause any harm.
Being a humorist, i find it easay to look past jokes that may be offensive to some people, and grab a nice little laugh out of them. I am not a very serious person; that is, i take very little seriously. So for me, jokes have to be pretty bold to truly offend me. That being said, i still do not think anything goes. I can see why some jokes would offend some people, those who are too serious. I have heard many jokes that i can easily find humor in, but at the same time think “wow thats kind of fucked up”. I am not sensitive, and am not very easily offended. In my mind, if something is said that contains some degree of humor, i can look past the fact that it may be offensive to ceratin people. However, there is a point when people do cross the line. In my case; i am half jew. My dad is jewish and hails from Germany. My Mom is Roman Catholic, and she hails from ireland. So i consider myself an Irish half jew. As you may guess, i have heard my fair share of Jew jokes. Most of them can get a chuckle out of me, as i am not easily offended. For example, “why do Jews have big noses? Because air is free”. That joke plays on the stereotype that not only do Jewish people have big noses, but they are also cheap. Now i do not have a big nose, and do not consider myself to be cheap. In fact, i can be quite irresponsible with money most of the time. I do have jewish friends who are both cheap and big nosed. Although the stereotype about jews is a sweeping generalization, i do see that it can be true on occasion, and i can see the humor in the joke. Now other jew jokes are not funny to me. When people make fun of the holocaust i find it very annoying. I would give an example, but i do not feel like writing out such awfullness. Any joke that makes fun of such a serious event is not cool. I am also Irish, and of course i hear the typical Irish drunk jokes. This does not offend me, as i am a heavy drinker at this point in my life. I do have family that do not drink, and they get annoyed when they hear a joke about Irishmen being heavy drinkers. As for the Obama jokes, i do not think they really cross the line. Although not all of them are funny. I don’t like when people say that black people love fried chicken because i like fried chicken just as much as any black guy. Fried chicken is delicious. Most people enjoy fried chicken, not just black people.
Is it just me or is that not funny?
To tell you the truth, I have no idea how offensive this was supposed to be. I found none of them to be offensive. The first one was about Barak playing basketball and so what that more African Americans play basketball. There are still good white players, like Larry Bird and Steve Nash. SO I don’t find that very racist. The next was the food ration bill which is pointing towards communism, which I see as a very slight shot at Obama’s principles. Besides, anything aimed at politics can’t be racist or insensitive. Obama’s Fried Chicken . . . ok, I admit I chuckled at the sheer stupidity of the name, but seriously though it depends on the owner I guess. If it’s a black person who owns the restaurant, then it’s merely a respective name. If it’s a white person’s then it’s just playing up to stereotypes, but wouldn’t that be counterintuitive. However, who knows, maybe they have a close person with that name. The next was a joke on how Obama bought the Queen an Ipod. So what, it’s an innocent joke, besides I kind of like it. I think it looks pretty cool. The last one I could see be offensive to very orthodox monotheists. I agree that he has a huge ego; however, it still does not warrant this joke. I think this was a tasteless joke that really wasn’t that funny, I mean come on. Besides, McCain and Hillary Clinton being good people. . . BS.
Anyway, I think that, quoting the words of Dave Chappelle, “in a world of hypersensitivity” people take themselves too literally and people are to sensitive. I hate how we people have to stumble so much to talk to one another truthfully, seriously, we deny ourselves the basic needs of expression. I think that people just need to learn that things are only offensive if they are meant to be. If it is said by accident, then the apology should be taken, because everyone makes mistakes even you. The tone of words should really determine whether or not something is offensive, and then there is just common knowledge. Like the n word is now taboo, and there are other words that are also taboo. There are so many things that we truly do not understand, like why people get so offended so easily, and why orthodox Christians are so hypersensitive. Well that or they have their panties in a bunch, but that or for some strange reason I dislike them . . . .hmm. Nah, that can’t be it, maybe you’re the person that just wants to see me hate people. Sorry, I’m watching House right now, so the attitude is rubbing off on me.
It is definitely true that it is extremely difficult to decide where to draw the line when it comes to being funny and being offensive. Many times, it is completely subjective and totally depends on the situation and the people involved. Because of this, almost always people get too caught in being politically correct and in turn become so politically correct that it actually becomes offensive. In fact, I find it much more offensive when people are overly politically correct. People really need to lighten up. I understand that there are certain things that shouldn’t be said, but a lot of times I think people worry about it way too much. On the other side of the table, the people being made fun of need to lighten up as well, maybe even more than the people making the jokes. Some times what people say is extremely ignorant and offensive and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yet, a lot of times, I feel like the people being made fun of react defensively just because they feel obligated to react and because of this people are afraid to say anything at all. In this way many things get lost, especially in the comedy world. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?
As far as the Obama jokes go, I think they are extremely funny. The basketball one is funny because he is black and because it is a well known fact that he really does play a lot of basketball, which makes the joke even funnier. The food coupon one is the closest one to being offensive, but only if you take it in the way that Sam spoke of where they make specific ones for watermelon and chicken. The fried chicken restaurant is funnier because of the multi-cultural aspect in offering all the different kinds of food. As far as fried chicken goes, sure it is a stereotype, but if people are really offended by it I’d like to know why. Don’t you have bigger stereotypical fish to fry than that one? Obama walked into the iPod one. The last joke has nothing to do with anything racial, it has to do with Obama himself. People can try to make it a racial joke all they want because it’s about Obama, but that is just silly.
We had a good discussion in our group this week about the topic of people being afraid to ask certain questions or say certain jokes because they are afraid of offending people. On one hand, people need to understand what is offensive. On the other hand, the people being asked the questions or being made fun of need to be more understanding. It is their lack of understand that scares people from asking the questions that they need to ask or saying the jokes they need to say. The longer we are afraid to say these things, the longer racism will exist.
In response to the Barrack Obama jokes, I found them pretty funny. I feel that anyone who doesn’t really needs to stop taking things so seriously, just like Sam said. I think that is really one of the main points of his class. We all need to stop taking each other so seriously and be able to make fun of ourselves and take the whole race relations thing to another level. I feel that people within their own races are able to make fun of each other and joke around much more casually than when you cross races. Most people are afraid to make jokes due to the repercussions of seeming racist or politically incorrect. If we all took each other a little less seriously, we would be able to get past the color barrier a lot easier. For example, when Sam made a comment at the race table thing in Sacramento, he was just trying to find out more information, and gain a better understanding of different races. For this, he was chastised and basically deemed the racist white man for just trying to gain a better understanding of another cultures beliefs and ideals. Situations like these show how people take each other too seriously and prevent other people (especially white people) from being able to gain knowledge that is necessary to become more educated in some ones race. It’s not Sam’s fault that people of Asian descent were persecuted and looked down upon in this country at one point. He did nothing wrong. For something that some racist white people did a long time ago, he was deemed the racist white person. He was blamed for something he never did. I thought this country was all about being innocent before proven guilty. But back to the Obama jokes, I think that making fun of Obama a little bit based on dumb stereotypes is not a bad thing at all. It gets things that most people think of, but won’t say out in the open. Yes, black people are suppose to like fried chicken based on stereotypes; Obama is black, sort of, so put the two together, and you have a slight roast on a very good man. There is nothing wrong with a little edgy, light hearted humor. It’s just like when comedians do the whole race joke like Chris Rock. He is just basically making conversation about race in a very, very funny way. If you don’t talk about any of this, it becomes a mystery, and you are more likely to cause an uncomfortable situation with a person of another race based on just being ignorant. I don’t think there is a situation where having a lot of information is a bad thing.
As far as numbers 2-5 I don’t see any racist meaning behind them or some kind of stereotyping. Yeah black men are good at basketball but who cares if there is an ad with him holding a basketball. The food coupon… well I don’t know nothing to judge there except for the comment Sam made about discounts on watermelon and chicken. And the other two aren’t really worth my 400 words, but when it came to the comic that was in the New York Post that is fully racist and for those who can’t see it have no knowledge of history. I understand that comic cartoonists receive their paychecks at the price of making fun of others but there is a line that no one should cross. To portray our black president as a gorilla is completely wrong in whichever way you want to look at it. Make fun of guy’s ear for god sake and maybe the stereotypic big lips but you do not make a comic of what the era of separate entrances and how people used to look at blacks as ¾ of a human.
My views go for the kids in the classroom. The fact the artist felt like he had to hold back because he was afraid someone would take it past the point of cartoon stereotyping into viewing a drawing as a racial stereotype. Lips are lips, it’s not like these cartoonist aren’t making fun of any characteristic that every race possesses. Asians have the slanted closed eyes, whites are picked on for their butt chins or how fat we mostly are and lazy, etc. These caricatures should be viewed as funny and people need to get out of that place in their head where everything revolves around them and that people are out to put them down. I understand color is there and everyone’s race is different but I don’t get why people need to get so offended all the time. Maybe they just love to make others feel like crap, or maybe just maybe they are so insecure about their own identity that they feel that whatever is out is meant to be a complete smack in the face? Whatever the reason, I believe that it’s time for people to have a better view on life. People say white people can’t dance, I don’t cry over the stereotyping I accept it, for the most part we can’t dance and when we “can” it is just a pathetic show.
I understand my view point is that of a majority race and that I don’t understand what exactly minorities go through on a daily basis but there is no need for this quit reflex of playing the minority card…
It is true, that people – even smart people – have a hard time to figure out where the line lies between funny and offensive towards a race. I have never gotten to a point where I would say, ever, that I was offended by a statement or a joke towards my race – probably because I have had crossed that stages earlier in my life where it was not as bad as others may think it is. I have been the comedian in the family and sometimes share such experiences where my parents may feel insulted but never spoke about it with me. This could also mean it varies generation to generation.
Thus, speaking of generation – it is noticeable that older people, approved by Chris Rock “older black males” are racist and will be offended about anything regarding their race – hence proves the point that generation could be a factor. This also means that maybe the jokes conceded by the blog about President Obama may be offensive to someone of an older category but less to someone around my age.
I totally found these jokes hysterical but would not have the reaction – LMFAO! But one thing is true, that when passing such humorous comments, there is a limit – which has to be understood mutually by the person passing it and the person receiving it – hence do not be too loose but relatively, so it is easier to talk about race and other issues regarding such sensitive matters.
Barack Hussain Obama – President of United States of America – has not only shown that we are changing as a global community but has also stood up to allow such stereotypical “black” “muslim” “multiracial” “multirelgion” & various other categories which relate to our President. However, when it touches someone’s dignity and pride – it isn’t a joke anymore and especially if its about a stranger, including the President.
When talking about the jokes: Basketball is prominent and definitely in everyones mind that it is a black dominated sport, which should not be taken offensively at all because it is a statement every black should be proud of! “I wonder if this gives you an extra discount on "black" foods like watermelon and chicken. (O.K., forget I said that.)” – No comments – but it is pretty funny. Obama Fried Chicken did not make sense humorously but it was pretty intelligent for whoever came up with the idea and it is very brave racially for them to do such a thing – who owns it by the way?? Obama to share an ipod with the Queen of England should be legendary – no one has ever had the guts to do that – which leads on to the next joke when he says that God is sitting in his seat! Such jokes, I do not understand how people get offended, are just lightening people’s mind and allowing them to have a laugh. Regarding the cartoon I agree that it has absolutely nothing to do with what race he is. Honestly, every race should have some sort of funny thing about that which allows the rest of the world to be able to break the ice and mix around. But when it gets personal - let it be personal and don't let race make a difference.
In a world full of smart people it seems strange that we can’t come up with enough clever material, that we can’t deem offensive, to laugh about. But the fact is, we like offensive, or almost offensive humor. In today’s society most of us are constantly editing, or at least questioning our behavior to make sure it’s socially acceptable and politically correct. So, when we see someone breaking this norm by saying something a bit shocking, of course it’s funny to us. This is probably why cartoonists and comedians get the most leeway.
I don’t think any of us want to have our humor policed. And why should we? People need to pick their battles. We can’t get upset about silly jokes poking fun at our race, if we laugh at jokes which make fun of people of other races. And if you’re just particularly sensitive about an issue because of your life experiences, you have to understand that not everyone has the same experiences, and most people don’t care about yours. It’s arrogant to assume they should.
That all being said, there are times when people take their jokes too far. It’s not fair to say something sexist, racist, homophobic, etc …in a joking manner and assume that it’s ok. You might be able to get away with it, but that doesn’t make it right. Take for instance the New York Post’s attempt at “humor” in a political cartoon that compared our president with a dead chimp. That’s not funny, it’s offensive. It wasn’t clever or smart; it made the cartoonist seem like an asshole that couldn’t come up with anything better.
I think it’s also important to look at the intent of the joke. Some jokes about race are good because they point out inconsistencies, injustices, and hypocrisies. While others, don’t really accomplish anything other than making one group laugh and making the opposite group angry, and these are the bad jokes. If a joke sets two groups further apart then it is offensive, and harmful to society.
The English language is not lacking words. If we know there is something could likely offend a group or individual, it’s just as easy to choose something else to say. Say what you want, but don’t get mad if there are consequences when people take it the wrong way.
I found the topic of this entry very interesting. I took a class on cartooning a few years ago and learned how to make a recognizable caricature. One of the most important aspects my class was taught was to “accentuate recognizable features in order to make a successful depiction of a popular figure.” Jay Leno has a big chin so he’s always drawn with an elongated chin, Madonna is always shown with a gap tooth and pointy bra, the list goes on and on. So it is inevitable that lines will get crossed when depicting the truth.
We were told that referencing the familiar is even more entertaining when it pokes fun at the truth.
However, we were not taught how to handle the racist aspect of depicting public figures. When I look at President Obama, his most outstanding feature would be his infectious smile and awkward ears, not necessarily those that are seen as offensive. If he did have big lips, as an artist I would accentuate his lips (everyone does it for Angelina Jolie!) So I personally do not see how that would be seen as racist or any more offensive than another caricature.
When it comes to drawing the offensive line in entertainment, I usually fail to see it. Coming from the point of view of an art major, I know that you wont always be able to please everyone with the work that you do. When trying to appeal to a broad audience, the personalities of each audience member can not be foreseen.
In regards to depicting and referencing President Barack Obama, I think there are examples of tasteful, funny and acceptable aspects of poking fun at our new president. When I see “Basketball Obama” I don’t assume that the artist behind that poster is poking fun at the fact that all black men are good at basketball, I see our new young president trying to relate to America’s younger public. Something previous presidents attempted to do with no avail. To me this image is believable, not obnoxious.
Coming into office, I think the Obama campaign anticipated some offensive remarks and actions from those people hesitant about electing a black president. However, I have yet to see or hear anything THAT offensive or original. A fried chicken restaurants named Obama is no more offensive to me than the Bagel shops named Horowitz. It is what it is.
Although Obama does have swagger, he is one of our younger presidents and I assume some level appreciation of humor. While he commands respect, I would like to think he would laugh off stupidity.
I would have to agree that in today’s day and age it is hard to draw the line between what is actually funny and what comments or jokes are seen as taking it too far. I personally feel weird cracking racial jokes but at the same time I don’t get offended if someone makes jokes about white people and I actually think most of the time they are pretty funny. I do not think they are true of all white people, as the racial jokes about other groups are not all accurate. Most of the time I am the one in my group of friends that will get made fun of or jokes directed at me so I guess I am pretty used to it and don’t mind it because I know they are doing it out of love. However, it becomes more complicated when different groups make jokes about others because it can be unclear the reasons behind their words. I know I have been in situations where people I know have literally sat around and cracked jokes about different groups for long periods of time. I feel like you know its crossing the line if you would not say the joke in front of a person that it is referring to. You also kind of have to judge these situations on context as well because some people that make the most offensive jokes may actually be friends with many members of the groups they are making fun of. If this is the case then it kind of goes back to the situation of a friend making fun of another friend. In this instance it is not as big of a deal I would think because the person is not making jokes to put another down but rather to make light of the situation the world is in today. If everyone could learn to laugh at themselves it might make it easier to bring everyone together in a different way that involves poking fun at ourselves. I do feel in general people all groups could benefit from lightening up a bit and not taking themselves and everyone else so seriously. It also seems weird to me that if a comedian making fun of different ethnic groups is Indian, Korean or a member of another minority group they are usually more accepted than a white person cracking the same jokes. I can see why this is the case, but at the same time it’s crazy how peoples perceptions are changed depending on who is delivering the joke. I even think that I think many of these jokes are funnier coming from people in minority groups because I guess in a way I feel more comfortable laughing at them.
In response to the blog, “What’s Funny About Obama…And What’s Not”, I find this article to point out the stereotypes of the black male and try to make light of them. I think that if taken out of context, they could be construed as extremely offensive. However, in the way the author establishes them and points them out, I see them as funny rather than offensive. These are age-old stereotypes that have been talked about over and over for years. I believe that at this point, these are stereotypes that mean absolutely nothing. But at the same time, I am a white male and these are not stereotypes being made about me.
A stereotype that I would compare these to personally would be the phrases of “white guys can’t jump” or “white people can’t dance.” I find these stereotypes to just be silly rather than offensive. When people bring them up and highlight them, I find them to be funny and would never take offense to someone saying I can’t dance. I think that is a similar situation to these stereotypes from this article. The whole thing about Obama Fried Chicken, that “joke” has been said so many times, and I really don’t believe people take offense to that(or at least I hope they wouldn’t). I think that when jokes or stereotypes are referenced frequently, people then start to understand that they are just that, stereotypes. I would never take offense to someone telling me I can’t dance because I’m white, even though I think I’m a pretty damn good dancer. I also don’t think that I would even try to prove them wrong. These are statements that have no bearing on me personally. If someone came up to me and said that, I’d laugh at them. First off, because it’s extremely dumb to even bring up in the first place. And second, because they have no idea of who I actually am. I think the same can be said of the stereotypes referenced in this article. Yea Obama may play basketball, but I’m sure that’s just because he likes the sport.
Also, I think a lot of these things occur based on where you come from. If everyone in your neighborhood is playing basketball and eating fried chicken, you will probably do the same thing. I don’t believe it has anything to do with race but rather where you are from. There could be a white kid living in a predominantly black neighborhood who grows up playing basketball. In most cases, he is not doing that because he wants to be black, but rather because he wants to feel a sense of belonging with his friends and neighbors. I think there is a lot more to stereotypes than meet the eye and they have to be taken with a grain of salt because every person out there is different.
Why do people have to be so sensitive? I do not understand why these cartoonists can make fun of white people, but not black people. I feel bad for these cartoonists who are just trying to do their job but have to worry about all black people in the United States being upset about their portrayal of Obama. If we have to be politically correct towards black people, then we have to be politically correct about everything. We should not be able to pick and choose what is okay to make fun of, and what is not. Some people are going to find some things funny, and other people find other things funny. I do not care what other people think, but I find these jokes to be funny. The joke that I personally find to be hilarious is the one about Obama giving the Queen of England an iPod. How stereotypical is that?! It was honestly the funniest one out of them all. I feel that even though it is funny, it also shows his more down to Earth side. If you can give the Queen of England an iPod, then you must be very comfortable in your own skin and it says a lot about your character. He did not seem to care what other people would think of him. If he did he would have never given her the gift; so if he does not care then why should we. I do not want people to think that I find all of these jokes humorous, because I do not. The cartoon of the chimpanzee being shot was completely inappropriate. What irritated me the most about it was that the artist tried to make it look better by saying that the cartoon was not about President Obama. It was clearly about him since one of the officers was depicted as saying “We have to find someone else to sign the stimulus bill”. Who could they be talking about if not President Obama? This is appalling and is not the same as the other jokes. I personally find this cartoon to be a blatant act of disrespect and racism to depict a black man as a chimpanzee. I feel that jokes about our President are perfectly fine as long as the artist is not trying to blatantly disrespect him over something like race as opposed to if he had a bland personality. To completely disrespect someone simply over their appearance due to their race is in my eyes completely unacceptable. I know it seems as though I am contradicting myself since I just said if we cannot find everything funny then nothing should be funny. I guess it is difficult to know what is okay and what is not. But so far all I have come up with is that everyone knows what “invisible line” they should not cross. If you are trying to hurt someone by portraying their racial appearance in a negative light, then you know you have gone to far.
Even though I’m a white female, I thought these inauguration jokes were funny. I could see why they could be offensive to some people who are still in earlier stages of racism, but for the most part, I thought they were humorous.
People may think these jokes are coming out to the public just because Barack Obama is considered a black man and it’s easy to poke fun at black people in our society, but I would beg to differ. George W. Bush was constantly hit with criticisms and snickers because he was from the grand old state of Texas. Here for example: http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/U/V/bush_texas_lead_enema.jpg
The former president of the United States was criticized for trying to back out of fighting in the Vietnam War and after all of his mistakes as president, comedians had a field day with comics and jokes. Even John F. Kennedy was made fun of for being Catholic.
When a person takes the oath of office or becomes a public figure of any sort, it is inevitable that he or she will be watched over and made fun of at all times. Obama has proved to all Americans that he enjoys playing and watching basketball – Google Obama’s White House basketball court plan and Obama’s NCAA basketball bracket. And like the blogger said, Obama has made public his admiration for music, most notably when he gave the Queen of England an iPod. So what’s wrong with playfully making fun of Obama and his living up to black stereotypes of liking basketball and music? If the comics or jokes were linking Obama and the KKK or a noose, then I would say an American uproar would be necessary, but in this case it’s just harmless fun.
I’m not saying jokes poking fun at black people are appropriate at all times, but when it comes to such a huge public figure as Barack Obama, I think it’s perfectly appropriate. Obama, I’m sure, made himself comfortable with this kind of playful scrutiny. And I think this joking of race is a great step towards more people accepting other races. It makes race more prevalent and easy to talk about. I think once both blacks and whites can see their differences and maybe even make fun of their differences in some type of medium, race will be come more acceptable. Talking about race will become less awkward and we will no longer have to tip-toe around the fact that not everyone is the same color and that we can talk about these differences in a funny way.
It’s obvious that Obama is not white and even if he did look white, the media would find some other way to make fun of him. And if our president were to be a woman or an Asian or a Hispanic person, the media and comedians would be jumping on that bandwagon of criticism as well.
I agree that many people do take some jokes offensively and personally. I however, do not find these jokes to be harmful. People will and always will continue to make racist jokes. I think these jokes are humorous and are meant to be taken lightly. Everyone does get made fun of sometime or another in their lifetime. It is part of human nature to make jokes. The specific jokes about Obama playing basketball are completely fine. He wants to have a basketball court put into the White House, and maybe he is just really into basketball. I do not think there is anything wrong with saying that Obama can be good at basketball. The Obama fried chicken, many people would think this was offensive. Obama doesn’t care what people think. As president he is automatically a target for jokes, and since he is black he is bound to have more because of all the racist people. There are a million types of racist jokes but I feel like black people are mainly targeted. There is no excuse for it, but it still occurs everyday. And the joke about music I also do not think should be taken offensively. If he gave the queen of England an Ipod, he clearly is into music and it should not be a big deal. I think that racial jokse increase the racial stigma, but jokes allow subjects that make people uncomfortable to view them in a lighter manner. In all seriousness, statistics show that black people are better at basketball than white. So if a joke is made, it should not be taken seriously. I can make fun of myself all the time and still be fine with it. People these days just need to take things less seriously. People should view the jokes as something to make people laugh. Who cares if they target a specific group, I personally would not care if people from another race made white jokes. Even though I have nothing against black people, I can find the jokes still funny. There are a million blonde jokes that people say everyday but they do not get the atttention and people are not viewed as prejudice because they say them. Jokes are jokes, and that’s that. It is very important that people start to realize this. I personally think our society is too uptight and everyone should just be more carefree. Black segregation happened in the 1950’s it is the new millenium, everyone is welcome in our society now and jokes are meant to be fun. Even when president Bush was president there were still a million jokes about him, and no one thought to think the people were racist that were making the jokes. I think its overall stupid and just a reason for people to fight.
Oh man. First things first – I thought it was pretty funny that Sam used “LMFAO” and “LOL”. I don’t know.. I try to stay away from using texting or IM acronyms in anything. So…yeah. Just thought it was a little funny. (Sam can do whatever he wants in his blog)
Now, on to the blog entry.
Generally, I thought it was funny. It was too easy. It is not too hard for people to pick a stereotype, and pair it with someone who fits it – especially someone who is easy to point a finger at. And in this case, it is our new and very first black president.
It may be, just as how celebrities should expect to live their lives in a fishbowl having paparazzi take pictures of them and have tabloids write false rumors, Barack Obama, as the first black president living in a fishbowl, should not be too surprised of the “race issue” arising in commercial and social media. It’s as if, saying, hey it’s ok to make black jokes coz he finds it funny too. (But really, for the most part, we don’t know if he does)
Asian Pacific American Caucus held a program tonight at Heritage Hall, featuring Asian-American comedian Elliot Chang (apparently he’s been on comedy central and whatnot). I’ve seen him perform before and I have enjoyed his performances. But to connect tonight’s program with the blog entry, I would like to mention that most of Elliot’s jokes are about Asian people and their accompanying stereotypes. At times he would joke about racism and homophobia.
As entertaining as he may be, sometimes I wonder, where does one cross the line? Yes, his jokes were funny. And yes, for the most part, they were true. Stereotype is among us and it is hard to avoid. As Elliot would say, “there is always that one guy…”
I guess since I’m Asian it’s “ok” to find Elliot funny. (Just as how for some reason, if an African American makes a black joke, it’s “ok” too) But really, I don’t think it should be a big deal. After all, Elliot geared his jokes to a general audience, not just Asians. (otherwise, he would not have been successful in his craft).
Maybe a good comedian needs to have a swagger to him. And maybe Elliot did, because I didn’t think any of this jokes were horrendously offensive. And he even mentioned that the reason he sometimes makes fun of stereotypes is because it is present in our world. He didn’t mean any harm, he just wants to find humor in an otherwise serious and even avoided topic.
As a society, we just need to not take it too far.
Alright look, I definitely do not see what is wrong with bringing in a president who has a little bit of style in the way that he does things versus the Crawford Ranch and cowboy boots style that went out with the past president. First off, one stereotype that was not mentioned is that Obamas meetings tend to have a less strict schedule with start times. Whereas with the previous administration when W. would was known to lock cabinet members such as Colin Powell out of meetings if they were late, Obamas meetings are known to start a few minutes late and because there is not nearly as much pretentiousness in this administration, the jacket policy is not enforced nearly quite to the same degree. In my opinion, this new style of doing things gets more done as opposed to the tradition that was the predecessor.
As for the other things, lets address each stereo type, starting with basketball. We have a period in this country that is known as ‘March Madness’ that is inherently ‘American’ because of college basketball in the United States. Next, the stimulus bill. America’s fucked up right now financially. In fact, due to poor credit default swaps, we have a big part in the global financial crisis. We needed it. Next, chicken of the fried variety. If you don’t like this chances are you are vegetarian. If you’re not vegetarian, then you are just plain fucking weird because this is delicious. Mind you I am about the whitest kid you will ever meet, from a town that is 97% white. Gift of music? Having any gift at all is a big improvement from the previous administration which had none. And finally, swagger? How in the world is this a bad thing. In my opinion it is just another word for charisma to a certain extent. Nobody will see this as a bad thing. In fact it simply means that you do not have a stick up your ass which is great for foreign relations. All in all, it sounds like these characteristics make him sound like a typical American. You could have applied the same principal to the last president: Rich white guy who blows a lot of coke then crashes his car but gets out of it all because of his dad. I would say that these are all a great improvement over the past administration. Although these may be stereotypical of him, I would definitely not say that these are bad characteristics. They are all positive as to how he can run a country to gives a positive spin to a country that needs it. Basically I am hammered drunk. Sorry if this does not make any sense at all.
So, I actually think this article is quite funny, and I think Sam finds this hilarious as well. I truly think that Barack Obama is man who completely understands that there are many racist people still in our country, and I think he fully understands that there will be racist remarks made toward him. However, I do not really think it is fully necessary for people to blatantly insinuate racist comments toward President Obama. I think the Obama Country-Fried Chicken is a little absurd, especially when trying to market a product and thrive at selling it. I think that African Americans would certainly view this as a racial stereotype and possibly boycott this company.
As for the IPod – what idiot buys the Queen of England an IPod? I was at Wal-Mart tonight and saw some old lady trying to differentiate between an mp3 player and an IPod. She told the salesperson the only thing she wanted was a play and stop button. I understand the idea of giving a gift to a host – but an IPod to a woman who is in a wheelchair and that probably has absolutely no use for it?? I do like the silhouette of Barack – maybe this will attract more customers. Who knows?
Everyone knows that Black people can play basketball, unless they have some sort of genomic mutation that makes them terrible at basketball. I was actually surprised this year when President Obama created an NCAA March Madness Tournament Bracket – I wonder if he hired staff to create the right picks for teams? I think everyone is making a big deal out of everything he does – and I really think it is because he is black.
Hell, what if a woman was in office. Lets for one second say that Hillary Clinton would have won the presidency, a little funny to think (sorry), but any-who. I think she would get a lot of media attention if she were to put feminine things into the White House, like maybe a beauty parlor, a spa, etc. I truly do not see what the big deal is that Barack Obama is putting a basketball court in the White House property, or that he made his bracket. I think America needs to get over the fact that we have a black president, which I think is a good thing, and just to accept the fact.
All in all, I do not necessarily think this is a very racist top five of Barack Obama, I actually kind of think they are a little bit funny, but maybe that is just me. Like I said, I think if there was an Arab, Female, Gay, Alien, Dog President, there would be certain comments or things done to set that person off.
I would have to say that I thought the countdown was rather funny, I know it has a lot of stereotypes in the countdown, but I thought it was pretty funny. I see these all the time on the late night shows and although they are offensive, I think it is all done in good humor, not to offend. When Bush was the president, the late night shows poked fun at him all the time for different things. I think I actually saw the thing about Obama giving an iPod on John Stewart and I could not stop laughing.
I do feel like Obama has a “God like complex” and it is because of the way he walks around and conducts himself. I feel like Obama walks around with his head up high thinking he is better than everyone, it is not a bad thing to have a lot of self confidence, but it might be to the point where it is a lot of cockiness and once people are conceded, that is when it turns around and start to think negatively about someone.
Maybe it is just me because I am not an Obama supporter so I just pick on things that I do not like about him. My reason for this is because I want Obama to prove his worth as the president of the United States. I want Obama to make changes for our country and I have not seen these changes. If I start seeing changes that are beneficial to me and the country, then I would no scrutinize the things he does and I would allow him to walk around with a “God like complex,” but until I see changes, I cannot. I think I might be looking at him from a harsher and harder standpoint because I think he still has a lot to prove. He still has more to prove to me that he is a worthy president.
I am not bitter that Obama is president, being bitter does not change the fact that Obama is our president and that is why I am hoping Obama does come through on his promises so that our country can turn around for the best. Until I see changes that benefit our country, I will look at Obama as someone who cannot come through on his promises, I do hope and have a lot of confidence that Obama will come through because if we start doubting our president, we start doubting a lot of things in our country. Maybe that is why Obama still has a “God like complex” about him, a lot of people still have a lot of confidence in him regardless of whether or not he has changed our country for the best, regardless of whether or not he has changed the way our country runs things. I think if Obama does not start pulling through, people will start loosing confidence in him, which will cause people to start being annoyed with his “God like complex,” which in turn will lead Obama to become more grounded. For me, I have set the bar higher for Obama and I am already annoyed with his “God like complex” and I am waiting for him to see that he is not God.
After reading over this blog and article a few thoughts popped into my head. The first thought that came to my mind is how ultra sensitive people in today’s society have become regarding certain more taboo topics, especially regarding race. I understand that there are many offensive jokes that swirl around in today’s society; however I think there are some people that take jokes way to seriously and need to learn and realize that they are just jokes. Although something may offend an individual, I think sometimes people just can’t take being poked fun at a little bit. However, I do understand that some jokes are extremely offensive and should never be repeated because they are extremely racist.
After reading this article, I think it is very crazy how the political cartoonists in today’s society have to really change the way they do their work in today’s society. I understand that there job is to poke fun at individuals and that it has been done to all presidents, however, I completely understand where people think it is wrong to make the new president Obama resemble an ape. The individuals who create political cartoons always poke fun at the individual’s appearance which is even done in caricatures that are found in amusement parks, however, it is not ok to make a man that is African American resemble and ape because that is an extremely racial and derogatory idea. Since these caricature artists are so creative, I would assume they could think of another way to poke fun at the new president Obama without referring to such a derogatory and offensive idea.
After looking at the jokes on Sam’s blog about president Obama and basketball, and the stimulus bill, and the fried chicken, I do not find these remarks remotely offensive and I do not find them funny either. I agree with the one blogger who thought of the jokes as stupid. Yes, I understand that a lot of African American’s play basketball but if you had a white president playing tennis ( a predominantly white sport) I do not think I would take offense to the joke because it is just making fun of a silly stereotype. I also think the African American playing basketball or that African Americans liking fried chicken is not all that humorous and actually lacks creativity. Therefore, these set of jokes I think are not worth an individual’s time to get upset over. To be honest, if as an individual you find them offensive I would just look past them and move on because they are such over done stereotypes that it is a waste of time to get angry about them. However, I do understand how individuals would get extremely upset over the ape jokes because it has such a racist connotation to it. Therefore, I think it is time for society to take some jokes with a grain of salt and choose wisely which jokes you really are going to let bother you.
In responding to the blog, What’s Funny About Obama…And What’s Not, is typical stereotype that that society have place on African Americans. The United States of America have to become more mature about a change. It is really messed up how some people view our President Barack Obama all because of his color. Some White people make up racist jokes such as African Americans eating Fried Chicken, African American males plays Basketball, and gang bangers. These are some of the many stereotypes that African Americans have to face in the United States of America. We as African Americans could have some racist comments towards the White people. Some things that African Americans could say racist about White people eat Lasagna, drink Wine, and eat Corn Bread. Going deeper into the blog that it states that African Americans love music, but in reality every one just about loves music. We could go into what types of music that different cultures listen to. Like some African Americans could say that mostly White people listen to Rock, Country, and Metal. Some African Americans could say that is typical White people’s music. Some African Americans could say that the majority of the White male only knows how to play Hockey, Golf, and Soccer. Some African Americans could say typical White people sports. Some other racist comments African American males could say in relation in movie “White Men Can’t Jump.” In that cartoon about the cartoonists drew a Chimpanzee getting shot to death by two police officers as for fun. How would the White people would like an African American cartoonists make a drawn, of two African American male police officers kill an dog in relating the White race and saying that White people came from dogs? That wouldn’t be funny at all, and matter of fact that would be insulting to the White people. Some White people should have empathy and should place themselves in someone else’s shoes and see how they would feel if it happens to them. Some of these jokes are very offensive to me as an African American male. These typical African American jokes are not only offensive me, probably all the African American race. Oppression towards African American people, have been going on over four hundred years of trying to make things more difficult for the African American race. We should as the United States of America should respect each other races, cultures, religion, and beliefs. Not African Americans have stereotypes, but for Italians like Spaghetti, Gyros for Greeks, Bagels for Jews, and Halal meats for Middle Easterners is stereotyping for the races. As for the Indian race presently they are suffering the worst financially than any race at least for the United States of Americans. We should as for every race and culture should help on another out. When the United States of America says in the Pledge of Allegiance and it has a quote in it says justice for all. That is not true at all and it is very hypocritical for the United States to say that. If it is justice for all, then why does racism still exist still today? The United States of America need to practice what they preach and be more respectful towards one another.
I agree with Sam and many of my other classmates when they say that many people are really too sensitive and should not take themselves so seriously over racial jokes. However, I think one of the reasons why many people are sensitive to this issue is because they might have been ridiculed or made fun of because of their culture or race since a young age. In addition, I think it can be said that white people just haven’t been made fun of for that long…so it doesn’t have the same stigma. On the other hand, there has been a history of racism towards other ethnicities. I also think that the “over-sensitive stage” is just something that people go through. When I was younger, I was one of those people who did get upset at a mild joke, but as I have gotten older, I am the person who’s not only making the joke, but also laughing along. In particular, when comedian Chris Rock tells a joke, I know that he is so comfortable with race that he’s simply pointing out the realities of life in a raw way. Also, since he makes fun of anything and everything, no particular race is “off limits.” It’s kind of cool the way he does that because he makes the jokes accessible to everyone. In all seriousness, Chris Rock is hilarious! That being said, I still think there needs to be some level of respect when making a racial joke (outside the comedian context). I say outside a comedian context because I think comedians know a lot more about themselves than maybe the average person. For example, I do not think that the average person could make the jokes Chris Rock tells and get away with it. Either way, there are a lot of contradictions.
When comparing most Obama jokes to the jokes I have seen or heard about George Bush, the Obama jokes do seem to be based on racial stereotypes. I don’t know that I’ve seen any jokes about white presidents that particularly focus on their white skin. Maybe it’s simply because he is black! I think in general, comedians have some sort of understanding about themselves so that they can do their job and be funny.
In general, I think most people are comfortable with race jokes as long as it remains within their own community. Meaning black people can make fun of other black people, Chinese people can make fun of other Chinese people, and so on. It’s funny when the jokes are made by people in our own communities, but once it leaves our community it becomes offensive. So how do we make it so that it’s okay to laugh across the border? Well, I think comedians like Chris Rock do a good job of this.
To start off, I didn’t find the cartoons funny, but let me clarify. I didn’t find the cartoons funny because, to be honest, I didn’t get/understand any of them until they were explained below – at which point they still didn’t make much sense to me. When you’re confused, it’s hard for something to be funny. However, I certainly did not feel anger or offense at these jokes. Recently, I heard a joke that they were closing I-80 to transport a huge chunk of coal (they gave some outrageous number for the size of this supposed piece of coal) so they could carve Obama into Mount Rushmore too. Of course, I didn’t understand the joke until it was explained to me (again!), but I didn’t find it offensive. I found it stupid and a waste of time to listen to, but I just brushed it aside with all the other nonsense I hear every day. Now I’m not perfect, in fact I am far from it, but I do think perhaps more people should learn that – brush the nonsense aside. It may save us a lot of unnecessary fuss, which segways into my next topic – cartoonists.
One phrase to describe my reaction to the “Tread Lightly When Drawing Obama” article: Are you kidding me!? Everyone has certain facial features that stand out! I have a narrow face and a nose that is too close to my mouth. I got a caricature done, looked at it, wished I could get rid of my long nose, laughed, and went on. Cartoonists will exaggerate everyone’s unique features; Obama should not be an exception. If he is truly equal then he should be treated equal rather than being treated like a person who needs babying or special handling – a person who cannot see himself mocked. Every president has had to deal with cartoonists, their drawings and their truths/lies. I feel that Obama was in the politics game and knew what he had coming before he decided to run for president. Let’s face it, this is not some decision in which you wake up and say, “hmm, you know what? I think I will run for President and see where it gets me.” No. It’s a lot of work and a lot of dedication and any candidate has to understand the incredible responsibility and scrutiny they will take on in this position. So Obama has big lips, let the cartoonists portray that. If every cartoonist’s drawing had the subject looking plain and just the same as anyone else, it wouldn’t quite be as funny nor would it be the exaggerated sketch we all look forward to. If we think U.S. citizens doing their job and drawing Obama with funny lips is our biggest problem (or the one that deserves so much attention over other grave matters), we better start rethinking our agenda.
Okay, so let me just say that I do think theses jokes are funny but who really wouldn’t?! I’m not trying to lump any group of people together here but lets face it…there are jokes about Jewish people, Asian people, Indian people, gay people, blonde females, WHITE PEOPLE AND BLACK PEOPLE. (For this first part, I’m talking about verbal jokes) So, whatever YOUR race you are bound to laugh a stereotypical joke every once it a while. And Obama being the president he is now our country’s leader and also the center of people’s jokes. Jokes are exactly what they are, JOKES! People of power or status are the first people that jokes are made about. It comes with the territory. If it didn’t we wouldn’t have shows like SNL. I don’t think these jokes are meant to offend anyone. Since we have a black president some black people might come up with an argument that others are just making fun of him because the color of his skin but I don’t think that is true. Look at past presidents, Clinton endure the cigar comment forever and Bush got made fun all of the time so, before anyone starts bitching, a joke is a joke. If it offends YOU let that person know and explain why but please realize that jokes will never die out. It comes with the territory of being a person of power.
With that being said the photos that were shown on the blog are funny but I could see how they could be offensive. The fried chicken one is kind of bad. I work in a fried chicken place and we see all kinds of people and black people but saying all black people like fried chicken is being stereotypical. All of the pictures shown are some assumptions that you may sometimes make about black people. The one with Obama and the basketball doesn’t strike me as offensive because the reality of it is that there are a lot of black people who do play basketball. Obama branding himself is funny but true. Isn’t there going to be Obama stamps or something along those lines? Not that the man isn’t doing a good job or anything but COME ON we know you’re the president, do you need your face on a stamp after only X amount of days in office?!?! Some of the jokes may be brought on by himself. ( like the blog said about him buying an ipod for the Queen of England) He is a publicity man and getting made fun of is part of that terrority, too. But all in all, a joke is a joke and should been taken with a grain of salt.
Once you are in the spotlight and a political figure it is a given that you will be the target of many jokes and much frustration. The drawings that were done with President Obama are not out of the ordinary and he must realize this. Political cartoonists have always played on people’s “inner character” when manipulating their image. So this becomes a tremendous issue with the first black president. What is appropriate and what is inappropriate? Unfortunately or fortunately enough, this is for the public to decide. Some things need to be kept in mind though: President Obama is a public official that has made a choice to be where he is today; he was not forced upon the presidency and this key when determining the appropriateness of these political cartoons and jokes.
Although it was predicted that having a black president would be a good thing for the political cartoonists and race relations throughout the United States and the world, that has proved to be just the opposite. Political cartoonists need to watch everything they do because they do not want to be dubbed a racist, but that’s not fair. Their job as a political cartoonist is to criticize the public officials through humorous avenues.
Some of the cartoons may be in poor taste according to some people, such as the last joke where Obama tells God that he is sitting in his seat. People will certainly find this offensive, that is not the question. The question that arises is: would this be offensive if Obama was white? Some people would certainly still find this offensive, but would they expect this? I would argue that the answer to that is yes, they would expect to see a cartoon like that regardless of the race. It is not an issue of race, but more so an issue of a new public official.
Unfortunately I think that people are playing the race card way too often when it comes to these cartoons. Perhaps it is an issue and offensive, but let’s be honest, most political cartoons are offensive. Why should President Obama get any different treatment? However, one thing that I have noticed is on the issue of respect. The issue of respect is not with the political cartoons though, rather with the way the President is addressed.
If you listen to some news stations or read certain newspapers, it is Mr. Obama, not President Obama. That lack of respect is unacceptable in a country that claims to be the ‘melting pot of the world’. For being the melting pot, the media is not overwhelmingly respectful to the President. In the recent past it was always President Bush or President Clinton, never Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton. Personally, I think that this is a much greater issue than the idea of political cartoons being overtly “racist”.
I would agree that those who become easily offended should not take themselves quite so seriously. However, at the same time, these jokes are not being targeted at me. There is a fine line between humor and vulgarity, and the truth is, that line is different for each of us. Regardless of whether we think it is appropriate for one to become offended, or whether we think he/she is being “too uptight,” we must simply respect that fact that the comment, joke, or image is, in fact, offensive to some individuals. Just because one person responds to a racial joke positively, finding humor in what is being stated, another may become truly hurt. And when an individual feels attacked, it becomes very likely that he/she will build walls around him/her so as to both protect and close themselves off from their persecutors. When this occurs, he/she is rarely open to conversations about race, for it is this subject upon which they feel insulted. Therefore, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate the hurt and animosity, and make any progress in healing and improving race relations. It is not in our power to judge whether a person should or should not be offended by certain material. You cannot gauge the reaction of an individual, but it is our responsibility to respect their feelings.
I am confused on one point, however. Are these jokes a sign of our progression and maturity in the world of race, or are such an indication of the very opposite? Race was an issue rarely talked about a decade ago, and no one would have dared to make the edgy remarks about race that comedians, cartoonists, and the like do today. So because race has found its way into discussions, and is being publicly and openly focused upon, should we call it a step in the right direction? As long as we are talking about the topic, is that making headway, despite the fact that such gains are being made at the expense of others?
The four images and the story about President Barack Obama are extremely stereotypical of the black community. It is safe to say that a series of stereotypes serve as the basis upon which these photos were founded. Yet when we approach the race table, we are encouraged to leave behind our stereotypes, and any preconceived notions about others that are not based on fact or truth. So are stereotypical jokes made about other races deteriorating our progress in race relations? And if so, why do we find such humor to be funny? There seems to be a huge contradiction attached to the use of stereotypical comments. It just seems logical to me that if these unfair assumptions and generalizations are to be kept out of racial discussions, they should also be kept out of jokes. What makes it okay or accepted for such to be prevalent in one circumstance or scenario, but very much frowned upon in another?
In response to all the Obama cartoons, I had to laugh as well. These are creative and amusing. When people get all bent out of shape about things like this, I just want to smack them. If you are going to take offense to stereotypes, you take yourself too seriously. Every person has been stereotyped, and I think it is something that you just laugh at and shrug off. For instance, I have been stereotyped as a nerd because I study a lot. My roommate was stereotyped as the dumb blonde cheerleader. And Obama is stereotyped as a basketball player. This is how society works. We all want to put people into categories, and it is just the way it is. When people get offended, I think they honestly need to calm down. For instance, in class, Sam said something one day about black people not being able to swim. A girl raised her hand and said something like, “You know that’s not true. Some black people can swim!” I just sat there thinking, “Are you serious right now?” Obviously some black people can swim, but it is a joke! I’m a white female, and I always pick on the fact that I can’t dance and that I get a sunburn when I’m outside for 20 minutes. They are features that go along with being white, but I understand that this is not the case for everyone. In addition, Obama is the President of the United States, which puts him in the position to be picked on. Look at all the George Bush cartoons that were created during his presidency. I know I have seen multiple versions of George Bush being compared to a monkey. So we call Barack Obama a basketball player (at least that’s human!), and people get upset; but we can call George Bush a monkey (only a primate!) and that is perfectly okay? As for the Chicken cartoon, that is a racial joke that black people like fried chicken. But if you look at it another way, it could just be a clever strategy to be patriotic. I remember when French Fries were renamed Freedom Fries in order to be Patriotic. Hell there are sandwiches downtown in State College named after good football players and coaches. Are people overanalyzing this? Maybe the owners just like Obama and know that it is a very recognized name. Perhaps the people who own it are black, so would they be making a racial slur at themselves? As for the controversy surrounding cartoonists who draw Obama, this is ridiculous! They should not have to be careful what features they exaggerate just because Obama is black. As I mentioned before, no one had any issues projecting George Bush in a cartoon with crazy features. Every picture of him had huge ears. If Obama happens to have bigger lips than most people, that is one of his defining features and should be included in cartoon drawings of him. I don’t consider my teeth to be that big. In fact, I get complimented on my smile a lot. Yet, whenever I get a caricature of myself drawn, I always always have buck-teeth. It’s what cartoonists do. If they can’t accentuate Obama’s features because he is black, they are being more racist for treating him differently. If we were really at a point in this country where race was not an issue, then no one would make a distinction between cartoons of Obama and cartoons of a white person. And seriously, this whole blog is about cartoons. Cartoons, which are meant to make people laugh. People need to stop over-analyzing everything and just laugh about them. They are not meant to be taken so seriously, and race should not be a factor in them.
I do not see how anyone could look at these cartoons and jokes and not find at least one of them funny. Some of them may have been a little touchier than others, but there was humor in each joke. People should not be so uptight about political humor because they are only jokes. Yeah, race is the main point behind these jokes but there is no point in getting irate. I am a black male and I find these jokes to be moderately funny, only because I am hard to please. For those that are black and take offense to some of these jokes, that is fine. It’s perfectly natural to have reactions of skepticism or slight irritation. But there is no point in get enraged at the jokes because there is nothing you can do about it. Of course you can complain and bicker with the artists, but who is to say that the artists are intentionally being offensive? There is no sense in getting angry at something that should be taken lightly. I personally found the one about Obama and basketball to be the funniest. Besides the fact that there is a stereotype about blacks and basketball, we have all held witness to Obama playing basketball on the news. It’s even funnier that the men that played with Obama said he was actually good. For those that have played pick-up games, we know the tradition of calling in for the next game. The picture says “Obama got next”. This was, overall, a hilarious piece.
For those that thought the joke with Obama’s picture on a food stamp would be slightly offensive, you were right. It pinched a nerve, but my reaction was not one of anger or bitterness. I’m at a loss for words for this one, because it was a little unnecessary. The cartoon in the posted link with the cops shooting the chimpanzee was even worse. No, I was not offended per se, but that cartoon was totally uncalled for. Equating our president to a chimp is sending the message that he is an animal that cannot do his job properly. Yeah we have chimps flying space ships, but being chief of state is not the same. And frankly, the idea of equating blacks to chimps and gorillas is hackneyed. The cartoonist even denies its reference to Obama. Now I don't mind caricatures and neither should anyone else regardless of their race or ethnic origin. The whole point of caricatures is to exaggerate the features of the subject. And for those that think Obama is more white than black, where is the justification? People that grow up in more affluent environments should not be classified as having “white” behavior just because the majority of people that live in those neighborhoods are white.
Here are my thoughts on the jokes: I think that some of them are hilarious and some I don’t think they are that funny, and some that I don’t really understand but I definitely do not find any of them offending whatsoever. The joke that said that all black people play basketball is funny because there are a lot of tall black guys, and most of the black guys that I know do play basketball. So it may be a stereotype but it is one that has a lot of truth to it. The one thing that I do not get is playing spades, because I do not know a lot of black people or any other people that play spades, unless it is at a casino or it’s a drinking game. As for the joke about Obama’s stimulus bill, I don’t think that this joke is all that funny. It might make sense to have food coupons since the cost of food is increasing, but I don’t think that would be the best option or idea to help stimulate the economy. I don’t necessarily think that watermelon and chicken are black foods, because I know a lot of people of other races that love watermelon and chicken. I know that black people love chicken, like really love chicken but that doesn’t mean that its black food. As for watermelon, I’m not so sure, but me personally I’m not really a fan of watermelon…but that’s just me. The joke about Obama’s fried chicken is funny because the restaurant wants to serve all different foods for all of the different races, so as to try to please everyone, which is want Obama is trying to do. It is true that black people do love music, although I think everyone loves music to some extent. I don’t necessarily think that it was such a good idea to give the Queen an iPod, but it is always good to be exposed to different music and learn the music of all the different cultures. The last joke about the swagger of Barack, I think is the most hilarious. I think that it’s funny Obama thinks he is equal to God, which he is most definitely not. You say that white people don’t understand what swagger is, and that may be true…well I am half black and I don’t totally understand it either. Maybe it’s the white in me that doesn’t understand it. As for the cartoon drawing of Obama, I think it’s ridiculous. I mean when you become President, you have to know that you will be criticized and also that people will make fun of you. I definitely feel that it is not a race issue, I know that past presidents have been criticized majorly, especially our last president. You just have to be able to take criticism and learn not to take everything seriously. People still don’t know what is offensive and what’s not, but if you don’t ask questions, then you will never know. The one thing that I don’t get is why are white people afraid of offending black people or other people of color, but people of color are not afraid of offending white people?
If we can’t laugh at stereotypes and cartoons and jokes, what stick has been shoved up the ass of America? I think the fact that stereotypes are exactly that makes them funny. They generalize a group into characteristics which have become well know or popular for one reason or another. Some of these stereotypes come from the media, some come from prominent figures who display certain characteristics and some come from our countries segregated past. Sometimes jokes can cross a line and go from funny to offensive, but to the general population I think we can decide for ourselves when this line is crossed.
For example, on the blog earlier this semester there was a picture of the White House with a watermelon patch Photoshopped onto the front lawn; I think this picture may have crossed a line. While many black people may enjoy watermelon, I think the joke was harkening back to the Jim Crow past and minstrel black face shows of the late 19th and early 20th century where blacks were depicted as wide grinned and indulging themselves in watermelon. Obama basketball; this was funny because both the NBA and college basketball are dominated by black players, obviously they have a natural gift for this sport, and the fact that a dorky lawyer Ivy League type black man also likes basketball is just funny. Obama is no Lebron James or Michael Jordan, but he enjoys shooting hoops-funny.
Food stamps with Obama’s face on them doesn’t make me laugh because I feel that many poor black people see Obama as their savior and he is going to bring them out of poverty and make their world great-not going to happen. No matter what color the president is he can’t save people from themselves. You are in poverty for a reason, most likely because you got yourself there and no president is going to get you out of that situation, only you can do that to yourself. I remember when Obama was elected there was a clip on the news of a black woman saying “Obama is going to buy my gas and pay my mortgage for me”. Riiight lady, because George W. Bush bought me a pickup truck and a gun because he is a country boy. Obama may try to help the lower classes with tax cuts and health care but he can’t get people out of poverty with a magic wand as many of these people think he can.
And swagger like Barack? Yeah its funny becase black men are stereotyped to have an air about themselves and a swagger representing their cool. This “cool” combines all the style, rhythm and suave black musicians, actors and entertainers have portrayed for generations. However, I don’t see Obama haing a swagger like 50 Cent or T.I. I think his swagger is more comparable to Steve Urkel. Sorry Obama, but just because you are black doesn’t automatically make you cool. You are still as white as ever other Ivy League grad lawyer type who probably drives a BMW and enjoys wine and cheese parties with their friends. And the iPod for the queen of England, come on! The woman is like 85 years old! I bet she still can’t program her VCR, good luck ever getting her to use the iPod. But it was funny watching you try to be cool. I guess she didn’t want a signed picture of Barack and Michelle Obama like she gave them of herself and her husband.
When the campaign process was in full swing in the fall, there were many posters hanging everywhere. There were pictures of McCain, pictures of Obama, and pictures of some other random candidate who no one has ever heard of. I, personally, did not hang up any posters, but many of my friends did, as well as many people in the building that I live in. So one day, I check my email and there is a mandatory floor meeting issued by our Resident Assistant (RA). Okay, so I go as well as my roommates. We get there and the entire meeting is about racism and the unfair treatment of people of color and people with disabilities here at Penn State. The RA proceeded to tell us that this school is racist and extremely unfair to individuals. After sitting through about two hours of why I am racist and need to change, I began to wonder what caused this meeting. It turns out someone drew on one of the Obama posters on the boy’s floor. Now, I am not quite sure to how extreme the “vandalism” took place (the RA would not go into much detail as to what was drawn on his face so it could have been extremely offensive to a fake mustache), but in any case, our RA took offense and held this meeting. One thing I have not mentioned was the fact that my RA is African American, so she may have taken personal offense to the fact that someone took a pen to Obama’s face. I believe that if the pen were taken to any other candidate’s face, an email would have been sent out saying that it is not nice to vandalize other people’s property.
The cartoonists should be allowed to distort the physical properties of celebrities. Why should Obama be an exception? All of the other candidates were made fun of. The cartoonist would be poking fun at the individual person and those particular set of traits, or the policies that person just passed. Okay, so the chimp cartoon was mean, and I can understand why people are upset over this particular cartoon. What I do not understand is why this anger is spread over the majority of political cartoons about Obama. I understand that some of these cartoons are truly offense, but honestly, people do need to lighten up a bit. In class lately, Sam has been showing a lot of comedians poking fun at different races. Chris Rock does an excellent job at poking fun at his own race and others. Whenever the camera pans towards the audience, everyone is laughing. Every race, ever color, and every gender is laughing. Is it funnier when the joke is told in person rather than in print? Is it more offensive in the news paper than when a comedian says it? I don’t get it.
When I think about Barack Obama being the first black president of the United States, many jokes that I have heard come to mind. I was online a couple months ago, and I happened to look in my inbox and found that some one sent me the famous e-mail with the picture of the white house with watermelons lining the front yard. This joke is obviously making a racist joke about blacks liking to eat watermelons. Recently in my recitation, we talked about whether or not we thought jokes that poke fun at blacks are as offensive as the black community says they are. In my mind, I don’t think these jokes are extremely offensive, I just think they are immature jokes that should never be taken seriously. I have heard the typical “white men can’t jump” or “white men can’t dance” and I laugh at the joke. I laugh because I have realized that I am a white male and I can’t jump or dance very well. I am not saying that ALL white people can’t dance or jump and ALL blacks can, I just think it is funny because I fit the stereotype, and so do a lot of my friends. I’m sure there are black people who have heard these jokes like the watermelon joke and have laughed because they fit the stereotype. In my opinion, these jokes about stereotyping races are harmless, but some of them can offend anyone no matter their racial background. The picture of Barack Obama on the basketball court is harmless in my opinion because the stereotype is that black people play basketball. The same with the Obama fried chicken restaurant. All this is saying is that black people like to eat fried chicken. This is the same as someone saying Chinese people like to eat rice. I don’t see anything for anyone to get mad about in these harmless stereotypes. On the other hand, the food stamp picture is definitely offensive, because to me it is saying that all blacks are poor and need food stamps to survive. This stereotype is condescending towards a race, saying they are collectively poor, even the President of our country. As for the joke about Barack Obama, I don’t think that should be looked at as condescending either. I know this comparison is used a lot, but if this joke were told about a white president, I don’t think it would raise nearly as much trouble. This joke is not about blacks as a whole, but a personal joke about Barack Obama having a swagger. When it comes to stereotypical jokes, most shouldn’t be taken as offensive, but there are certain some that can definitely offend certain races for different reasons.
I would like to start off by saying that I did not find any of the jokes in the article “What’s Funny About Obama…And What’s Not” the slightest bit offensive. After reading the introduction of the blog, I had prepared myself for the worst, expecting to cringe when I read the jokes; instead, I actually found myself laughing at all of them. Although each one of them was “stereotypical of the black race,” I don’t believe they were intended to offend or in any way be racist. In my opinion, the jokes were completely harmless and were intended to make everyone laugh, including the president. Barack Obama, just like every other previous president of the United States, is going to be a target for jokes the entire time he is in office. Political figures and people in power, especially the president, have always been and always will be targets for political cartoons. In the past, President Bush was ridiculed for his Texan accent and his decisions regarding the war in Iraq. In my opinion, those political cartoons seem to be far more offensive than any of the cartoons displayed in the blog. I believe that poking fun at President Obama, perhaps a man farthest away from a “black stereotype,” for his race is far less offensive then insulting him for his decisions that he has made in office.
For each joke in the blog, I read into them each a different way and found not one of them offensive. The first joke about Obama and basketball, although very stereotypical, is in no way racist. It is true; there are many black individuals that play basketball and because our president is black, the joke pokes at this notion. However, this joke should be taken as more of a compliment rather than a put down, for it makes reference to the vast amount of blacks who dominate the sport of basketball.
The second joke in the blog might come off to be racist when you first glance at it, but I in fact believe that with the rise of food costs and our poor economy that no matter what the race of our president, his face would have been on that picture. Food stamps are not just for blacks, again and that is where I feel like the stereotype comes in to play in this joke.
The third joke also touches on stereotypes, but actually pokes fun of multiple races instead. In this case, I feel as if no one should take offense to this joke, for it doesn’t favor or put down any race more than another.
The last joke about the IPOD actually seems to compliment Obama’s trendy and up-beat style. Everyone enjoys listening to music, not just the black race.
In my opinion, when reading over each joke, the only one that I concluded to be in any way racist was the one in the “Cartoonists tread lightly when drawing Obama” article about the stimulus bill. When I first looked at the cartoon, I saw the image of the chimpanzee, and knowing that monkeys used to represent the black race in the past in political cartoons, I immediately thought that the cartoon was racist. However, after reading over the explanation that the cartoonist later gave, I realized that it was not in any way intended to offend anyone from the black race. Although I do believe that people need to be more informed about what these political jokes mean before they jump to any conclusions, I also believe that cartoonists do need to be more careful with what they put in their cartoons.
I think the reason many black people are so offended by political cartoons is because they have never been made fun of about race by white people before. Like the article said, many of the cartoonists working for these newspapers are white middle-aged men who probably don’t know what is offensive and what isn’t. It’s perfectly acceptable for Dave Chapelle to make fun of white people, but it’s not ok for these cartoonists to draw Obama’s big lips. Does this mean white people are just better at laughing at themselves? Are white people just not as sensitive? I don’t think so. In my opinion it goes back to the white guilt still felt by most of white America. If a black person makes a joke about “crackers” in a stand up routine, no white person will ever admit to being offended by it, because white people will either realize it’s a joke and let it go, or they’re just scared of black people thinking they’re just a “racist white guy”. Completely opposite to the reaction of white people, if a black person hears a joke made about race from a white person, many won’t hesitate to let that person know they’re out of line. Which reaction is better? Who’s right, the white person for letting the joke roll of their shoulder, or the black person for expressing how they feel? I’m not the one to decide how people are supposed to act, but in my opinion, there are way too many people worried about being politically correct in our society. Why should I walk on eggshells every time I talk about race? I’m a white person who thinks Dave Chapelle’s “cracker” jokes are just as funny as the jokes he makes about black people, but if I’m in a room of black people watching his stand-up routine, I would be scared to laugh at the black jokes he makes. I’m a racist if I laugh at welfare and fried chicken jokes, but when black people laugh at me for talking how I do (or doing whatever it is that us white people do that’s so funny) it’s fine. I just want people to stop being so concerned with defending themselves. Maybe black people are insecure with their lifestyle or some of the typically black things they do. That’s the only reason I can conceptualize for why someone would be so offended when someone else points out they eat a lot of fried chicken and watermelon. Back to the original point now…black America needs to realize that Obama is going to be drawn with big stereotypical black lips, and people are going to draw political cartoons of a watermelon patch on the lawn of the Whitehouse. It’s pretty similar to when people made fun of McCain for being very religious. Some people could take the stereotypical portrayals of Christians in McCain’s political cartoons just as seriously as Obama’s. Basically what I’m saying is that everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize a joke is joke. Ever heard of the saying that starts with “sticks and stones”? Some people seriously need to take that one to heart a little more.
Offensive or funny? Is that a joke in itself? The only person I could see being offended by any of these jokes is Obama himself, and that is only if he thinks any of them are incredibly false or incredibly true. Why is it a problem that blacks are associated with fried chicken? Many blacks do eat fried chicken, and I appreciate how Sam said under the ‘Obama’s fried chicken stand’ that they offered stereotypical foods for other races as well. What I think is that the stereotypes came about for a reason, most likely because they are true to a great number of the race but if there was no negative connotation attached to the stereotype there wouldn’t be a problem. The other jokes that are in the blog are funny too. The basketball one… many black people do like to play basketball most likely including the President of the United States. The Ipod one is funny for the reason that Obama actually gave one to the Queen of England. Haha! That’s pretty funny if you ask me, but who could that possibly offend other than Obama thinking that maybe that was a dumb idea after the fact. I also liked what Sam said in the blog about people who get offended by these jokes just take themselves too seriously. I want to add to that and say that they probably take everything too seriously. I understand that some things should be taken seriously but why should jokes be taken anything but as a joke? This blog and the article just have me keep asking why because although I understand that sometimes even I get offended if you just step back and try and see if that person is trying to offend you or is just joking you may find that there was nothing wrong with what they said. If they were attempting to offend you and they succeeded then basically you just lost. Be strong, even if that means strong enough to take a joke. The article with the cartoonists showed that many of the cartoonists need to have a good sense of humor. And I could certainly see that they are making fun of people when they actually like them, and if they would just leave them be if they didn’t care about them. Overall I just think that a sense of humor is completely necessary in order for us to have a race talk or any other talk in order to not get offended so easily.
I think it is expected that people will make fun off of Barack Obama, he is the president and every recent president has had jokes thrown at their. Usually is in cartoon, their most prominent features are exaggerated, as Bush looking like a monkey and so forth. It is obvious that Barack Obama’s most prominent feature, compared to every other president, is the color of his skin, thus it is expected that it will the butt of most jokes. He went into office knowing that and so did the people of this nation. I think that jokes can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. Thus it is very difficult to determine if a joke or funny comment about a race is socially progressive or just plain racist. I definitely think that a lot of it has to do who presents the joke and what their view is. Obviously if a comedian who is clearly not racist is making fun of typical stereotypes, then it is funny. If however during a family dinner your conservative grandfather makes a joke about black people, it is clearly racist. I think that with every joke, the situation and conditions surrounding needs to be considered. Obviously this is a lot to think about, so most people including me do not really think about it and just laugh at the joke or comment or take offense to it.
This also brings about another big topic among race relations; the use of racial slurs. Why is it ok to say the n word among African Americans and not among other races? Or why do other races find such offense to the word while others use it so loosely? It is intriguing how people react to words with such negative connotation. I understand why a word may be ok to share among the race it makes fun of, but what type of people from other races decide when it is ok to use it. I think that people give words too much meaning. I understand when a person may find a derogative racial comment offensive, such a person who may say it rudely, but if someone just says it as a joke, a person should realize not to take it so offensively. Again, it is like racial jokes, it depends on the situation and conditions that surrounding the racial comment. I grew up with white people who used to throw the n word around in daily conversation. At first I used to find it very offensive, but I just became desensitized to it. I do think that racial derogative terms are offensive, but only when it is meant to me. Jokes and racial slurs can be used as either a friendly conversation or offensive racist comment depending on the situation.
It’s sometimes difficult to establish an appropriate line over which not to cross when satirizing people. It seems to have a lot to do with whom you are talking, or to whom you are talking in the case of public satire. When making fun of someone who belongs to a majority group (like Bush – he is White and Protestant), it seems much more difficult to cross any lines. Richard Nixon often was drawn with an enormous nose, which is another physical feature shared by a large enough portion of people that it fails to inflict any real emotional damage. With a black man in the Presidency, a new wave of concern has erupted in terms of satirical matters. Because black people have experienced so much racism and unequal treatment in this country overtime, we feel obliged to give special attention and unequivocal concern to their feelings. Poking fun at the physical features associated with Obama’s race would wreak havoc in the black community. It’s impossible to separate the concept of simple fun from larger matters of racism and of Obama being the first black man in the White House. It’s a shame that in trying to give equal treatment to people of all races, we end up flipping the race card so far that blacks receive special treatment, or at least more care and concern with joking matters. How do we find a delicate balance between fun and serious, play talk and implications in historical racism?
I’m not sure if Obama giving the Queen of England the gift of an ipod has anything at all to do with race. People of all races enjoy music (although black people do outwardly celebrate it a bit more – I actually envy this!).
I love that Obama was elected to the Presidency for many reasons. But at the top of the list are not reasons related to campaign promises, the economy, or any other political concern for that matter. I like him because he emits a confidence that really can only be described with one word: swagger! I didn’t even know this word existed until about a year ago, which is really funny because I now realize that black artists have used it in their lyrics for many years. I wonder how I ever survived without it! It is now one of the number one qualities I desire in a man! Obama doesn’t seem as distant as past Presidents; even though I have next to nothing in common with him, I still feel like I connect with him. I have had no desire to meet any previous President because I would not have known what to say. Meeting Obama, on the other hand, would be amazing because he possesses qualities of average people. This is why I think that his “special Olympics” comment slip on Jay Leno is funny and no big deal. He is an average guy with an amazing education and talent. Why do we find a need to make our Presidents into some kind of Super-being? I LIKE that is down to earth and that he has swag! How attractive.
The fact that President Barack Obama is black does make it difficult to make fun of him in political cartoons while not crossing the line. Our society would be quick to deem a cartoon racist if it contained any racial stereotypes of any sort. Stereotypes are usually funnier than a typical joke but this is only because the joke is at the expense of someone else. While some jokes are flat out racist like the monkey cartoon in the article it is unfortunate that all jokes about someone of a race need to be lumped into the racist category. I can understand the frustration of cartoonist not knowing what will be considered racist or not racist. It makes it particularly hard for them to keep their jobs if none of their jokes are funny simply because they are “obeying the rules.” While I agree it would be better for race relations for jokes about people of color to be accepted I do not think this will happen any time soon. It is a bit much to ask of a certain ethnicity to “take a joke.” When someone is offended it is difficult to explain to them what you actually meant because at that point they are more unwilling to see your opinion. George Bush was often depicted as a monkey but if Barack Obama were ever depicted as a monkey there would be an outrage. I am not saying this is wrong however society is not laid back enough as a whole to take a joke for what it is.
The jokes that Dr. Richards posted on the blog are quite hilarious to me. I could see how someone may interpret them as racist since they are all primarily based on black stereotypes. The problem I have with stereotypes is that aren’t they stereotype because there is some truth in them? Why would so many people agree that something is funny otherwise? Even so, it is easy to become offended when you are on the receiving end of a stereotype. I know the stereotypes for white people and I guess I fit a few of them but I never really take much offense to them because I can appreciate the humor. I think the line is drawn when someone mistakes a generalized joke for a personal shot directed at them. For instance the basketball Obama cartoon might offend black people who don’t play basketball and don’t want to see their race depicted as people who can only play basketball. If there was a cartoon of a white public figure playing golf (something I assume to be a white stereotype) I would not be offended simply because I understand that it is popular for white people to play golf. In my opinion the way someone takes a joke depends on their level of maturity and experience with other races. If someone is extremely close minded they are far more likely to be offended when a joke is directed at them as opposed to someone who is open minded and willing to hear others opinions.
I feel like people making fun of the president is nothing new and therefore I don’t think that this should be such a big deal. I found pretty much all of the cartoons that were made about Obama funny. The cartoons are made as a joke and people need to just relax and not get all worked up about them. We live in a country where we have freedom of speech and press, so I don’t think that the people making fun of Obama are doing anything illegal.
We are also always talking about everyone being equal and having equal rights…. Pretty much all of the past presidents (which were all white) have been made fun of. So wouldn’t it be treating Obama as an equal if people made fun of him too? I just feel like if people really wanted to be treated as equal we cannot leave out the part where we make fun of the president. I don’t really care if the president is white or black or any other color, I highly doubt that people are ever going to stop making those cartoons.
I really don’t have much to say about the article since I don’t really feel as though those cartoonists are doing anything wrong. That is their job and if they don’t do their job then they will just become part of the growing unemployed people in America.
I also found those five jokes that were made about Obama pretty funny. For number five I think we all knew that something like that was going to be made. We all know that the NBA like other sports is dominated by black players. If I was black I would not take offense to that because I would be proud of my people being the best at basketball.
As far as the chicken one goes…. I really don’t think that anyone can say that they didn’t see that one coming for sure. Let’s face it, when people think of “black food” the first things that come to mind have to be chicken, watermelon and Kool aid. Just like I am sure that when people think of “Mexican food” they think of tacos and beans or anything that is spicy. And for white people, at least for me, the first thing that comes to my head is chicken noodle soup, pasta and bread. The fact is that these are all stereotypes that may or may not be true. (For the most part I think there is at least a little bit of truth to most stereotypes) regardless, we cannot be getting angry at people and at everything that makes fun of our color. Sometimes you just have to laugh about it and move on.
I do not feel like any of those examples Sam provided were in any way offensive to Obama. Most of them were just representing either things he cannot help, like stereotypes associated with his race, or things that he willingly embraces. I thought Obama’s Fried Chicken was really funny; it was just someone utilizing their president’s cultural appeal. The iPod picture was good too. I think that it’s awesome that he gave the Queen of England an iPod as a gift, and even better if he preloaded Motown on it. This is one way that Obama differs from George Bush. We see him at basketball games and in Washington nightlife. He is just doing what is natural to him and that sometimes happens to coincide with racial stereotypes. The only example that actually had to do with his policy was the food coupon one. I don’t think this is in bad taste. We’re always going to hear criticisms on any president’s policies and this is probably one of the milder examples. As for the belief that he has a “God complex” I totally agree with Sam when he said that this is just swagger. That is just the kind of person Obama is. I do not think it’s overly cocky or obnoxious; it’s just kind of there. And if anyone deserves to swagger a little I think its Obama. Unlike many others with a “God complex”, he has proven himself a very intelligent man and respecting of other people. He shows confidence in his political life because that is what he is naturally good at. Personally I would rather see people poking fun of his love of music or his swagger rather than some of the things George Bush so often got made fun of for. A love of fried chicken is much better than speaking words that do not exist in the English language. Even if other people do get upset about some of these Obama jokes I think it’s good that you don’t hear Obama himself complaining about them. First of all, he definitely has more important things to worry about and second, if he did complain, he would be exactly like those people that take themselves too seriously. His confidence in himself and our country is just one of the reasons so many foreign countries find him pleasing. His recent European tour proved just that. I think that must foreign leaders see him as a well rounded man with an understanding personality. He can be loose and funny when the time calls for it, and he has also proven that not all US presidents are loud, boisterous cowboys. There may be some racial stereotypes that cross the line but I don’t think any of these ones did.
I think that every president gets made fun of. They should expect it before they get sworn in. Maybe it should be written in the rules of presidency or something. I don’t think that cartoonists should have to tip toe around what characteristics they choose to exaggerate. Bush always had his big ears exaggerated, and then when it happens to Obama it is a racist comment. That’s why I think a lot of black people are just being way too sensitive with some of the things Obama is being made fun of about. We have to understand he is the first black president. He was going to be made fun of no matter what. Now they are just going to lean towards some of the stereotypes that we all know are just a joke.
With white people cartoonists are able to exaggerate whatever they want without being offensive to the person. It surprises me that cartoon artists are walking on eggshells while they are trying to do their work. I always thought artists liked to be edgy and cause a little controversy. I thought that meant they were doing a good job, but then all the sudden that changes when we get a black president. It doesn’t make sense to me that people are so scared to make jokes when that’s what they do for a living. When a cartoonist drew me they exaggerated my big Italian nose and my small teeth. I did not get offended at all. He also exaggerated my Chinese friend’s slanted eyes. That was not a problem for her at all. I think this is because we both have a sense of humor and that is what more people need especially nowadays when everyone is coming together. A sense of humor bonds people a lot of the time.
I think that the one cartoon artist should have admitted to his cartoon being about Obama instead of denying it. "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." With a caption like that how can he even say it is about a chimp that cops shot to death? I feel like that makes the cartoon artist look back that he is trying to get out of a funny joke. It seems like he is admitting to doing wrong when I don’t think he did anything wrong. He made a joke about the president. Claim it.
I thought the funniest part of this blog was the joke about Obama having a “god” complex. I don’t really see this in Obama at all. I think this is the only thing attacking Obama’s personality traits. He is a good man, and is well respected in our society, as he should be.
This blog seems to center itself around one thing; stereotypes. Each joke represents a different idea that has been associated with African Americans throughout the history of our country. Although there are stereotypes made about every single type of person or group, for some reason, it seems people are most afraid to joke about the stereotypes that have formed about the African American population. We don’t hear much about white people taking great offense to a joke created about a ‘white person stereotype’. However, when making jokes about ‘black person stereotypes’, I feel there is definitely a fine line that people do not want to cross. However, what I don’t understand is why black people take so much more offense to jokes than do white people. Is it because they have become to accustomed to being defensive of their race? Is it because they have for so long been targeted with racist comments and acts? Is it just in their nature to be defensive?
Maybe so. However, seeing as our country is rapidly moving, or trying to move, towards a more equal atmosphere among the races, I feel black people should not feel as threatened or defensive of their race and jokes made about their race. If they continue to feel and act this way, they will never accept the fact that many people in our country are trying to move past the issue of racism and anything that is tied to it. If we are to ever be equal, we cannot continue to worry about offending one group more than another by merely making harmless jokes. Yes, there are many black people in the NBA. Good for them! That’s a great accomplishment. It’s a fact; many black men are better basketball players than many white men. However, there is a mixture of both of them in the league. In my opinion, black people have no reason to take offense to the joke about Obama being a basketball player. Yes, it is a stereotype; but a harmless one at that. The food stamps joke is a little more controversial, because it is not so much funny as it is offensive. No matter what race it is a stereotype for; the joke is not very funny. Many people struggle to make ends meet, of both black and white backgrounds. As for chicken joke- it’s a food. It’s a stereotype that black people like chicken. I do not see that as offensive in any way, shape, or form. As for Obama’s God complex, just because he is the first black President doesn’t mean he automatically sees himself as one of God’s equals. Does that mean every leader who has achieved a life-changing revolution sees him- or herself as equal to God? No. These jokes are mostly funny, and the ones that aren’t are not nearly offensive enough for people to get very upset over, in my opinion. There will always be stereotypes, that’s a fact. The question is whether or not we will continue to read into them and let them affect our lives in the way they have in the past.
Reading through the black/presidential jokes posted on Sam’s blog, I can’t say that I found a single one to be remotely offensive. I am also a white male, so I guess I don’t see and interpret these jokes in the same light that African Americans do, but if I were black or African American, I am pretty confident that I would not find these offensive. Yesterday in my race relations discussion group, I was asked what is something that someone could say to you that would offend you. I sat in my desk for a good minute or two pondering this question that I had never really thought about, and couldn’t come up with a single thing that would offend me. I could think of plenty of things that would undoubtedly insult me, but not a single one that could offend me. I came to the conclusion that that is a positive thing, and I guess reflects my personality. I don’t think that it means that I am not passionate about things, just that I don’t care enough what people think about me for me to get offended. I personally think it is stupid for people to get offended or even upset over the jokes that are circulating regarding the president and his race. Every president is made fun of, its American culture to make fun of the commander and chief and has never been a problem in the past. But now that we have a black president people are getting all bent out of shape over racial jokes. No one was worried about crossing the line when bashing President Bush, and in my opinion he had it way worse than Obama does. It would be racist to hold back or screen the presidential jokes, just because we have a black president and are worried about offending. If the jokes in this blog offend you, or any jokes regarding the president and his race, either don’t read them or lighten up a bit. Almost every joke made regarding the president is made to ridicule him. With president Bush, the jokes were directed towards his intelligence, with Clinton, his sex life, and now that we have a black president, the easiest thing to go after is his race. If you analyze these three points of ridicule, you will see that both intelligence and sex life are attributed to ones personality or character, whereas race is something that one is born with and cannot alter. Unless your Michael Jackson. So basically if all critics can come up with to poke fun at is Obama’s race, than he must be at the very least pretty intelligent and lead a normal sex life. The jokes aren’t made to offend either, there fashioned in good fun and designed to give people a good laugh.
As I read Professor Richards’ post, “What’s Funny About Obama … And What’s Not,” I thought to myself … cough cough … Excuse me … cough cough cough … I’m so sorry … cough … Phew, sorry about that … I was just choking on irony for a second there. Where was I? Oh, right. So, as I read the post, I thought to myself how some people (not Professor Richards) can be so hypocritical at times. If I remember correctly, the president before Barack Obama (yes, we had presidents before The Chosen One took office) was the subject of many, many, many jokes --- in fact, Will Ferrell might owe that guy, at the very least, a thank you note for jumpstarting his career and maybe even a residual check or two whenever his Broadway special airs on HBO. Seriously, though, George W. Bush was criticized, ridiculed, slandered, libeled, and demonized – I think someone threw a shoe at him at one point too (Quick sidebar: Who throws a shoe? Honestly.) – by everyone under the sun, most especially political pundits, media critics, and comedians who made a living out of slamming our Commander-in-Chief. He was called an idiot, moron and buffoon, or even worse, a liar, terrorist and murderer. Underneath my ramblings and irrelevant asides is my point that being president does not provide the immunity to being the butt of jokes. I completely disagree with people who, this year, feel President Obama should not be made fun of simply because he is the president BUT had no problem when George W. Bush’s facial expressions were compared to the facial expressions of a monkey last year. Regardless of your political affiliation or whether you feel warranted – for whatever reason – in labeling George W. Bush as a terrorist or murderer, we all have to revert back to what we learned in kindergarten and agree that there is a line when you make someone the object of a joke. Having said that, I completely agree that any and all jokes about President Obama should be devoid of any racial elements that are inherently malicious and demeaning. Obviously, there is no color-coded guide to use when determining if a joke is racially charged in a negative way because, as Professor Richards’ mentions, something funny to one person may not be so funny to another person. In regards to the first four examples included in the post, any rational person can pick out which ones are meant to be funny and which ones are disguised as funny but meant to hurtful. As for the joke at the very end of the post, I agree that President Obama has a “God complex.” But this complex is not portrayed by him at all; it is portrayed by the media’s representation of him. In reality, I imagine the president naturally conveys a swagger and confidence. Unfortunately, through the lens of the liberal media, his swagger and confidence is overemphasized and overblown to transform an extraordinary, yet down-to-Earth, man into this caricature of a “Holier-than-Thou” egomaniac.
When I first started reading this article, I figured that the making fun of Obama would be a page full of racist jokes. However, I did “LMFAO” because it was carefree joking. There’s a fine line between being funny and being offensive, and in no way do I think that these images were offending to Obama, or anyone else. There are definitely more sensitive people who affected more, however I don’t think our President should be part of that group. If you think about it, these images are definitely not the worst things he’s heard people say towards him. These remarks are non-threatening and just poke fun at him.
The first thing that I thought of was something my brother told me years back, “There aren’t very many funny jokes when you aren’t making fun of someone”. At first I thought that was just untrue and he was being immature. However, now I completely agree with it. That does not mean that it’s mean sayings, but it’s lighthearted fun. Also, if you truly do think about it, you’re either going to get upset, or laugh about it when you hear these jokes. Therefore, there’s even more of an incentive to take it as a joke. Also, although it may be difficult to see, there may be a positive side to some of these images. For example, the Obama basketball picture, may in fact, be something that he, and African Americans, should take as a compliment. Everyone knows that they are, in general, much, much better basketball players. It is definitely inferring that he would automatically be a good player because he is part African American, however who wouldn’t want that image? I don’t think I would be mad if I was ever put in that position. It would be completely different if Obama was being imposed as something in a negative aspect. If you think about it, the seafood restaurant and the Ipod picture are just normal, everyday things. As Sam said in the article, there are many ethnicities and religions that are known for specific food types. So, what’s the big deal?
But, would I feel different if I were in Obama’s shoes? Possibly. It’s easy to see the “fun, joking side” perspective, however if you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you may see the other perspectives. Things may not be so funny when all the attention is on you. However, in the end, I think you have control over how sensitive you are, and if you are going to let things upset you. So, the ball is in your court. I’m pretty sure Obama is laughing as we speak.
The jokes in this article were quite stereotypical, but funny and I don’t really see how they can be taken offensively. None of them were that terrible that anyone should get caught up in them. (1) Obama plays basketball. Lots of black people play basketball. Frankly if I were black I would take this as a compliment because they typically dominate the basketball court. We should probably change the stereotype to “All black people play basketball, and kick all our asses in it too.” I don’t see what’s wrong with the joke at all. (2) What’s wrong with having to use food stamps? Yes, there are a lot of black people that use food stamps I am sure, but also, being an employee at a supermarket in a pretty diverse area, I’ve seen tons of white people use food stamps too. (3) Now, Obama Fried Chicken? This to me is hilarious. Did the restaurant have to get permission to name themselves that? If so, this joke was brought on by Obama himself. Plus, I’m sure if we did some sort of survey, just as many white people probably like fried chicken as black people do. I really never have understood the stereotype that all black people like fried chicken to be honest. It’s food. Everyone eats it. So don’t get too bent out of shape people, geez. (4) My only comment about Obama giving Queen Elizabeth an iPod is that it was pretty illogical but funny just the same. Also, is that a well established fact? That black people really like music more than white people? Or Asian people? Or Native Americans? This comes to a surprise to me since I would probably bet that most people in general, love, or at least like music. Now if Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod that came with 50 Cent, John Legend, and any other black artist you can imagined, pre-synced onto it, then that may be a little stereotypical. And last but not least, (5) I don’t really understand this joke I guess. Although so far I have noticed that Obama seems to be a little more kind-hearted than some previous presidents, “God complex” may be a little excessive. He’s a nice guy. He’s a chill guy (from what I’ve seen on TV) There are plenty of nice guys in the world that want to help the less fortunate – they just don’t happen to be president, and therefore not in the spotlight. Either way, I really just don’t understand this joke.
And for the article about the cartoonist, even as a white female, I do find the one cartoon with the chimpanzee offensive. It’s widely known that a racial slur for a black person is a “monkey,” so why, no matter what party you are for, would you think it was acceptable to publish such a cartoon. A monkey with 2 bullet holes in him, clearly representing our president? This is a little ridiculous and offensive. But they apologized, so what can we really do?
Anyway, black jokes, white jokes, asian jokes – I think they’re all funny if you can keep a good mindset about them. They weren’t truly meant to offend and at sometime or another, everyone has a joke made about them. Plus, if these jokes were stated by Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle, I’d be willing to bet a lot less people would be complaining.
Cartoonists make a living out of depicting others in a way that is funny, by exaggerating features or characteristics. Cartoonists do this in order to make them appear in a humorous way to the audience that they are trying to reach. Did the artist (Sean Delonas) that drew the cartoon depicting two cops shooting a monkey with the caption, “They’ll have to Find Someone Else to Write the Next Stimulus Bill” that appeared in the New York Post go too far? The artist indicates that the picture refers to the chimp that was shot to death by police after it mauled a friend of its owners, but it leads the audience to believe that it is comparing President Obama to a chimpanzee. Cartoonists are going to poke holes and fun at Presidents or political figures, no matter their race, because it is what they do for a living. The real question is, is this a matter of the audience or the artist making this cartoon about race? With the election of the first African American President, an issue is created for the cartoonist, which is how do I create a funny picture without having the subject matter be called out as being racist? This is clearly indicated by Alcaraz’s comment, “I try to bend over backwards not to make him (Obama) look like a cartoon stereotype, and certainly not a racial stereotype.” Regardless of what the cartoonists are trying to depict in one way or another to the audience it becomes a stereotype.
When the subject matter becomes a stereotype it needlessly offends someone,, which results in reactions similar to the outcry that erupted after the New York Post released the cartoon depicting the officers killing the chimpanzee. Clearly this isn’t the first time that a president’s features have been embellished to make the subject appear funny an example of this is the use of a large cartoon nose on Nixon, and portraying George W. Bush as a simpleton.
However, because of the color of President Obama’s skin, cartoonists are required to tread gently, in the way they create cartoons. For if they don’t it could cause them trouble for the line between funny and racism is very unclear. In reaction to the 200 protestors not in agreement with this cartoon, the New York Post published an apology to all those were offended.
Although we as individuals have the right to be offended doesn’t the artist have the right to free speech through their work even if it was offensive? I am not saying that depicting President Obama in ways that seem to be offending individuals is correct, but where does one define the line of what is funny and what is just clearly offensive? Does it depend on the person’s individual exposure of race within their life?
I thought the jokes were funny if I was into politics but I’m not; I think these jokes were bound to happen sooner than later. The stereotypes of Black people are there and Barack skin color is Black, so that is why the jokes will be funny to others. But I don’t understand why everyone keeps “poking” at his African American/Black side or skin color, he is also White and no one is “poking” at that side of him. Even though I don’t find the jokes as “offensive” others might, these jokes show that some people have no respect for the half Black president. I think they went over the line when they said the “stimulus bill” was food stamps, saying all Blacks use food stamps, when in all reality they don’t. A lot of White people use food stamps but the people only targeted this joke at Black people. This I think was too much and a little offensive. The other jokes like “all Black people play basketball” and “all Black people listen to music” really don’t matter or offend anyone. Not every Black person love watermelon and fried chicken but that joke really didn’t offend me because I could see a store like that on the corner in NYC. Just because a lot of Black people were happy that it was a Black president finally, so they wanted to show their respect. I don’t think it’s nothing wrong with a little joke here and there because everyone needs a little laughter, but it’s the fact when some jokes go overboard. I don’t take things seriously because if we do it will only end up in violence. I laugh off everything so that I will not have build up stress. In the other article about the comics, I didn’t feel any offense to that comic because that is what comics are supposed to do to make a living. Sam’s countdown is the thing that I think people will have a problem with. I feel as though Sam is only making it seem like Black people are the only ones who like these tings he listed, he is trying to make the White people feel as though they have something on Black people. Everyone who posted their responses to this blog I would bet that all of the White people found the jokes to be funny and majority of the Black students found it not funny but not offensive either. These stereotypes are ones that we are already used to. I feel like people need to get something else to target Barack with because these racial jokes are getting a little old and tiring. It makes no sense that people have nothing else to target at Barack but his African American side, get at his White side now! So we Black people can have something to laugh at.
I find these jokes about Obama and all other presidents humorous and entertaining—but I am also a white female. I do not understand why people get so offended by jokes that are only supposed to be in good humor. Everyone who takes these jokes seriously and finds them offensive, in my eyes, needs to lighten up a little bit. People today need to understand that jokes are meant to make people laugh, and everyone gets made fun of too…especially presidents and other powerful or famous people. I understand that I am not the minority and do not understand exactly what they’re going through when they’re made fun of, but my race gets made fun of as well and I find it all in good fun. People’s careers are filled with politically related circumstances, some being to taunt and ridicule others—but that’s life, their life. I think that this article was another example of people playing the race card. Immediately after individuals saw the chimpanzee being shot by police in the cartoon, they assumed it was symbolizing black people…they immediately jump to conclusions. When the cartoonist was drawing Obama, the student said “he has big lips,” and immediately he refrained from drawing them because he was scared he was going to get badgered with racial slurs. I think it is ridiculous that cartoonists are refraining from drawing exaggerated features on Barack Obama. The whole point of the illustrations is to exaggerate features, and everyone who gets a caricature drawn of them knows this. Too much thought is put into racial issues these days, such as racial profiling, racial advertising, etc. I don’t think the correct thing to do is just to forget about race—in fact I think that is impossible. What I do wish is that people would stop putting such a big weight on race, and stop revolving everything around it. I don’t think that the solution to racism would be for society to stop labeling people as “white” or “black” or any other color, because then the world would have no diversity and everyone would be the “same.” I see no honesty in that perspective. Instead, I think everyone needs to act on racism and inequality, and they themselves have to personally break down barriers and help to provide equal opportunities for all. Yeah, this goal is long-fetch and I do not believe that it will be accomplished in our lifetime. But if everyone works on it then I do not see what harm could be done. It is sad to see that something that is such a huge issue and has such a big impact on everyone’s lives is something that everyone is scared to talk about or confront issues about. Maybe this whole world is just one big coward.
When I first read the predictable jokes about Obama I thought they were really funny. Of course, none of them were to be taken seriously; they are all just in good fun. Many of them are stereotypical such as the food stamp one or the basketball one. How many times have we heard that tall black guys are good at basketball? My roommate’s boyfriend is tall and black and I can not tell you how many times we will all go out together and people will ask him what sport he plays. Normally, people assume he plays basketball and during basketball season he was constantly get asked the score of previous games and etc. I always just thought it was kind of funny how most people just assume these things. That is why when I saw the picture of Obama playing basketball I just laughed. The picture of Obama’s stimulus bill could of probably been offensive to some people (along with the other pictures). But, the picture that I found the most funny and unbelievable was the one with the Obama Fried Chicken restaurant in New York City. The first thing that basically came to mind was, “seriously.” I could not believe that someone would actually think to name their restaurant that and think that people would take them seriously. Most interesting was how they made sure to supply food for all ethnic preference, such as pizza for Italians, and gyros for Greeks etc. Finally, the picture of Obama and the iPod promotes the stereotype that black people love to listen to music. Apparently Obama decided to give the Queen of England an iPod as a gift (which I was unaware of). But honestly, by giving the Queen of England an iPod he was definitely asking for it.
I do not find any of these jokes offensive because they are the stereotypical jokes that always surround black people (it’s not like anything they have not heard before). Besides, they are not being discriminated against since every race and ethnic background has typical jokes and stigmas that are always said. Plus, all presidents are always made fun of in some sort of way especially when they are in the oval office or during the elections. John McCacin, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, George Bush and etc. have all had jokes that made fun of them in some sort of way. Therefore, I think that if Obama saw any of them he would laugh and shrug it off and realize that they are not meant to be serious. So basically, I thought that all of these jokes were funny about Obama and were just trying to provoke laughter and not discrimination or racial slurs.
This article was very intriguing to me because it raises the question of whether or not something is funny or offensive. Especially when it comes to black people things like this can get touchy and uncomfortable. But is it like that for everyone? Most people that I know are able to look at themselves or realize the hilarity of life and move on. I mean if you can’t laugh at yourself then what can you laugh at? I think it is all about setting your ego aside and not being so serious all the time. I feel that black people in particular are more sensitive in this area then other people. Because when I talk to my Jewish friends they crack jokes at themselves all the time and I would chip in or we would laugh about something else. The same with all my other friends that have different backgrounds, we acknowledge our differences or quirks and move on. But I have noticed with black people it is a more us and them mentality. That if a white person, asian, or someone make a black joke, they get offended or defensive. But latter among themselves, the black people will say the same joke and it will be received with laughter and praise. I find this very hypercritical of black people, as if they are purposely trying to make a big thing out of nothing simply they know that they can. Like taking advantage of peoples good nature just to scorn people that were trying to connect with them and make light of our differences in the first place. But everyone is different and what might offend one person might not offend another, I don’t know where this line is but I guess that we as a culture are the ones with this power and determine the implications of its use. But personally I don’t see the harm with any of the examples used in the article. I mean let’s be honest, for the sake of being politically correct we say that we are all the same but deep down we know the truth. I mean isn’t it also offensive that Notre Dame call themselves the fighting Irish, as implying that all Irish are violent or barbaric. Or that every image of Italians is of them owning a restaurant or cooking? What I think is that maybe these stereotypes are just that, but these generalizations are just things that make each of our cultures different and we should acknowledge these differences, maybe not indulge in them but embrace them as something that is their own. Once we can see these differences and move on with life and not draw the battle lines we will be okay.
Jokes are jokes, and that’s the bottom line. Sure, they can cross the line, but it’s only when things are taken so seriously that they turn into a controversies. They play off of stereotypes, they are parodies, I don’t feel they were made with racist intentions. I actually think it is ridiculous that the Ipod / Itunes parody was considered racist or crossing the line. That silhouette against the fluorescent background with the very notable white headphones is a cultural icon. I hardly doubt this was made because “ black people love music.” I find myself not even considering that a stereotype. Maybe that stems from the whole rhythm thing. But when I think of someone who loves music, I think of that kid wearing the huge headphones and horn-rimmed glasses with skinny jeans and a flannel shirt, usually a little goatee. But that’s just me, and how I grew up. That ipod commercial is something I believe the farther thing from racism. As an advertising phenomenon, I would be honored to be featured in something like that. And while that may not be a true advertisement form the Apple Company, it is still a cultural icon. Something that we all know and recognize. I highly doubt he was featured in that because he was black and all black people love music. In the actual campaign I know there is a girl with an afro featured. Now this maybe a white or Hispanic girl, but an afro is something general associated with African Americans. There was not an uproar when that campaign came out, saying, “oh they featured a black woman in these advertisements, they’re racists!” No, because that is just ridiculous. I agree that some jokes can cross the line, but I feel like people just need to relax. I would say nine times out of ten people say things and don’t mean them seriously, hence they are jokes. Sure, you will always get that one asshole who means it. But most people make jokes out of ignorance. And then people of color get mad, then the white people get scared, and the list goes on and on, and then people of color wonder why white people don’t know anything about their culture. The only one of those cartoon that I can understand why people could have taken offense, was the food stamp one. However, I still do not think that the food stamp joke was made to say that, only black people use food stamps and welfare. I think it was just a joke on what Obama is doing with the situation. If there were something about how they could only be used to buy “black food” like watermelon and chicken, like Sam joking said, I would consider it offensive.
I want to start this response by first saying that I am a very sarcastic person who loves to joke around. Making jokes is almost a past time of mine and I make fun of many different things that may invoke some offense from some people. However, there is a massive chuck of what I say that take myself as the butt of the joke. These to me are some of my funniest material. A person might ask, “But how can you find it amusing to make fun of yourself?” The fact is that making fun of yourself is the some of the easiest material you can do. Who knows you better than yourself? Who’s not afraid to say things about themselves? And most importantly, who could possibly get offended if you crack a joke about yourself? That is where I want to draw my main point. This silly word known as: offense. Why do people get offended? If sit down and blatantly make fun of you, picking at your every flaw with no worry how you may feel, you have every right to be offended think of me however suits you best. However, if someone lightly jokes with you and makes a pun from one of your key traits, you have nothing to be upset about. Personally, I think that means something if someone either pays that much attention to you or simply knows that much about you that they can do that. The strongest a person can become is when they recognize their weaknesses. To take that further, if you openly admit to these weaknesses and otherwise poke fun at them you are virtually invincible. How could a person possibly hurt you if you openly admit each and every one of your flaws? It is impossible. My response to comics who make a living making fun of important and powerful people: keep up the good work! I think we the people need to keep our “leaders” on their toes. Honestly, if they received no criticism whatsoever from the people, they would do absolutely everything they please. Virtually nothing could stop them. Here’s where I am going to connect to those people who do indeed get offended at certain jokes. There is a type of joke that is acceptable and relevant, and then there is that joke which is created with the sole purpose to hurt and destroy. Each of these pictures/jokes in the blog I found rather funny. Even if you were slightly offended, you have to at least see why people can laugh at that. However, I am a man who has seen many things. Although I am white, I have seen racism to many extremes. Many of my friends have personally gone through such things and I can almost personally connect. With this position of mine, I can see both sides of the table. There is certainly a “line” that should not be crossed when trying to find humor in certain circumstances. Basically, it is funny to play with race and push the limits. However, there are those who indeed put material out there with the intention of provoking racial injustice rather than pertaining to humorous subjects. Overall, what I want to say is that people should lighten up. Look into yourself and find you weakest parts. Then joke about them. Only then are you truly untouchable. Also to those who are only interested in “bringing down the lesser race.” Don’t associate yourselves with the good man and those who are only trying to entertain. People must differentiate between these two sorts of things. The reality is though, becoming upset does no good. Pointless outrage helps nobody. Absorb what you can, attack what you must, and as the golden rule says: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
No one in the corner got swagger like us! Forget that last statement. Lol Okay let’s go in descending order with these pictures. Barack and Basketball: personally, I feel like that’s a given. I’ve seen that stereotype with black people so often that it really doesn’t mean much to me. On top of that, I feel like I’ve heard Obama shooting hoops with someone. Maybe that’s just my imagination but anyway. That’s a common typical stereotype: All black people play basketball. Big woopty do. Obama’s Stimulus Bill: IGNORANT! Not all black people are on welfare, for the record. Supposed it, majority of people on welfare are white. Or non-black I would think. Who knows. But honestly, this ad started to get a little offensive. Obama fried chicken? Actually, I’d put this ad as number 4 then number 3. But I must admit, ignorant things like this kind of makes me chuckle because it’s stupid. Was that a real store? Or did someone just graphically fix that? I would actually like to roll in there one day. The iPod ad, I didn’t get why it was so offensive. I just feel like that was a forced stereotype because all people like music. Maybe it would be a little different if the ad was headphones and a gold chain shimmering through, maybe even some grills who knows. But that ad was kind of… dumb. But wow, the Queen of England got an iPod... shit, can I get one? Mine’s all run down and broken. But that’s cute, I guess. I don’t see that as a typical gift to the Queen of England. I would of figured some pearl earrings to royalty.. something cute. An ipod though? Okay. Lastly, the God joke. I don’t agree with that at all. I mean, many people may refer to President Obama as God because who would have thought to see a black president. I would take offense to that being that Christianity is my religion. But in any religion actually that refers to their “higher being” as God would probably take offense to that as well, blasphemy maybe? I don’t like to call this situation swagger, because I think that joke took it a little too far. Swagger is defined as walking or strutting with a defiant or insolent air or an ostentatious display of arrogance or conceit. SWAGGA is defined as one’s own unique style or personality that sets them apart from everyone else. Honestly, President Obama is a humble man. He does have “swag” though. He’s conceited in his own way, more of a confidence I would say. But who doesn’t want a confident president? If our president isn’t confident in himself and doesn’t believe in himself, why should the rest of the country back him and believe him as well? He’s not God. Everyone knows that. He just has swag (the word of 2008-2009). Shit, I got swag. :D
Realistically, it doesn't matter if you're white, black, Asian, the president of the U.S. or the pope, you're going to get made fun of. (On a side not, when I typed the last sentence, it prompted me to capitalize Asian, and nothing else. Isn’t that Ironic?) Historically, the jokes you hear are mostly racist toward minorities, probably because a white person made it up, but there are just as many white jokes as there are any other. The fact is, if the joke is told in all good fun, it shouldn't be offensive. Of course a joke that is told to deliberately hurt someone is wrong and shouldn't have been said, but if a person is telling a joke because he's trying to get a laugh, and truly doesn't believe the words of the joke himself, i think it's fine. I personally live with 4 black people and I'm a little white girl. I have grown to be great friends with them, and they are perfectly comfortable joking around with me and vise versa. If they ask me to get them something I will smirk and say "I'm not black," and they will come back with "this is a revolution girl, Obama is president now, and starting today, you're my slave." And this is all in good fun. None of us take offense to it. I believe that people who aren't comfortable with their race are ones who take offense to jokes. Since I've been in school, I haven't met one black person who was offended by a racist joke I have told them. Obviously it's because they know they are black, they know there are jokes about them, but they know that their friends are going to tell them in good fun. Obviously if you're a white girl growing up in an all white neighborhood, you're going to know racist jokes. That's a given. And trust me, I have two brothers and they can pop those jokes out like it’s nobody’s business. But I'm not racist I just think they are funny. And I’ve heard jokes about white people, or blondes, or left handed people, and I still think they are funny. When you can laugh at yourself being picked on for whatever reason not just race, that’s when you have truly come to terms with who are you and you accept yourself and in turn people will accept you and feel more comfortable around you. Racist jokes are offensive only to me when they target a specific person like Helen Keller or that blind black guy whose name I can't remember. That's when it get offensive to me because then you're picking fun at something deeper than race, and that’s just plain wrong. As for these jokes about Obama, he's the president and he's black. Enough said.
This article is a prime example of why people need to lighten up. It’s a JOKE, people. The best part is, we all know that if the joke were aimed at some other group of people, the same people who are so outraged by this may find it humorous. It’s not that hard to step out of the box and be able to laugh at yourself once in a while. As an admittedly hyper-sensitive individual, it’s weird for me to even be saying this, but I think that the people in this country need to stop being so sensitive about everything; every joke that’s published in a paper. If every single person who was the target of some political cartoon got all up in arms about it and made the cartoonist publicly apologize, they’d be spending all their time apologizing rather than drawing. We have become a country where it’s never okay to say how you feel because GOD FORBID you should step on someone’s toes. We can’t even have a completely, totally honest race discussion because someone will always be offended by something. I realize that as a white woman, I haven’t had to experience the same hardships as people from other groups, but we’ve all had our share of issues. We’ve all been annoyed with people’s ignorance at some point in our lives; it’s the way you handle yourself in those situations that makes you the person you are. If I got angry every time a black person has made reference to me being a spoiled little rich kid (which I’m not; it’s just a baseless assumption made) or every time an old person said something about young kids today and all the problems we have, I’d be angry constantly. To get so worked up every time someone offends you in even the slightest way is ridiculous and pointless. I can empathize with people being the brunt of a lot of jokes, as a Southwestern Pennsylvanian and as a conservative. I’ve been the brunt of many, MANY jokes, and I try to take it in stride. But someone assuming that I’m a hick who lives on a farm surrounded by cows doesn’t offend me in the least. I have to continually remind myself that people are ignorant.
Also, there is a huge difference between using a stereotype to be humorous and saying it with all seriousness. That article was clearly satirical, and anyone who was offended by it clearly didn’t get that. It was a JOKE. In contrast, saying that people from a certain geographical region all share the same beliefs, and that they cling to their guns and religion, and saying it in all manners of seriousness is NOT a joke. If the author of that article was intentionally trying to attack someone, I could see why people would be upset. But that’s obviously not the case here.
Well – I’m not black – so I guess I don’t get this “swagger” idea; but I think the joke is hilarious. I also think it would take a person who was looking for ways to be offended to actually take any of this Obama jabbing personally. Personally I feel that I would find the picture of Obama on the food coupon the most offensive and I’m not sure why.
The article relating to political cartoons brings up some very interesting points. Perhaps it is too far to draw Obama (or a black person for that matter?) as a monkey – but I think of politicians as monkeys – and I find it hilarious when they are portrayed that way. I’m curious if it would be more acceptable in a country where blacks are the majority … what I mean by that is I’m curious if it relates to either black people feeling isolated and made fun of, or black people feeling that it inappropriate and racist, or is it white people who feel the cartoon crosses the fine line that is the racial remark boundary. Is it because white people feel guilty about it? It seems as if it is appropriate to portray a white man (politician, Irish immigrant, George Bush) so that leads me to question why it differs if the subject is of a different race. Some people must think it’s acceptable as a joke – does that make it more of a personality and sense of humor issue than a racial issue?
I think the difference between a joke and an insult depends on the tone and purpose. I would be very offended (even as a white man) if such a cartoon appeared in a white supremacy paper or magazine. If there was a malicious intention I feel it is acceptable to be outraged. But these are political CARTOONS. They are JOKES. I think that taking them to heart is more inappropriate than the subject matter. That’s why I am able to see the humor in these cartoons relating to Obama. I think it’s a shame that the creativity of these people is now limited by fear of being labeled a racist. It seems acceptable to be labeled intolerant of other things (political parties, wars, dumb blondes) but as soon as the intolerance borders on racism it reaches a whole new level. I feel that keeps race relations held back to a degree. I wouldn’t hesitate to make tease a white kid with red hair (not maliciously, just teasing) – would I still feel the same if I was black. If I was a different race I feel that it would be crossing a boundary I wouldn’t want to step over – the same way I can’t call a black girl a “nappy headed hoe” … but somehow the issue isn’t calling her promiscuous (maybe because any race can be?) it’s an issue with her hair? I would feel more offended about being called a hoe – then again, I’m not a girl… I just don’t get that whole hair thing.
These 5 jokes about Obama in the "What's Funny About Obama...And What's Not" were in my opinion
not offensive at all. I guess I'll adress them in order first, number 5 Obama playing
basketball. This is not offensive and isn't even a joke, I guess it is just a man fitting a
stereotype, but even as a white male I feel most men just like basketball, whats the problem
here(and whats the joke). Number 4, Obama's Stimulus Bill, maybe the most offensive, or let me
rephrase that, the one closest to being offensive, was a little funny. Obama is on a $1 food
stamp and the dollar might get your more "black" foods. Ok this was kind of funny, and kind of
offensive, I guess that without the joke being somewhat offensive your just not going to get
laughs. Number 3, Obama Fried Chicken, this one made me laugh the most for some reason. Many
cultures are very proud of themselves and what they like, and many have stores for those foods.
For some reason though you just don't see black fried chicken places,(KFC is a big white dude,
Popeyes isn't black etc) I knew the black and fried chicken stereotype, but never thought about
them not having their own place, so the Obama Fried Chicken gave me a little laugh. Number 2,
"The Gift of Music", I think that most cultures really like music, and that the black community
isn't like exclusively the music race, but I did think it was funny that Obama gave the Queen of
England an iPod as a gift. Also I hope to fit the stereotype that it did have lots of Motown,
and rap on it. Number 1, "Swagger like Barack" was probably the most funny and a fitting number
1. Swagger aka confidence bordering on cockiness is prodominatly a black characteristic I guess,
but I just found the joke funny. Now addressing them all together there is no way that black
people should be offended. To get a laugh out of someone you kind of need to flirt with the
offensive, or be witty, and this is generall where people get offended. Generally the closer you
get to offensive the more funny something is, that is just how it works usually, and no offense
but these jokes were not that funny(also meaning they were not that offensive) sorry Sam. Some
people just can't handel being the basis of a joke, and cry in the limelight of being made fun
of, but this is just in good nature and good fun, no one should be offended here. and I'm sure
Obama can handel these 5.
I strongly agree with the author’s initial comments on this blog. I find all too often that people take themselves way too seriously. I have a friend who has no problem making fun of other people, but when the tables are turned, they cannot laugh at themselves. If I do something that warrants ridicule, I expect someone to call me out on it. I will also be right there with you laughing at myself instead of getting embarrassed and snapping back at your humorous comment. People in this country need to relax and learn to take life a little less seriously.
When it comes to political cartoons, people need to realize that they are only cartoons. No one seemed to have a problem with any of the Bush cartoons, but now that President Obama is in office, all the attacks on him must be racist. People need to realize that President Obama is not perfect and almost all political satirists are just trying to point out these imperfections. Also, to the people that have a problem with the caricaturists’ depiction of President Obama, relax and think back to any caricature you have ever seen before. I have had caricatures done of me, and they are not meant to be flattering. A caricaturist will find something on you and overly accentuate it. Nixon was always portrayed with his big nose and his bushy eyebrows. Reagan and the younger Bush were portrayed with their big ears. Also, take a look at most of Carter’s caricatures and you will find that most portray him with larger lips. I feel that people are trying to make this a racial issue because President Obama is portrayed with bigger lips. However, most fail to realize that his ears and chin are even more pronounced in most of these caricatures.
The countdown that the author posted is slightly amusing to me. My favorite is number three; the Obama Fried Chicken eatery in New York City. While this feeds heavily into one of the most common stereotypes, most people with common sense will realize that it is just that; a stereotype. The owner of this establishment does not come across to me as a racist, however, I see him as a very smart businessman. Look at all the national attention he has been given for investing five thousand dollars into a new sign. I can only imagine how much his business has increased since the name change. I am sure he has already made back the cost for the sign plus enough to cover expenses for the next few months. I applaud him for using such a creative ploy to increase his sales. I think we can all learn from this. If we can create a stir from treading the line between funny and offensive, the minority of the population that take things too seriously and get upset will only further your standing and popularity in the long run.
I find the jokes about Barack Obama hysterical, and it is not just because I am a white female. Every time we get a new president, jokes are made about them. That is part of the package that comes along with being a president. Look back to Clinton and Bush. People made fun of them all of the time, especially Bush. They are not creating these jokes in spite of black people; they are doing it because he is our new president. Over the course of his term, hundreds of new jokes will emerge regarding situations he gets himself involved in. People just need to learn to not take life too seriously because they will never get out alive. Personally, I do not get offended by any joke that involves a racial slur, even if it is about whites. I am at a point where I will sit there and laugh if it is a minority telling the joke. There are jokes about every different type of race, and every person of another race that I know does not get taken aback by these jokes. But going back to the five jokes regarding Barack Obama, these jokes have not just emerged recently. They have been around for centuries! Everyone thinks of the NBA being majority black, and contrary to people’s belief, it is not going to change anytime soon. Here at Penn State, every time my friends and I see a tall black person wearing a Nike Penn State jacket or something, we automatically think he plays basketball. I do not know if he would be offended or not if one of us randomly walked up to him and asked him, but I would take that as a compliment! Am I wrong for thinking that? Next, the joke regarding Obama’s stimulus package: Come on, lighten up! These jokes have been around forever, and someone used the idea of the stimulus package to make a joke about it. It worked quite well, if you ask me. I showed one of my good friends here at Penn State this particular blog, and she is African American, and she “laughed her ass off,” especially the one regarding the food stamps. However, I do find the joke regarding the music a little offensive. I did say earlier I am open to any joke and don’t take offense to it, but this one is different. I believe it was wrong to give the Queen of England an iPod for a gift because they gave him a very meaningful gift. They gave him a pen set made by the same guy who made the Oval Office desk, and they were extremely pissed at Obama for his “meaningless” gifts. I only take offense to that because Britain is our greatest ally, and them being mad at the US is the last thing we need! Besides that particular joke, people need to lighten up and not take life so seriously.
First of all, as a minority and a person of color I have to say that I find most or better say all of these jokes funny. I don’t really understand why many people take offence to them and think they are made to disrespect a certain race. If everyone really thinks about it, it will become obvious to them that almost every individual from every race even white has been made fun of. It is typical for someone in power specially the president of the United States of America to be made of in different ways like eating chicken and watermelon.
I do not think people are making fun of Obama because he is black since they have made fun of the previous presidents who were clearly not black. Another way to look at this is to understand that making jokes is some people’s job and they make good money out of it. In order for these people to become successful they have to exaggerate someone’s features or habits and generalize many things about that certain race to make the jokes funny and keep people entertained. Last thing I would like to say is that people must lighten up and stop getting offend toward these meaningless jokes because they are only JOKES.
While I find numbers 5 and 4 to be playing a bit on racial stereotypes, I think that in total, the jokes made about Obama are in jest and not to be taken seriously. For instance, I don’t even know when the “Obama Fried Chicken” store came into business, and whether their Obama refers to the president or some other person, place, or thing that just happens to share the same name. I was a bit confused by the way that headcoach approached the “Gift of Music”, where Obama gave an iPod to the Queen of England. I am guessing that the original poster meant to convey that because black people love music, Obama gave music to the “stuffy” royals of England. I found the analysis of recitation peer Jenna to be more insightful: Obama’s “meaningless” gift of an iPod is insulting to the Queen of England, who put a lot of thought into giving Obama a gift of “a pen set made by the same guy who made the Oval Office desk”. If a cartoonist or other media wanted to take a jab at the president on his Gift of Music, it should be more along these lines.
On another note however, I will say that the article at the bottom of the post does not fit the category of what I was just talking about. While the cartoonist tried to set himself right by explaining that it was referring to the face-mauling tragedy, I am having a very hard time understand that explanation while reading the caption, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill”. Seriously, how did the mauling have anything to do with the stimulus bill? The moment I read that caption, I knew immediately that the stimulus bill relates to Obama and the Obama administration. This explanation makes me even more confused, because the story where the chimpanzee mauls the women doesn’t have any reference to a stimulus bill. So This explanation instead cements the idea that the cartoonist had written something inducing a racial stereotype, and is only now trying to cover his tracks after the public outcry.
Strangely enough, one of the most interesting things I saw in the article was that, despite all the hype that was caused over the cartoon that is misconstrued to depict Obama as a chimpanzee, a slightly different situation would be considered completely acceptable. I know I’m not the only one to admit that I saw the many pictures that compared George Bush to a chimp, insinuating that he was underdeveloped mentally to humans (or who knows what, I never got the entire meaning). Anyway, they have an entire website dedicated to it now:
http://www.bushorchimp.com/
Feel free to go to the website and check out tons and tons of pictures comparing Georgh Bush to monkeys. When these came out, I know that I never heard a single person saying they were offended by the content. In this context, we were just joking about how stupid we thought President Bush was. Now, comparing (just once!) a chimpanzee to President Obama has erupted into a total fiasco. It’s an interesting comparison, to say the least.
Some of the stereotypes in the blog are pretty funny, maybe accurate maybe offensive. The basketball stereotype, I think is accurate, look honestly the NBA is made up of most right black players, even though that’s not technically right to say that someone is athletic because or is good at basketball just because he or she is black, but is that not a compliment, you’re a well rounded human being that is athletic. I can see that some people might say that you cannot just assume someone is good at sports just because they are black, but can you blame someone for making that assumption when most NBA players are black? I’m not saying that it is a good stereotype, but it is not negative what so ever, it kind of confuses me why some people might get offended by this stereotype. Okay, the first one isn’t that bad, but the food stamps and the cartoon are a more racially controversial, food stamps are a negative thing and to put Obamas face on the coupon and “giving black food discounts” seems a little racist too me, seems to say that only the blacks are having trouble during this recession and like they are the one that are doing bad. As for the cartoon, I would expect a lot of people to get upset over this. I personally don’t agree with the stimulus bill because it doesn’t really make sense, were going to get out of a recession by spend a tone more money, close to thirteen trillion dollars more, doesn’t seem very economic for a president who hired a specific economic team. But to make it seem like Obama is a monkey is uncalled for really, anyone would be upset if someone called them a monkey. It can taken also that blacks in general are primitive like apes, because in history they have been compared to apes in the past, so I could see someone getting upset about that, but that is justified if that’s how they take the cartoon. The music one seems stupid too me, I know a lot of people that like music, why does this have a negative racial undertone to it? Why does he have to be listening to Motown? Why can’t he be listening to country or rock or something else? His “God Complex”, yea, I can see how many whites can see how they can say that he has a complex of such. I personally don’t think that the president who said that he “visited 52 states, and still had 4 more to go” has a God complex. I’m saying that he’s stupid, but why do people think he has a God complex? Because he is the first black president, I mean that itself would create more publicity to make it seem like that or anything.
Personally I found those four pictures and that joke were pretty hilarious. My favorite was the Obama Store. I found it pretty funny that it sold a variety of things. As a black student I believe that these are all in good taste. Sometimes people just need something to “bitch” about. Like the blog points out, if Dave Chappelle had done a skit that incorporated all of these things people reactions would have been different, then again I believe that anyone that does not find Dave Chappelle funny must have NO sense of humor. He seems to be able to take any subject from Michael Jackson’s “Love” of children to the Life and Times of Rick James and Prince funnier than it already was. When it comes to becoming President, a famous actor or actress, sports athlete, news castor, or even American Idol reject you should understand that people will criticize anything and everything you do or say. It is one of the most unavoidable parts of being in the limelight. I do not think that Obama himself would find these offenses. Crossing the line sometimes takes a bit more than stereotyping in my opinion. Now the picture with the dead chimpanzee is somewhat tasteless. The reason I say that is because it involves a dead chimp. With the death threats made to Obama I feel that point could have been made in a different way. It was not as bad as some other pictures I have seen but is a little on the fence for me. The picture with Ipod Obama was pretty funny. I have heard this story and the Ipod was loaded with many Broadway tunes and movie themes from Cats, to The Phantom of the Opera, Oklahoma, Rent, Evita, Dreamgirls, and even Annie. Also, let’s talk about Michelle Obama while we are at it. She gave the Queen a hug and everyone knows that a big No-No! Oh, and the Obama limo was double parked in the entrance to Buckingham Palace which cause an issue when people were trying to enter. Every moment of that trip to England was recorded or captured in film to criticize later. Now to the term swagger. As Sam stated in this blog swagger is something that white people do not know much about. Now this does not mean they do not have. Swagger is something that must to acknowledge in order to proclaim that you have it. It can easily be defined as “how one presents himself or herself to the world. Swagger is shown from how the person handles a situation. It can also be shown in the person's walk, talk, and dress.” says urban dictionary. Obama has swagger because he shows confidence in almost every speech, event he is at, and he knows he has it without having to state it all the time.
Obama has been the first president to be seen off of those boring political channels and his election of course. Many of the advertised things I seen seem to be funny and I cant wait to watch a Dave Chappel show on Obama one day. The I-pod thing has to be the funniest and its true all my black friends listen to music constantly. My friend and I even named one black boy I-pod because he is everywhere with it, the HUB, walking to class and yes even parties. Now the jokes were hilarious and yes they do make fun of Black people and their stereotypes but how many other jokes do Black people laugh about other races or ethnicities. How about white boy cant jump, or dance. How about every time u see a man with the middle eastern characteristics you think he’s going to bomb the plane( Soul Plane movie with Kevin Hart). How about my personal favorite as a kid “African booty scratcher”. Maybe about Mexicans with their “job stealing” or how about Jews who will not give you housing somewhere in New York. Its all just jokes and yes some people are really racist but how about you talk to them. I am a minority and I have heard all the jokes from Blacks, Whites and everybody else, its funny for goodness sakes. Since Obama has been elected I think people have become more bold to stereotype Black people and put his face on it somewhere. I guess in the past it was held back for a while since true racism was still intact. Maybe that’s where I see the problem, but really there is no real hate here. People will always have some type of bias, racism or discrimination against one group, maybe they do not express it or maybe its not hurtful but its still there.
I am personally a big fan of Barack Obama. He is, without argument, a very intelligent and likeable guy, and I have always thought he would make an excellent president for those reasons and many others. At the same time, I thought all five of the jokes, predictable or not, were funny. I can understand that some people might think they cross some line because they are based on his race, but I would not agree that the jokes are racist. None of the jokes listed really surprised me. They all seemed to be shots I would expect people to take at Obama. While the jokes do stem from black stereotypes, similar generalizations exist for every race, gender, age, and any other group of people you can imagine. Just because they have a basis in racial differences, does not mean they are meant to be mean and racist. Generally, I think a lot of the time black people are too easily offended by these types of jokes.
It is common knowledge that people, news writers, cartoonists, etc. will make fun of celebrities, athletes, and similarly, our presidents. It is their job to mock their traits and actions and to exaggerate their appearance, but it shouldn’t be taken so seriously. I agree with what Sam says in the blog response about if people are easily offended they should take themselves a little less seriously. When people make blonde jokes or the typical sorority girl jokes, I laugh along if I think it was funny or take them with a grain of salt if I didn’t find it humorous. Stereotypes are generally an easy target for jokes and as long as they aren’t very off color, they usually don’t offend me.
When George Bush was president, people constantly made fun of his background from Texas and portrayed him as a dumb hick. While people from the country could be very offended by the stereotypical portrayal, it was never really second guessed or questioned. No one made a big deal out of the fact they were making fun of Bush at the expense of a specific lifestyle and large group of people. But when people Obama’s skin color and the generalizations associated with it, everything becomes a much bigger deal.
I think it that the cartoonists having to tread lightly to avoid serious consequences is unfortunate, because they are only doing the same thing they have done for many white guys before Obama. America is based on free speech, but if we are always questioning what jokes are acceptable to make as to not offend anyone, that free speech is limited. Granted, there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed and that line is different for everyone. So I think the bigger point to make is that people should try to take everything a little less seriously, especially when it comes to things like the jokes provided as examples that aren’t overly racist.
In my opinion, and I am pretty sure fact too, there are always going to political cartoons and satire directed at our Commander-in-Chief and many others in government. I think that it is natural and comes with the territory. While I believe that it is not always in good taste, most often it is extremely humorous; case in point, the jokes about President Obama in the blog entry. Even though I DO think they are all very funny, I have different opinions about each.
For the first one about basketball, I think that is a given that the President that has rolling basketball hoops to put on the tennis courts at the White House, will have jokes made about the natural African American and basketball connection in our country.
In the second, the Obama Stimulus Bill, while I think it is in poor taste, I do still find humor in it…much like when someone trips and falls, but is then OK, and it is funny.
The Obama Fried Chicken is another given, unfortunately, since our President is (appearance wise, anyways) black. Although I don’t think that ONLY African Americans like fried chicken, hell I LOVE it and I’m a white female, I do think this is another stereotype that is often played and hyped up.
I love the fact that President Obama gave the Queen of England an iPod. I think it is great that he is trying to tune her into the world, since she is an older lady. Obama has made it quite clear that not only is he into music, good music at that, but he can also bust a move; a feat that has been difficult for many of our former presidents.
President Obama DEFINITELY has swagger. He commands attention with his presence, speaking voice and leadership qualities. Whenever I am watching a news channel, or anything channel for that matter, and I hear President Obama spoken of, or when he speaks, I have to stop and listen because I always feel smarter after listening to him. He sounds so smart, but has a way of breaking it down for the little people, like me, to understand. That is a very difficult thing for many people who are more intellectually relevant, to do; so for the President of the United States to do it with such finesse, is outstanding.
Even though there are these, and countless other jokes about President Obama that circulate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he has the ability to overcome them just by continuing to be who he is. He is effortlessly classy and intelligent, and I look forward to him overcoming the many obstacles that he will face.
My first reaction when I saw the cartoons in the “What's Funny About Obama...And What's Not” article, I’m not going to lie−I found them all really funny and could see the humor in which the artists were trying to depict. I really laughed at the “Swagger Like Barack” joke because I never really thought of Obama in a Godly way, but it is funny to me how others do. I mean sure, they are depicting stereotypes of Blacks, like loving watermelon and fried chicken (which, for the record, I can not stand eating watermelon) but that does not mean they are not funny. If you think about it, most jokes about others deal with stereotypes usually. We joke about Jews being cheap, Mexicans cramming 20 family members into one house, people from England having messed up teeth, and so many other stereotypes that I can not even think of right now.
There is something I agree with Sam about with all these cartoons and that is that there are probably many people out there, mainly Blacks, who will get offended by the cartoons (whose main purpose is to make people laugh) and call the artists who drew these harmless drawings racist. This is where I think Blacks get too carried away with the whole “calling someone a racist” thing and become big hypocrites when they end up doing it, as they frequently do. Like Sam said, if a comedian like Chris Rock or Katt Williams had showed these pictures in one of their skits, I can guarantee that the entire audience would be cracking. But if these comics were in newspapers, (where the assumption would be that a white man was the creator) uproar would ensue and Black leaders like Al Sharpton would be protesting a repeal. Meanwhile, it’s ok for Black comedians to make fun of white people as they always do. I’m not even white and I get annoyed with the way things are. How come whites are so comfortable with themselves that they laugh when we poke fun at them, but Blacks are not? It’s not like slavery of the US is going to come back and we are all going to have slave masters so what is the problem? I think that when that answer can finally be answered, race relations can be easier.
However, I do agree with what Scott Santis said in the “Cartoonists tread lightly when drawing Obama” article when he said (in regards to drawing Blacks) “you just don't draw monkeys." No matter how far we have progressed, I don’t think that you can honestly do that and not mean something offensive by it. It would be the same as drawing a German as Hitler, which we all know is wrong on many levels.
The article written by Jesse Washington is very concerning to me. For one, it says that cartoonists make their living through satire and exaggerating the features of presidents and such public figures. It basically condoned their behaviors by saying that satire exaggerates features and people need to realize that. I completely disagree with that thought, because satire can have malicious intent. Calling something satirical does not excuse the malice behind the action. I can recognize good humor when I see it, but in the case of several images concerning President Obama, I cannot find a way to excuse it for good humor.
Deforming someone’s face for an exaggerated point is not the same as depicting them as a monkey. I can take a joke with the best of them, but when something becomes offensive then it loses its joke effect (that’s if it ever had one). In the case with the Daily Times depiction of President Obama, I completely agree with the outrage that came from those tasteless actions.
Dr. Richard’s posted some stereotypic images of black people in context of President Barack Obama. Although stereotypes can be offensive, the stereotypes posted are not demeaning of intelligence. Making a person in the likeness of a primitive animal, is demeaning and insulting to one’s intelligence. In the past African Americans and blacks alike have been compared to the primitive animals and it is a stereotype that holds no truth and is a complete insult. The reason this depiction is tasteless and insulting is for the same reason a bitch is insulting. A bitch is a female dog, and that depiction of a woman is demeaning. Drawing President Obama in the likeness of an animal holds the same effect as if someone called his mother a bitch. It is the same context and people who don’t understand the outrage, should understand what it is to belittle someone below the human species. Taking someone out of the human race is so degrading that the satirical appeal becomes a classless attempt at creating humor out of a situation.
Somethings concerning President Obama can be found funny such as his likeness depicted with the ear buds. The Obama fried chicken is not offending to me at all because someone found so much glory and appreciation in the Obama victory that they decided to change the name of their business. This action shows how much President Obama has influenced the nation. It isn’t offensive, neither is the depiction of him with a basketball. It is a known fact that he plays basketball, and quite well if I may add. This is all in good fun, not to make someone feel as if they hold no place in the human race which is offensive. And President Obama does have Swag!
I think the obama jokes are expected. I’m sure he doesn’t get offended by them because he knew what he was getting himself into. Just because the jokes are expected doesn’t mean that they are right. People are going to make jokes no matter who you are, what your job, what position you hold, etc. I just think people should not take themselves so seriously and learn to laugh at the little things. Choose to stress out and get mad over the big things in life not the small ones. I think the swagger thing is really funny. For some people obama is God like and to others he is not. Obama has a cool swag to him. He laid back nonchalant and very intelligent. I do think that swag is mostly if not only understood by black people. I don’t really agree with swag being respect. My definition of swag is how you carry yourself, your natural persona, just being real. I think sometimes swag can get you respect but it’s not the definition of it. Some people have swag and some people don’t. Swag is not something you can just go out and buy or memic from someone. Swag is something that you just have. I think you can develop swag from within yourself but you can’t learn it because it’s your own thing. Swag is not just one way to act, look, and carry your self. There are many different types of swag and your swag makes you different from everyone else.
The pictures on this blog were very much so stereotypical…but funny. Yesterday in class Sam Richards stated something incredibly true “ It is impossible to offend someone unless they CHOOSE to let themselves be offended”. As a Hispanic female I can choose to take a lot of things “the wrong way” but I choose not to. Yes it is true many black males play basketball but a lot of Dominicans play baseball and many white people play golf SO WHAT! Now Obama’s stimulus bill the “food coupon” is funny but I wonder if the public takes it only as a joke. I would hate for people to think that black people are the ONLY ones to collect food stamps (NOT that there is anything wrong with getting help from the government) but I worked for a supermarket in lower Manhattan for almost two years and the majority of people with food stamps were WHITE. OK OK everyone knows the majority of black people love fried chicken and when I saw the picture of Obama’s name on a fried chicken store in NYC I must admit I did laugh, again I am from NYC so this is not the first time I have seen something like this especially when passing through Harlem but so what I love how this is the first President that can take a joke, who seems like a REAL human being, who seems like he actually interacts with his family, who shows the love he has for his wife, who can deliver a kick ass speech and dance to some of his favorite Motown music. I don’t think America has ever had such a cool president, what other president can you say gave the QUEEN OF ENGLAND and IPOD I think that’s hilarious not because woo hoo black people love music (newsflash EVERY RACE loves music even if one may like rap, another rock, another salsa, another techno etc..) but because it shows he’s not afraid to step outside the lines from time to time. Do some black people need to lighten up? Yes they do. Are some of the jokes taken to far? Yes they are. The cartoonist who drew the monkey getting shot and officials stating “ They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill” was taken too far. Although I would like to think I live in a world where racism and prejudice does not exist the truth is it still does so there must be some type of boundaries. Don’t get me wrong I am all for good comedy and I don’t take myself too seriously but the time has not come where one could openly (or privately) call a black person a monkey or call a Spanish person a drug dealer or a white person a cracker. I completely agree that cartoonist must make their living and everyone knows caricatures exaggerate peoples features especially when it comes to politics so people must lighten up because again this is not the first nor will it be the last time a president has been made fun. White officials are constantly being made fun of, former president Bush couldn’t say a sentence without being the joke of the nation. Obama has not had a full year in office and already all this controversy of what’s right /wrong/racism/ and jokes taken to far are being taken to another level we all need to lighten up, after all this is America and how many other countries can you openly make jokes or state opinions about the president without getting killed.
As a white person viewing these jokes about Obama, amongst others I have previously seen, I feel that the humor is somewhat to be expected. I say this for a couple different reasons. For one, I feel as if President Obama uses his “swagger” and social acceptance by the younger masses to his advantage. He tries to relate to the youth of America much more than any President I’ve seen in my 20 years. I feel as if this can be helpful at times, but also hurtful at times. When trying to relate to the youth, it makes him somewhat more vulnerable to the exact group he tries relating to. I don’t mean that in a way that it makes him vulnerable to being disliked, more so I think of it has him being “one of the guys”. His openness to enjoying his satisfaction in a cold beer and his willingness to admit to trying marijuana in the past makes him seem much more like the common adult male. By doing this, many Americans feel as if he isn’t this Godly human being that all must bow down to. This makes him much more open to being the butt end of a funny joke. An example of this would be the “Obonga 08” picture that was displayed in class last week. These types of jokes are seen as funny humor to most and offensive and/or racial shots to others. Either way, it is certainly Obama that has made himself open to some of these jokes.
The other reason, in my opinion, is a little more obvious. Never before in our country has there been a black President. African Americans have climbed a long way up the ladder over the last 50 years, but this was a leap to the moon for African Americans. For every American that is thrilled about this accomplishment, just as many have mixed feelings about it. While most won’t come out and say there should never be a black President in America, many don’t see much harm in cracking a joke about it from time to time. There are many stereotypes that go along with being black. Whether it be the love for fried chicken, the ability to excel in sports, and the lack of intelligence, most blacks have heard it all. These jokes are normally directed at the “common black man”, but with Obama there is much more to it. The President of the United States is the most distinguished position in our country, and now that a black man holds that position a lot of these recycled black jokes are now being streamed to one person: Barack Obama. While these jokes are seen as offensive to some, they are mostly made in a humorous, non-offensive manner. These jokes are harmless and playful for the most part. I would say that jokes like these are to be expected for the first black President. The “first black” anything in our country has attracted a lot of attention, good and bad. For example, there was a lot of backlash when Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player. The attention that Robinson got was much more harsh than what Obama has received thus far, and I think this shows that America has gotten past the hatred and cruelty toward African Americans and now playfully jokes about it. The jokes in the post about the Obama are just that: playful (and yes, somewhat racial) JOKES.
Obama Jokes
When Obama became president, some people were not in approval state of mind. When times change in the world, people tend to criticize on the new changes. People are not used to changing times and diversity, so they “rebel” against it. So naturally when the first black man became president, everyone had a field day with Obama. They would criticize on his every move and what he did in his free time. Every time you would see Obama on the news he would be ballin’ with the brothas, and they would always do basketball things with him. You would see him playing with a bunch of college teams or picking teams to go to the final four. Then Obama took things a bit further and he decided that he should put a basketball court in the White House. Now I am not one to judge how people pimp out their homes, but a basketball court inside just makes Obama live up to the stereotypes that have been made about him. So why should everyone complain about how Obama is being poorly represented and his cultural habits are being made fun of. As mentioned in the article, all black people play basketball, so why can’t the man put a court in his home. He worked hard to get there, so he should be rewarded. It takes a lot of work to be president so he should be thrown a bone.
As for the friend chicken Obama restaurant, I think that it is a good marketing scheme. Let’s face reality here and all agree on the fact that all black people love two things: Obama and fried chicken. So if a place sells chicken, their focus group would be black people. So if they get Obama endorsed chicken, then black people would be all over it. It just makes sense to have the two attract black people. Just how Italian places will sell to mainly Italians and Middle East shops will sell to Middle Easterns. It is all just based on the fact that people eat what they are raised up on due to their own heritage. The Obama Chicken place is just another typical black thing like the basketball. I really don’t see why people make such a big deal out of it. I personally love fried chicken and I am as white as Christmas Day. It is just what black people eat and if Obama wants to get some chicken, let the man eat his chicken.
As for the iPod to the Queen, I think this is kind of funny. The Queen is really old and behind on things. I am glad that Obama is trying to break her out of her shell and get her with the times. The iPod is a cool gift because the gift of music just keeps on giving. The iPod thing worked because now she has a gold plated Nintendo DS. I think that Obama is just a people person and that he is just being nice. I really don’t see how you can make racial comments about he gave an iPod with Motown on it. Motown is good music so let the Queen jam out to some good classic music and get her groove on. The Queen needs to loosen up and this is the way to.
Obama’s actions are typical black man actions. Everyone likes chicken, Motown and basketball so let the man do what he was raised to do and love. You can’t change his past and tell him that he can’t act the way he was brought up to be. Everyone needs to quit busten’ on the guy for living up to the “stereotypes”, but this is how the man was raised. There are bigger things that people need to worry about like the economy. Let Obama have his basketball and chicken, and let the man do his job and live his life the way he wants.
To start off I believe that no matter how much the world changes there will always be color jokes no matter what race you may come from. I believe it is your responsibility as a human to take color out of what you say and try and make people comfortable. Of course Obama being the first black/white president he is going to get called out for his race and the way he carry himself because most people see confidence as a meaning of cockiness and I don't think that is what it is at all. Obama is a strong and intelligent man. I do believe it's a line of funny and also crossing the line. Me personality would laughed because those comments are stereotypes and I believe it is up to different people to break those different stereotypes so I don't take stereotypes such as these to heart because I know who I am as a individual and I also know what I am not why take offense to someone who judges someone because of their race and judges people before getting to know them as a person. Overall we learned these things back in elementary "Treat people the way that you would want to be treated". As an African American I can truthfully say that I treat all people the same no matter where they come from or their race, I just wish that more people took this approach but like Obama said this is the year for change. I believe if more people loosen up and be all open-minded then stereotypes like this will not matter or jokes between different races will not be as offensive. It’s just what's meant behind the different words that are said that people may take offense too. Obama is not perfect and I expect people to make jokes about him and stereotypes about him because he is the first mixed president and some people don't know how to react to him, but I do expect people to have a certain level of respect for him as a person. Thinking about these clips of Obama eating fried chicken just meant to me that he likes fried chicken, all people of different race like and eat fried chicken, and people that try to offend people with this just means that they having really had good fried chicken before. Then the clip with Obama with a basketball just means that he likes basketball, people need to understand that he was a normal person before he becomes president I took it as funny because Obama can ball and his swagger and daily routine wouldn’t give me a impression that he can play. I would also laugh if I saw Bush playing basketball. Music is music if you did a survey across campus on who liked music I believe you would get a same answer by people with different races because music is universal. Then Obama on a food stamp I guess that’s another stereotype because he’s half black but if people do their research then they would know that black people are not the number 1 race on food stamps , so I took no offense because most people don’t know their facts so they assume things. This is what I think about “what's Funny About Obama...And what's not”.
So, what’s funny about Obama..and what’s not, that’s seems a little bit strange question to me, I am not a American, but this year something changed in this country, they got a “first Black president” like the popular hip hop songs by jay-z ,says” My president is black, my Lambo’s blue and I will be goddamned if my rims ain’t too my momma ain’t home, and daddy’s still in jail.”
I am sure I don’t have this kind of power to make comment for a Country’s president. To be respect to this country, I really think this kind of so-called joke are not really a real joke, however, it’s a brand new represent to this country, Wow, a black cool American presidents, and I do wish my country also have a cool president like American.
You really should look those pictures, we all know there are lot of NBA players are black ,I think the main point in this picture is to show people that they have a president who like play sports , Ok, I do like compare American president to my country’s president, I am a Chinese , everybody want a president who do have capacity to dealing with nation issues, Our president , Mr, Hu Jintao, is been 8 years for him , take look to China, it’s been a huge change in my country, whatever the economic or the relationship between other country, there always a big progress.
You know there always the same for every people to think things, the media always make thing special in order to make a higher impact on TV.
In Class the professor talk about the race, so you really think that’s a joke about race?
I personally think it is not , This world we live in is a amazing plant, you see different people around you, different color skin around you, like today’s class there a one student trying to identify couples student which group are they, black ,Latino or white, you see it always hard to identify people to different group. Even Barack Obama, you can’t say he is 100 percent black, and that’s why American media even the world media are trying to make him special, “He is God”, like the speech he made every time everywhere in America” It’s time to change ,” I like person who always feel confidence, and I do wish America will have a big change in their country, because I live here now, and I study here everyday, I already been a part of this country, so I do like those picture, and I am sure he will be the most successful president in America, wish him enjoy his job, the job to manage this country, like the last picture showed that he really enjoy the ipod music.
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