Alternate Reality
The New Yorker magazine, July 21, 2008 edition, features a cartoonist image of Barak and Michelle Obama on its front cover. I am choosing a Fox News link as a reference for two very good reasons. One is that it displays a large, clear image of this New Yorker cover so you get a good look at the cartoon. My other reason is a bit more complex.
Yesterday when I first saw this magazine cover in Americablog, I thought, oh no, this is all the right needs to confirm their fears, an image to back up all those nasty claims they have been making about Obama. Indeed, if you read the comments to the Fox News blog that I linked to above, it's clear that this cartoon's appearance on the cover of The New Yorker does exactly that. For those on the political right here in America, this confirms their suspicions.
But this morning I realized why this cartoon was featured so prominently. What this picture shows is the alternate reality that exists in the minds of far too many Americans who have been influenced by the rumors being spread by the right. This cartoon shows the reality that exists in the minds of Americans who have given themselves over to the politics of fear.
That same politics gave us a Saddam Hussein swimming in a massive pool of "weapons of mass murder" ready to share that arsenal with "radical Islamo-Fascist terrorists." It is the same politics of fear that gives us an Iran intent on using nukes to "wipe Israel off the face of the earth." It is an alternate world reality in which the only way we can be safe is to trust our future and our security to the Republican Party which in turn trusts American security to the Neo-Conservatives and Israeli interests.
When will we ever realize that?
Fox News is as responsible for this false reality as any conservative voice in America. So for the sake of irony I give you the Fox News blog referenced above to ponder.
Yesterday when I first saw this magazine cover in Americablog, I thought, oh no, this is all the right needs to confirm their fears, an image to back up all those nasty claims they have been making about Obama. Indeed, if you read the comments to the Fox News blog that I linked to above, it's clear that this cartoon's appearance on the cover of The New Yorker does exactly that. For those on the political right here in America, this confirms their suspicions.
But this morning I realized why this cartoon was featured so prominently. What this picture shows is the alternate reality that exists in the minds of far too many Americans who have been influenced by the rumors being spread by the right. This cartoon shows the reality that exists in the minds of Americans who have given themselves over to the politics of fear.
That same politics gave us a Saddam Hussein swimming in a massive pool of "weapons of mass murder" ready to share that arsenal with "radical Islamo-Fascist terrorists." It is the same politics of fear that gives us an Iran intent on using nukes to "wipe Israel off the face of the earth." It is an alternate world reality in which the only way we can be safe is to trust our future and our security to the Republican Party which in turn trusts American security to the Neo-Conservatives and Israeli interests.
When will we ever realize that?
Fox News is as responsible for this false reality as any conservative voice in America. So for the sake of irony I give you the Fox News blog referenced above to ponder.
posted by Bill | 6:37 AM
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