The Joke(r)’s on Obama
This morning, Rush Limbaugh made an interesting comment – he said that when Obama's popularity starts to flag, the tipping point will be when it becomes 'cool' to dislike Obama. Rush thinks that the appearance of the Obama Joker poster in LA may be just that tipping point.
What I think is really interesting is the reaction of liberals to this image – they are so shocked by this blasphemy (against the messiah, who is also black, so making fun of him is both anti-american AND racist), that they either shake their head with a worried look ("um, that's really not proper") or recoil in horror ("that's creepy").
Of course, some libs are taking the approach that "this comparison is inaccurate," missing the point of such art pretty much entirely, just like Christians missed the point of Seranno's "piss Christ." Shocking sychophants out of their adoration is meant to reveal to THEM their worship which can make them and their oragnizations sick and inhuman. It is attacking sacred cows.
The comparison may not be entirely accurate here, but the intent most certainly is more than just kicking a sacred negro, and letting the worshippers know that not everyone worships with them. It's also meant to criticize his policies. Smart people sometimes resort to such mockery when intellectual arguments are ignored. So there you have it.
Of course, you can always just do what I am doing, which is buy the T-shirt.
Satire is a perfectly appropriate response to politics, particularly against those you dislike or disagree with. Liberals cannot complain given the record of caricatures of Bush and co. (see here, here, and here for particularly fine examples). I do, however, think this version of Obama is over the top, particularly as it presents him in white-face (yes, it's racist) and portrays him as the psychotically evil Joker and charges him (falsely by any fair measure) with socialism. But, whatever: the purpose of satire isn't fairness or justice, and exaggeration is its primary weapon.
Rather, what bothers me about this post above is its contemptuous dismissal of Obama supporters (millions of us) as "worshipers" who "adore" him as the "messiah." I'm aware that this meme was popular among extreme right-wingers during the campaign, but it's really time to put it to rest. It's an insult, not to Obama, but to people who, for many completely rational reasons, support and admire him based on his policies and his obvious ability. Why insult us to make your point? You only make it far more difficult to communicate with us with any hope of convincing us.
Of course, I shouldn't be surprised. daniel is, after all, incapable of true communication or, even, any meaningful intellectual integrity. He has little but contempt for anyone who may have the temerity to disagree with his inherently authoritarian views. And, as a religious fanatic, he sees everything in terms of religion. Thus, one's political views cannot but be linked to religion in his mind: the two are one and the same. Such a person cannot be reasoned with, and his views can only be dismissed as we would the ravings of any lunatic.
>> LOUIS: Rather, what bothers me about this post above is its contemptuous dismissal of Obama supporters (millions of us) as "worshipers" who "adore" him as the "messiah."
Perhaps that is a little unfair. Not all Obama supporters, perhaps even just a minority, are following the cult of personality and ethnicity that is Obama.
But part of the reason we say this is the disgusting way in which the media coddled Obama, hence books like Slobbering Love Affair and Fleeced. The total lack of objectivity in the MSM made us think that most liberals were just as taken with Obama and his captivating speaking style and good looks.
Thankfully, the honeymoon is wearing off, and some in the media are asking hard questions, but I think that they are following the grass roots awakening to the problems with his policies, rather than leading in real inquiry.
But again, the point is that, while YOU may not be caught up in the cult of Obama and the HOPE mantra, many still are, and the visible shock that this poster causes in them is evidence enough.
After watching the conservative cult which began around the sainted, messiah, Ronald Reagan, and found its apotheosis in Bush II, I have little sympathy for your complaints. It's just sour grapes: you guys lost, and you lost big. Your agenda was repudiated by the electorate, even in the "red" states of Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida. Your whimpers merely illustrate this fact: when all else fails, blame the messenger (here, the media). That's the last refuge of the true loser (eg, Palin).
Get a life.
Louis,
Your response reminds me of Bill Maher's response to Michelle Malkin's newest book. Ad hominem. No meat.
Surely you're smart enough to address the issues addressed there. If you're unfamiliar with them, then perhaps you can read and try to debunk things presented at http://www.newsbusters.org.
What's interesting about the Messiah thing, is that it wasn't a creation of the right or Republicans, but the left. It started at the Art Institute in Chicago with a statue. Look it up.
As for the "agenda repudiation": If the democrats get crushed in 2010, including taking back normal red states, and gaining normal blue states, would you take that as an "agenda repudiation"? Have you seen recent polls?
Do you think that the President Barack Obama that the US has now, is the same as Presidential candidate Barack Obama that people voted for? He ran as a moderate, and independant voters overwhelmingly voted for him and identified him as such. Yet in the most recent Rasumussen poll, 76% of voters view him as at least slightly liberal, with 48% saying very liberal.
There's no question that GeeDub was an unpopular president. He was unpopular on the right, too. (Apotheosis of Reagan? I mean, good use of the word, but that's more than a little off target. Reagan was a fiscal conservative. GeeDub was clearly not.) Voters overwhelmingly voted for "change", and the disasterous policies of the GeeDub administration made it very easy for the Obama team to make the "vote for McCain is another term for Bush" message to be very very effective. What policies that you hated about Bush II is Obama treating differently? Gays in the military? Torture? Domestic wire tapping? Fiscal responsibility? Tax cuts? Spending? Cronyism?
I hope that you will show true communication and intellectual integrity and address the issues.
>> LOUIS: After watching the conservative cult which began around the sainted, messiah, Ronald Reagan
First, I am constantly amazed at how often you resort to the 'two wrongs make a right' argument. Very typical of liberals (think 'affirmative action' and other injustices).
Second, Reagan was VERY significant in that he redefined conservatism, brought religion squarely into the public arena, including the abortion issue AND his toughness and administration brought down the Soviet Union (well, that's how it appeared, though it probably had just as much to do with the fall of oil prices).
However, perhaps Obama is redefining liberalism to be Socialism, but that's been going on for some time. Kennedy Democrats are fleeing to the Independent Party.
So perhaps canonizing people like Reagan or Obama is to be expected, if for no other reason than that they are turning points in history, for good and/or bad.
>> LOUIS: It's just sour grapes: you guys lost, and you lost big. Your agenda was repudiated by the electorate
It's not just sour grapes, it's real alarm at leftist policy.
And your interpretation of our 'big loss' is self-serving, but not correct. Now that the libs are in total control, they will hang themselves with their own rope – the destruction will hopefully come quickly so that people see how bad their ideas really are.
For the record, I do think Obama is a moderate – too moderate in my opinion. Instead of using his Democratic majority to get things done, he's worrying about appeasing the rejectionist, uber-conservative Republican party – governing from the middle. Maybe he's right, I don't know. We'll see.
As for the rest, no, I don't think you guys can give anything I say a fair shake. Witness: dismissal of everything I say as mere ad hominem where this ENTIRE POST is nothing but (take another look at that poster)! daniel whines that "two wrongs don't make a right" and goes on trumpeting his "wrongs" as if they are cold, hard, established fact. He vilifies Obama supporters in the most unfair ways and then acts all outraged when I throw it back in his face.
Answer to you both: tough titty!
Wait, you just responded to my appeal to address the issues by addressing the ad hominem attack by daniel with ad hominem attacks?
Tough titty indeed! It's round at least, just like this logic. :p
Not give you a fair shake? Please, support.
Assuming maybe just maybe just maybe, we could discuss the issues… could you tell me what you think about Obama's treatment of issues that the left found abhorent about Bush II? And why do you suppose Obama is being "too moderate" to appease the far right, when he has philibuster proof majority in the senate and majority in the house? Who does he have to appease?
Might it be moderate democrats? That's who's holding up health care and cap and trade. Please explain how you think he needs, or is appealing to anyone right of center.
Check out why Seeker's picture might be accurate…
ORIGINAL Version – DID JESUS GIVE US THE NAME OF THE ANTICHRIST?
I report, you decide!
I’ve checked out a lot of those “Obama is the antichrist” vids, they are very intriguing, in a strange way.
However, the antichrist is supposed to arise in Europe, so unless we misunderstand scripture, I’m not sure Obama is it.
But he meets some of the characteristics ;)
Related post on Ace of Spades
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/290472.php
Points out some specific and rather tasty bits of hypocrisy.
And Michelle Malkin:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/04/how-quickly-…
Nice scoop Daniel. :D
There is a difference. Look here and here for the dangers surrounding this vilification of Obama. Cries of "terrorist" and "kill him!" were incited at McCain and Palin rallies last Fall, sentiments which lie behind the poster daniel proudly flaunts.
Of COURSE there's a difference. One is an ultraliberal and the other was a psuedo-conservative.
This does get to something interesting… Do you think that this sort of image *causes* people do incite acts of terror or conspiracy to murder? If so, is the Obama as Joker poster more likely to cause violence than the Bush as Joker pics (or Bush as vampire or Bush with gun against his head)?
Here in L.A. the poster is popping up on public spaces around the city. I didn’t notice the same incitement with Bush, et al. Private satire is one thing, public another entirely. daniel wants to publicly wear a t-shirt with the image. Yes, it’s freedom of expression, but the thought being expressed is despicable, and it comes with the baggage associated with the expressions I linked to. It’s your right to approve; it’s my right to deplore.
Louis, the murderous stuff about bush was all public (selling buttons), and the Bush Joker image was published in Vanity Fair magazine. "Private" satire? Nice fictitious distinction.
BTW, I saw the Obama Joker on the back of a car yesterday – printed out on a color printer and taped on
Yes, I'm well aware that the facist right is alive and well in this country.
Yes, grassroots efforts that are coordinated are 'the fascist right' – the problem is, the Obamaites are totally out of touch with the insanity of their plan, and the real anger of the common people.
"Republican organizations" is merely the regular people, organizing, and showing their anger at stupidity. Suddenly, liberals want 'civil discourse' while previously they were ok with throwing paint on people, throwing shoes at the president, and such.
I am not for yelling, but booing the hypocrisy and idiocy of the plan is where we are at BECAUSE OBAMA AND THE LIBERALS ARE TRYING TO STEAMROLL THIS STUFF THROUGH. Since they have shut down real debate on the issue, we are trying to tell them that it is BS.
This isn't some loony Code Pink fringe, this is the regular citizens.
Cin, nice attempt at guilt by association, but the idiocy of that YouTube video has nothing to do with anyone here that I know of. If YouTube had been around during Reagan, there would have been a similar video up then. Every major political figure is always called the anti-Christ by some kook with just enough knowledge to make them dangerous.
To the subject at hand, it’s always so funny that when the party in power changes hand that suddenly dissent is not the highest form of patriotism. Somehow assassination jokes and art are no longer funner. Amazingly comparing the President to Hitler loses some cool points. Everything that is old is new again.
I’ll be convinced that the left is sincere about their objections when they show me quotes displaying the same outrage when Bush was mistreated.
Personally, I think the Joker/Obama thing is a bit unfocused and random. I’m not sure how Obama’s policies of “socialism” sync up with Joker from the Dark Knight. The point of satire should be obvious. I’m not sure this one is. But the viral spread of it and the reaction to it are very interesting.
But call me when we have a Nazi vampire Obama with blood dripping fangs published in a national magazine, then I’ll join the outrage chorus.
You people disgust me.
What about your whine about "two wrongs don't make a right"? You guys are experts with the double standard.
It's fascist because these right-wing organized mobs are intent on shouting down anyone with whom they disagree and want to shut down civic discussions between citizens and their elected representatives. They are exactly the same as the mobs incited by the McCain/Palin ticket in the last election. They are the opposite of what a democracy should be. The conservative movement has devolved into a fascist mob, and you a**holes here defend this! Enough!
I am sick of you scum. If this is where America is headed, then God help her.
Aaron, you kind of shot your mouth off there. I'm not outraged at all. On the contrary, I hope that conservatives keep it up. All I did was post a video in response to Daniel's post. They are related because as Seeker says "It is attacking sacred cows." Whether it's forged Australian birth certificates, anti-Christ theories, or painting Obama to look the Joker from Batman, I think these are very substantive criticisms of Obama and they are sure help shed the "party for lunatics" reputation the RNC (Rush, Newt, Cheaney) currently enjoys. Keep up the good work you conservative intellectuals! I can't wait to see the next Obama birth certificate from Kenya.
The republican party is like a star that's gone nova, shedding it's outer layers, and all that's left is a super dense core of wing nuts.
It honestly makes me sad to hear how you think. You are either just too young to understand anything just yet, or you just don't want to let others with opinions different than yours speak. The hate is on the left, the intolerance is on the left, the ignorance is on the left. If you were intellectually honest, you would see that. Liberals ARE the man, and here you are, being so cool, fighting "The Man" aren't you, oblivious.
As far as shouting others down, well you Liberals have everyone beat on that, so don't be throwing rocks from your liberal glass tower. I've been around a lot of people at rallies and never once heard an angry or hateful word from any one on the Right.
I have heard the lefties spew a venom so toxic that I was amazed!
And do you even know what the word fascist means. Look it up. You are the one posting hate, calling names and being intolerant.
If you are not a liberal in your 20's than you haven't lived.
If you are not a conservative by the time you hit 40, you haven't learned.
One more for ya.
fas·cism
/’fæ??z?m/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [fash-iz-uhm] Show IPA
Use fascism in a Sentence
–noun
1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) the philosophy, principles, or methods of fascism.
3. (initial capital letter) a fascist movement, esp. the one established by Mussolini in Italy 1922–43.
from American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America:
“The radical Christian Right calls for exclusion, cruelty and intolerance in the name of God. Its members do not commit evil for evil’s sake. They commit evil to make a better world. To attain this better world, they believe, some must suffer and be silenced, and at the end of time all those who oppose them must be destroyed. The worst suffering in human history has been carried out by those who preach such grand, utopian visions, those who seek to implant by force their narrow, particular version of goodness. This is true for all doctrines of personal salvation, from Christianity to ethnic nationalism to communism to fascism. Dreams of a universal good create hells of persecution, suffering and slaughter. No human being could ever be virtuous enough to attain such dreams, and the Earth has swallowed millions of hapless victims in the vain pursuit of a new heaven and a new Earth. Ironically, it is idealism that leads radical fundamentalists to strip human beings of their dignity and their sanctity and turn them into abstractions. Yet it is only by holding on to the sanctity of each individual, each human life, only by placing our faith in tiny, unheroic acts of compassion and kindness, that we survive as a community and as individual human beings.”
With “Free Marketer” the double standard is alive and well: excoriate the demonic “liberals” while turning a completely blind eye to the evils his side spreads (because, of course, he agrees with them and therefore they can do no wrong). This is what I fight.
Louis, I suppose I’d have to read the book to see if he actually makes an argument. The snippet you provided is both straw man and internally inconsistent (he says any utopian vision leads to evil and then presents his utopian vision).
I’m still curious if you think this sort of thing can cause people to act violently? I ask because I share your disgust of the “kill him” individuals. I know that Palin and McCain do, too. So did the Secret Service who did a full investigation to try and find the individuals, and to my understanding, to no avail. But if you think McCain or Palin incited that, or this poster incited that, then I wonder how you would apply that consistently (as you implore people do in your most recent post) to violence at leftist events, or pro-gay rallies. Who incited the people who tossed bags of cement off of an overpass hitting a bus full of Cub Scouts on their way to that very same “kill him” rally…
First of all, I'm she.
Second, you have quite a nice little tirade there. I'd like you to show me the proof of your statements about me. You and I both know that you cannot, because you are irrational and have not logic to base your comments on. So you attack me personally.
You neglect to mention, you are the one who is intolerant. Your side is asking neighbor to spy on neighbor, to turn them in if they dare disagree with them. I am not a crack pot religious nut, but because you have no real argument against me, that is what you demonize me as. I'm asking me to think. As a child we are filled and all consumed with emotion and are not rational. Our brains are still growing and we don't really know how to understand our emotions. This is where you and many like you are….. still.
You know not one thing about me, so you assume. You are not very good at it, my proof is that you automatically assume I am a man. Why? Why a crazy Christian? Why do you assume I would tolerate any true evil? You have no proof, no facts, no logical data to support it. So you use the tired old emotional argument to demonize me. Why? Because it suits you and yours to do so.
If you can demonize me then it is OK for you and yours to hate me, say lies about me and even not value me as a human being. You talk of valuing human life. Why would anyone who values human life support abortion, or euthanasia, or denying the young and sick or the old and sick health care? Because they do not really value human life and the live and let live idea at all. They only value their own ideology, their beliefs, that they must force on others who do not agree. Sounds a bit like "Convert or die" doesn't it. Notice I am not accusing you, as you did me, my soul is much more hopeful than that! Hope and honor and faith and morality is what is alive and well in me. I fear you, on the other hand, have fallen into the abyss. You are being told fighting me (your "idea" of me) or shutting me down by demonizing me is a the good fight. But truly you are the one who believes evil is OK, as long as it helps your false cause.
And so I'm done with you. I will no longer waste my precious time trying to reach you. I've been told by countless many that you can never get an emotionally unstable person to see the logic in any argument. Sadly, they have been proven right. Good luck, I honestly mean it, I hope someday you will find the light. Or is that just too evil for me to say?
yawn
Hi James,
Thanks for your insights, all intellectually honest people will agree. It saddens me to say that I think the "kill him" people were plants by McCain's opposition. It is proven that some people, on both sides of the argument, just love to do things like that to make each other look bad. And that is even more despicable than some lonely idiot preaching hate. As if preaching hate isn't despicable enough, no matter who does it.
PS Have you visited freemarketers.com yet?
I hadn't been to your website, but I've got it favorited now. I'll spend a little more time there this afternoon. :)
That whole agent provactuer thing comes off as a bit crazy, and I try to shy away from it. I actually thought the whole "birther" thing was driven along those lines until I saw some polling. Yeesh. Get your minds in gear people… That said, at the same rally where racist SEIU supporters of Obamacare beat the dog snot out of a peaceful attendee, a staffer or volunteer (anyone have clarity on that point) was in fact trying to act as an agent to incite violence from Obamacare opponents. She was arrested.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/290663.php
So it does happen.