The Politics of Fear

New Yorker cartoon cover w/Obamas, originally uploaded by scriptingnews.

I guess I'm in the minority, Left & Right, because I see that cover as making fun of those folks who insist on stressing Obama's middle name & linking him to terrorists-- You know... Conservatives...

That the left (including Obama's campaign) is whining about this picture--& the right is celebrating it as though there is a shred of truth in it, (and as though the illustrator isn't pretty much calling the folks on the right who engage in these things idiots to their faces)--absolutely mystifies me...

The illustration is called "The Politics of Fear," people... ...& I think it hits the mark quite well. The fact that the very folks it's aimed at are the ones spreading it around most vociferously, is just icing on a very ironic cake.

At least I'm not the only one who sees it that way...

"I think the New Yorker is poking fun at the fantasies of the rabid right…

To be skewered and not even notice it takes a deft blade."

- alphie on July 13, 2008 at 7:59 PM

More here:
TheImproper.com: Barry Blitt Defends New Yorker Cover

TheImproper.com: Obama Camp Bashes 'Tasteless' New Yorker Cover

UPDATE: A blogger at Mother Jones gets to the heart of the problem with this satire not being understood by target & audience alike, and offers a possible solution.

"The current cover doesn't satirize the attacks on the Obamas so much as it merely combines them, and the real target of the supposed satire (Fox News?) is left unspoken. But here's how it could have worked: the exact same drawing, except with John and Cindy McCain in place of the Obamas."

-- The Riff: Holy Fist Bumps: New Yorker Obama Cover Features Turban, Afro, Flag Burning, bin Laden, Complete Lack of Concern for Humanity

Rene Marie & The (Black) National Anthem

Updated, 7/12/08



My initial reaction--which hasn't changed, much--was that this singer was wrong for doing what she did, but that the song, and the idea behind it, is beautiful. She was hired to sing a particular song and, while I agree with artistic expression, and really dig the version she offered, this wasn't the proper venue for it.

Given Rene Marie's penchant for blending such songs in past (see/hear below), the city probably should've taken the extra step to be sure she wasn't going to do so in this situation. It's not as though this information wasn't available...

Still, while I agree that she shouldn't've done it the way she did, I'm glad I heard her sing this (& hope I can find an mp3 of it to add to the iPod), and I will be buying some of her music.

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UPDATE: 7/12/08: I found a place to hear/download not only this piece, but the whole three part composition--"Voice of My Beautiful Country" that the "Star-Spangled Banner/Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" piece is a part of... Go here to hear it, and (while it lasts, anyway) to Rene Marie's site to download it.
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'Black National Anthem' brings City Council president hate mail :
Local News : The Rocky Mountain News:

Hickenlooper said in an interview that he spoke to Marie after the ceremony and that she apologized profusely.

The mayor also said that Marie told him she meant no disrespect.

"She blended the two songs together," Hickenlooper said. "She was trying to make an artistic expression of her love for the country. She did not intend to make a political statement or anything."

Marie sang the first verse of James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," also known as the "Black National Anthem," but adapted those lyrics to the tune of the "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Marie said she had no regrets. She deliberately didn't tell anybody about her song choice "because I don't think it is necessary for an artist to ask permission to express themselves artistically," she said.

"I would not change a thing," Marie said.

"You have to risk things. You have to. Otherwise, you might of well live your life by a script."

Rene Marie breaks out :
Music : The Rocky Mountain News:

Marie calls herself a "GRITS" ("a Girl Raised in the South") but no one below the Mason-Dixon Line, or anywhere else, knows what to think the first time he hears the most daring medley in her repertoire.

When she first sang it in Mississippi, every jaw in the place dropped. When she called the tune, using its short name, in early rehearsal at the recording studio, drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, who came up with New Orleans-born trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, dropped his sticks and said, "I'm not playing that."

Not playing what?

Marie, who relishes the drama of the unexpected, had thought to pair the traditional white anthem Dixie with the heartbreaking meditation on lynching Strange Fruit. She brought off the collision of opposites as an ironic comment on the way the world still works.

In Mississippi, black and white audience members approached her afterward with tears in their eyes and tragic stories to tell. The same thing happened everywhere else, too. Born in controversy, Dixie/Strange Fruit became the emotional centerpiece of Marie's much- praised CD Vertigo.

Anyone shopping for symbols can find one right there, illustrating the purposes of Marie's unblinking, semiautobiographical work.

"I want to make you laugh and cry," she says. "I want you to squirm uncomfortably in your chair, think of a loved one, get angry, hang your head in shame and raise your hand in protest. . . . I want you to take that leap, make that change, turn that corner."

Hear: "Dixie/Strange Fruit" here

More info:

Another perspective on the controversy: Rene Marie’s patriotic lesson - Colorado Independent

rene marie ~ Q & A

The history behind the 'Black National Anthem' - Cleveland Lifestyles – Living, Food, Health & Fitness News from The Plain Dealer

Comments NeroCon saw fit to delete

Apparently, It's time to move on from my old friend Nero... He's deleting all my comments to his blog, without comment...

While it's certainly within his right, it doesn't make him look good...

Here are the other three of the ones I lost today...
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http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/lefts-fundamental-dishonesty.html

The author pretty clearly states that the passes are both legitimate & legal. Media Benjamin is a principle player in Global Exchange, isn't she? The fact that even the Secret Service & Montecello accepted these passes is strong evidence that they are legitimate.

As to whether GE is a news organization, well, no more or less so than any one of a hundred other partisan internet publications--right & left--who also have press passes... Would you deny passes to all of 'em?
repsac3 | Homepage | 07.09.08 - 8:59 am | #
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What happened to you, professor?

When did you decide to edit for ideological content?

How soon until Tim, Patrick, QDave, Faux, & the rest disappear, as well?
repsac3 | Homepage | 07.09.08 - 9:35 am | #
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/lefts-fundamental-dishonesty.html#133302
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Creation of the phrase "fake but accurate" was in support of the Leftist agenda ...



You mean, like this one?



"I don't care if the picture was photoshopped ... I believe that Code Pink wants out troops dead,"

Seems some on the right are fond of that sentiment, as well...


repsac3 | Homepage | 07.09.08 - 10:52 am | #
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/americaneocon/8632129878781713928/?a=40512#133333
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I can't say whether or not I'll keep trying, but I'll be sure to keep a record of whatever comments I make, seeing as how ol' Nero can't be trusted to even attempt to respond intelligently to comments, anymore... The delete key is so much easier, after all... (Would that he could just do the same to all the folks laughing at the whole disgraced NeoCon movement, these days...)

McCain uses Bush's Free Speech Zones

McCain = Bush

The video:



The news report:


The press release: Progress Now Action | Alan Franklin: Press Release: First Amendment Rights Violated by McCain Campaign

When will these folks learn that America is a "Free Speech Zone?"

John McCain: Don't hope...

American Power Lies: Communist Party Backs Obama

American Power: Communist Party Backs Obama

In point of fact, CPUSA has not endorsed any candidates in the 2008 election cycle, though it seems one person affiliated with the party has. Sweeping generalization, anyone?)

CPUSA Online - CPUSA 2008 Electoral Policy: "While we do not endorse any particular candidates, we do endorse and join in the anti-Bush/anti-right wing sentiments that are driving so many people to activism."

Just another comment Nero deleted today... I don't know when he became such a coward.

American Power: Left-Wing Media Refuses to Identify Disgraced Democrat by Party

American Power: Left-Wing Media Refuses to Identify Disgraced Democrat by Party

Actually, Don, this kind of error is pretty common... (As I'm sure you already know, since you deleted the following comment about it...)
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I hope you'll write a post about all these errors, too... (As you implied HERE, according to you, one must address ALL such situations, or one risks being labeled a hypocrite by addressing only one. See: CodePink 4th of July Demo post, and 07.07.08 - 7:51 pm comment, assuming Don doesn't delete that, too)

News Hounds: FOX misidentifies Lamar Alexander as Democrat

Daily Kos: More Fox efforts to tar Dems with Foley

Media Matters - In recent weeks, media outlets have misidentified as Democrats several Republicans facing scandal, poor poll numbers

Three's the limit with HaloScan... But I could probably post a few more sets of three, if need be...
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Lieberman Must Go!

Thanks to AmericanNeoCon and various other right wing sites for pointing out what a good Republican Joe Lieberman is. Please let Mr. Lieberman finish the transition and live as the NeoCon he was born to be. Like Zell Miller before him, Joe no longer speaks to or for American Democrats... Let him go.

Joe Lieberman is a war hawk who staunchly supports Bush and McCain's War in Iraq. He wants to star in the RNC, yet he still holds a top rank within the Democratic Caucus. The Senate Democratic Steering Committee needs to know just how much of a conflict of interest this is.

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