Obama-Joker Poster goes Viral/Denounced as Racist

[Tyler]

Really? There are people who think that painting a black man's face white - which will always look like whiteface - will not call to mind the history of that look?

I'm not suggesting the artist's intention was to be racist. I'm just saying that if he didn't know that's how it would be perceived, he's pretty dumb.

 

[quadraphonics]

I choose not to see racism and somehow I am condemned for that.

Why the "somehow?" The word you are looking for is "rightly."

The ability to choose whether to perceive racism or not is the heart of privilege, BTW.

I don't care about the poster. It doesn't affect me. Not in the way its makers or its supporters or its detractors want it to. That's my choice.

Nonsense. It has had exactly the intended effect on you: you're here publicly defending it, the people who made it, and the agenda it promotes. You are now complicit in a racist plot to subvert responsible governance in the United States.

Poor choice.

 

[Cowboy]

That isn't true. The original joker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HeathJoker.png) is not wearing whiteface, and the uses of the meme by others (http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2009/01/our-sad-little-stoogeocracy.html) don't involve whiteface.

If Ledger wasn't wearing whiteface, what is that white stuff all over his face in that picture? Jake Gyllenhaal's sperm from Brokeback Mountain?

And even if whiteface were on the original, the postermaker made several changes in the original Joker image - from the hair to the posture - to fit it to Obama.

The hair looks like Obama's normal hair. The point was to make Obama look like the Joker. If you eliminated all aspects of the Joker in that picture, it would just be a normal picture of Obama. If you eliminated all aspects of Obama, it would just be a picture of the Joker. That would defeat the purpose.

He was obviously fitting the image to his preferences, and whiteface was part of that. In the US right now, making up Obama in whiteface is racially loaded. It could have been blue, green, etc, if the poster designer wished to avoid the racial loading.

The Joker (and most other clowns) have white makeup on their faces. Putting blue makeup on his face wouldn't make him recognizable as the Joker. He'd look like a Smurf.

And so there is no problem describing those "some" - the ones who look at Obama made up in whiteface and pretend to see nothing racially loaded in the image - as what they are.

What they are is reasonable, as opposed to the race-baiters who see swastikas and cross-burnings hiding under every rock.

 

[Cowboy]

I'm not suggesting the artist's intention was to be racist. I'm just saying that if he didn't know that's how it would be perceived, he's pretty dumb.

Maybe he or she assumed that people would understand the incredibly obvious reference to a villain in one of the most popular movies of all time rather than cry like babies and play the race-card?

 

[Challenger78]

Obama As The Joker, No Joking Matter… but Bush As The Joker, or Dracula, or Hitler? Fair Game.

Another blog with another biased opinion. How fucking original.

 

[S.A.M.]

Isn't it all covered by "freedom of expression"?

 

[Cowboy]

Isn't it all covered by "freedom of expression"?

I'm pretty sure it is. I just posted it because I see it as people getting all worked up about nothing. Kinda like the Christians who were whining about the "gay" Teletubby.

 

[iceaura]

If Ledger wasn't wearing whiteface, what is that white stuff all over his face in that picture?

He isn't in clownmask whiteface (the bedraggled, scruffy look was intended throughout, not a momentary event in the role), and more significantly neither is the photoshopped Blago from driftglass. Your assertion that whiteface is necessary for the Joker meme is false.

If you eliminated all aspects of the Joker in that picture, it would just be a normal picture of Obama. If you eliminated all aspects of Obama, it would just be a picture of the Joker.

And so we are correct in ascribing deliberate choice to the postermaker - and evaluating those choices.

What they are is reasonable, as opposed to the race-baiters who see swastikas and cross-burnings hiding under every rock.

You don't have to look under the rocks to see swastikas these days - they're showing up all over, spraypainted outside town hall meetings and other Obama-related venues.

My guess is the swastika sprayers agree with you that putting Obama in whiteface is not racebaiting, but is instead "reasonable". What's your guess?

 

[S.A.M.]

I'm pretty sure it is. I just posted it because I see it as people getting all worked up about nothing. Kinda like the Christians who were whining about the "gay" Teletubby.

I don't see what the problem is. People are going to mock him, he's the President.

 

[Cowboy]

He isn't in whiteface, and neither is the photoshopped Blago from driftglass. Your assertion that whiteface is necessary for the Joker meme is false.

There is no way Ledger isn't wearing whiteface. I can even see his real skin color in certain spots on his face, for Christ's sake.

Heath Ledger as The Joker

And all recent, widely viewed depictions of the Joker have him with an unnaturally white face. He may not be recognizable without it.

My guess is the swastika sprayers agree with you that putting Obama in whiteface is not racebaiting, but is instead "reasonable". What's your guess?

My guess is that the swastika sprayers are actually displaying more common sense than some people here.

 

[Cowboy]

I don't see what the problem is. People are going to mock him, he's the President.

Agreed. I hate Obama, but even I would be against *actual* racist satires of him. I simply don't see this Joker poster as being racist.

I think the real issue here is that Obama fans know that "How dare your mock Dear Leader!" won't go over with the public as well as "That's racist!!!!!!!!!" will, so they're going with the latter.

 

[S.A.M.]

Whats wrong with racist satires?

Wasn't there a whole bunch of pages with George Bush and a chimpanzee making similar expressions? If they did it with Obama, it would be called racist.

I think people need to just get real. There are more important issues in the country right now than some guy painting the Prez face white.

 

[Cowboy]

Whats wrong with racist satires?

Wasn't there a whole bunch of pages with George Bush and a chimpanzee making similar expressions? If they did it with Obama, it would be called racist.

I think people need to just get real. There are more important issues in the country right now than some guy painting the Prez face white.

I have a very politically incorrect sense of humor (I think Dave Chappelle's "Clayton Bigsby" skit is hilarious), but when it comes to politics I think the message should be focused on the policies and/or the personal qualities of the target rather than things like race or gender. Bush and Obama don't suck because they are men or white and biracial respectively. They suck because of their policies. :shrug:

 

[S.A.M.]

I have a very politically incorrect sense of humor (I think Dave Chappelle's "Clayton Bigsby" skit is hilarious), but when it comes to politics I think the message should be focused on the policies and/or the personal qualities of the target rather than things like race or gender. Bush and Obama don't suck because they are men or white and biracial respectively. They suck because of their policies. :shrug:

I agree, but most caricatures are about the person, although they say more about the cartoonist's views. But politicians and celebrities are not new to this kind of attention. I doubt they take it seriously [well unless it involves nude porn anime or something like that]. Giving attention just encourages them to come up with more.

 

[iceaura]

Wasn't there a whole bunch of pages with George Bush and a chimpanzee making similar expressions? If they did it with Obama, it would be called racist.

If they did that with Obama it would be racist. The situation is not symmetrical (and Obama, unlike W, bears no resemblance to a chimp other than his racial stereotype). The facts on the ground don't vanish according to naive theoretical considerations.

I think people need to just get real. There are more important issues in the country right now than some guy painting the Prez face white.

That's debatable. The nature and effect of the attacks on Obama right now, especially as handled in the media, could very well be the most important issue facing the country. There has been no more significant political issue in the US over the past thirty years than the alliance between the corporate interests and the 27%, and that pattern could easily be continuing.

I can even see his real skin color in certain spots on his face, for Christ's sake.

Which is something you can't do through clownmask whiteface - as in the Obama poster. And your assertion is contradicted by the driftglass photoshop alone, regardless.

And all recent, widely viewed depictions of the Joker have him with an unnaturally white face. He may not be recognizable without it.

The Blago photoshop is instantly recognizable.

My guess is that the swastika sprayers are actually displaying more common sense than some people here.

And displaying it they certainly are - we don't have to look under rocks to find your brand of common sense any more, do we.

 

[Tyler]

Maybe he or she assumed that people would understand the incredibly obvious reference to a villain in one of the most popular movies of all time rather than cry like babies and play the race-card?

As someone else pointed out quite recently but you seem to have ignored; there are an awful lot of folk who don't follow Batman. Shocking, I know.

Moreover, it's not really important whether or not the primary slant is a Joker slant. Putting white face on a black man is going to look like whiteface. Do you really have a hard time understanding why? I'm a big fan of that Batman film and when I saw that picture the first time I had two gut reactions; (i) oh cool, a batman reference (ii) oh man, whiteface?

I think the real issue here is that Obama fans know that "How dare your mock Dear Leader!" won't go over with the public as well as "That's racist!!!!!!!!!" will, so they're going with the latter.

With the possible exception of direct incitement to violence, I support complete free speech rights. Painting a white face on a black man's face looks like whiteface. It shouldn't be banned, it's just stupid and/or inconsiderate.

Look at it this way... That picture might remind some people who have been genuine victims of racism of whiteface, and thus call up painful memories of injustice. This, in itself, is inconsiderate. Moreover, anything that unnecessarily stokes the flames of an ugly racist past is divisive. Unless your intention is to cause a racial stir and offend some folk, it's pretty stupid to call whiteface to mind.

Wasn't there a whole bunch of pages with George Bush and a chimpanzee making similar expressions? If they did it with Obama, it would be called racist.

Probably because 'monkey' and other such words and concepts have traditionally been used as a racist insult towards blacks and not whites.

Is this really difficult for you folk to understand?

 

[Mr.Spock]

the true issue should be how long before Obama destroys America and plunge the world in WW3.

 

[pjdude1219]

the true issue should be how long before Obama destroys America and plunge the world in WW3.

Nice to still see the right wing hatemongers in action.

 

[S.A.M.]

Probably because 'monkey' and other such words and concepts have traditionally been used as a racist insult towards blacks and not whites.

Is this really difficult for you folk to understand?

Do you think Obama is sophisticated enough to be beyond such meanspiritedness?

 

[Mr.Spock]

Nice to still see the right wing hatemongers in action.

hey its your country, if you're happy with that moron in office, be my guest.