Screw the New York Post and Sean Delonas

Yes, this breaks our M-W-F cycle, but screw it - we had to weigh in on this. -KV

Screw the New York Post and Sean Delonas
Klaus Varley

If you are confused by the title of this piece, then you haven't seen the New York Post cartoon from a few days ago, portraying cops with a smoking gun standing over a slain monkey, saying, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." Okay, here it is:


The Post's editor-in-chief Col Allan defended the cartoon, stating, "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event... It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy."

How does it mock Washington? By saying the stimulus bill was so easy a monkey could do it?

But that doesn't make sense - as my girlfriend pointed out - because the bill isn't criticized for being simple, it is criticized for spending too much. The bill itself - like most bills - are long and complicated. No monkey could handle it.

Maybe the cartoonist, Sean Delonas, would explain, or apologize, or something, anything...

"Absolutely friggin' ridiculous," was Delonas's response to a CNN reporter. "Do you really think I'm saying Obama should be shot? I didn't see that in the cartoon."

Oh you didn't see that in the cartoon? Well, let me help you see it, Sean.

Most reports on Delonas's cartoon leave out that on the page PRIOR to the cartoon is an enormous picture of Obama signing the stimulus bill, followed by an article about the stimulus. Literally, you flip the page and there is a cartoon of a dead monkey, shot by cops who claim he authored the stimulus bill.

Of course, no one person authored the 1000+ page bill, but DID I MENTION A PAGE BEFORE THIS IS A HUGE PICTURE OF OBAMA SIGNING THE BILL?

Too much of a stretch you say? You don't have to be a Civil Rights leader to know that black people have historically been compared with primates not only to help justify 400 years of racial slavery that ended less than 150 years ago, but also the mass lynchings that continued through the Jim Crow Era through the Civil Rights movement.

Sure, you don't hear the comparison much anymore, because it's EXTREMELY IGNORANT and OFFENSIVE.

This may seem a little one sided, so lets think about this for a moment - is there any way the cartoon can be seen as humorous and not racist?

If the cartoon is parody, what is it parodying, the shooting of the chimp?

If it is saying that politicians in Washington who created the bill are comparable to a single monkey, well, that's just confusing. Like we said, the bill is not simple, so the monkey analogy doesn't work.

No, this is actually just a stupid, racist cartoon by people who do not understand racism, history, or humor.

Sorry for shouting.

-KV

ps. Others have pointed out that the cartoon is also offensive because the NYPD are known for slaying unarmed black men (most publically of Amadou Diallo in 1999 and most recently of Sean Bell on his wedding day). But that argument only works if you consider the slain monkey a representation of Obama, and if you have any outrage left after realizing that the New York Post would racistly portray our President as a monkey murdered by cops.