Is the Obama "Joker" Poster Racist?
Oh, the joys of pseudo-intellectual journalism. In a world where deep, cultural insights are a dime a dozen, Philip Kennicott over at The Washington Post gives us his take on the recent appearance of anonymously posted Joker/Obama signs:
So why the anonymity? Perhaps because the poster is ultimately a racially charged image. By using the "urban" makeup of the Heath Ledger Joker, instead of the urbane makeup of the Jack Nicholson character, the poster connects Obama to something many of his detractors fear but can't openly discuss. He is black and he is identified with the inner city, a source of political instability in the 1960s and '70s, and a lingering bogeyman in political consciousness despite falling crime rates.
Forget socialism, this poster is another attempt to accomplish an association between Obama and the unpredictable, seeming danger of urban life....
Obama, like the Joker and like the racial stereotype of the black man, carries within him an unknowable, volatile and dangerous marker of urban violence, which could erupt at any time. The charge of socialism is secondary to the basic message that Obama can't be trusted, not because he is a politician, but because he's black.
Kennicott does make a strong point that the poster's message is muddled. The Joker could more accurately be described as an anarchist than anything else. So the connection between the Joker and socialism really isn't there. The best one could argue is maybe that Obama's ultimate goal is socialism, yet he's trying to "trick" us into thinking that's not his plan at all—or something like that.
But regardless of what the intended message of the poster is, the immediate jump to racism is just too far-fetched. The only reason Kennicott made the connection to race is because he was looking for it. The poster is about Obama and socialism and maybe the dangers of messy lipstick application. But not race. Seeing racism here, there, and everywhere doesn't make the accuser sound intellectual, just ignorant.
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OK where can I get one of these posters?This poster would be great at every street corner.
It could open some closed eyes!
The problem with having the first black president is that any criticism will be seen as racist.
That is so true. I know some people who were....less educated then others *black, white and all other nationalities* who said that by not voting for Obama your being racist. Which is obviously far from the truth. The easiest way to dismiss all the criticism is to cry out racist.
You know your right on that.If only people would stop looking at color.And see him for what he is.
The connection, of course, is destruction. The Joker is not destroying for money , or for power, but because he hates the constructs of civilization. Socialism, Marxism, or Statism, must necessarily destroy the things that make us able to live as free individuals, and replace it with the kind of fearful tyranny that turns men into mindless wards of the state.
Both The Joker and Obama are idealists who see Capitalism and Republic as evil. Who knows what the Joker's ideal society is, but with Obama, it's blatantly obvious. He desires a socialist Utopia that makes all men equal in outcome as well as opportunity. He's a disciple of a paradise that never was, and never will be, and he'll build it no matter who suffers as a result.
I am black and my immediate reaction was not to peg the poster as racist but confusing. As previously noted, the Joker represents anarchy or nihilism, not socialism.
If the creator of the poster wanted to conjure images of Obama as a socialist, maybe he or she should have made him look more like Trotsky, Lenin, or to be more hyperbolic, Stalin, Mao, etc.
I am the creator of the poster didn't go for any overt racist images.
pegs pretty fast, and I will call you out on it publicly. But where in this poster is racism ? Heath Ledger was white, the Joker was colorful, and Batman never called the Joker urban.
I am seeing way too many cries of racism where they don't belong, by people who wouldn't know racism if it bit them in the ass. Racism is a horrible thing and should not be minimized or grown accustomed too by shouting racism everytime a black bird is shot hunting and a white dove is missed.
"But regardless of what the intended message of the poster is, the immediate jump to racism is just too far-fetched. The only reason Kennicott made the connection to race is because he was looking for it. The poster is about Obama and socialism and maybe the dangers of messy lipstick application. But not race. Seeing racism here, there, and everywhere doesn't make the accuser sound intellectual, just ignorant."
I was worrying that you agreed with this idiot until i read that. thank you for saying it. All this race stuff is enough to make me gouge my eyes out.