Honestly, my grandparents used "monkey" as a term of endearment. I thought it was cute. I knew very little about that part of history where racists portrayed blacks as chimps to denigrate the entire race... But I was young.
That level of ignorance, though, would be inexcusable for an adult working for the Murdoch-owned NY Post. But ignorance isn't even the apology offered for this recent cartoon by Sean Delonas depicting police officers shooting a monkey for writing the stimulus bill. Instead, the editor-in-chief defends the unfunny cartoon as a "clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut."
Other apologists have suggested that the monkey symbolizes congress and not the president, or that the cartoon is a reference to the infinite monkey theorem -- except, of course, the cartoon depicts only one monkey.
Really though? We're expected to buy these excuses? No editor recognized the racism? Sean Delonas accidently tripped and crossed the line... like he's done so many other times in his other vile cartoons?
Ok, we can agree or disagree on the intended racism, but the bloody assassination part is undeniable. The message from the NY Post is we can solve all our political problems with guns, encourage acts of treason, and still provide a healthy profit to Murdoch, that little carnivorous vulture. And that's not a term of endearment.
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