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Thursday, February 7, 2008

Graphic Bullshit

posted by on February 7 at 11:59 AM

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning David Horsey.

scaled.cartoon20080205.jpg

Thank you, Slog tipstress Kären.

RSS icon Comments

1

horsey can suck it.

Posted by max solomon | February 7, 2008 12:06 PM
2

I like Horsey, but that ain't his finest.

Posted by DOUG. | February 7, 2008 12:07 PM
3

I don't know that that is bullshit. I think the media has played a pretty decent role in increasing at least stated racial tolerance, and sports are a clear factor in the advance of civil rights. Otherwise, Jackie Robinson wouldn't have mattered.

Posted by Gitai | February 7, 2008 12:08 PM
4

I don't understand what Schmader's calling bullshit on...?

Posted by I Got Nuthin | February 7, 2008 12:08 PM
5

I'd like to see that for Hilary, but the last pane would have to go back to the Olsen twins or a starved Nicole Richie. Or maybe Monica Belluci or Amanda Knox, right Chuckles?

Posted by left coast | February 7, 2008 12:10 PM
6

Obviously,this is a racist cartoon. I just am not sure why or how...

David may just need laid though.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | February 7, 2008 12:11 PM
7

Wow. Just..wow.

Posted by Mr. Poe | February 7, 2008 12:11 PM
8

Yeah, the first slide could've been a kid watching 'I'm Gonna Get You Sucka' and the second slide could've been a poster of Snoop Dog in front of a pot leaf, and the cartoon would've made the same amount of sense.

Posted by thehim | February 7, 2008 12:12 PM
9

I kind of feel offended, but I'm not sure why....

Posted by dade | February 7, 2008 12:16 PM
10

Hm. Maybe I'm a judgmental idiot.

Reading the comic as one white kid's progression--from learning that non-white people can be smart and successful and funny from Cosby, to learning that they can accomplish amazing feats from Jordan, to realizing that a non-white president would be an awesome idea--is perfectly non-offensive.

But reading it as an equation where Bill Cosby plus Michael Jordan equals Obama makes my skin crawl.

Posted by David Schmader | February 7, 2008 12:18 PM
11

I look at it more as a "look how far we've come" rather than whatever you're calling b.s. on.

Posted by yearning | February 7, 2008 12:18 PM
12

I'm with I Got Nuthin @4.  Granted, it's an unremarkable cartoon that rests on an easy insight.  Why exactly are we calling bullshit here?

Posted by lostboy | February 7, 2008 12:18 PM
13

Whoops, wrote my comment before Schmader explained @10. Nevermind.

Posted by lostboy | February 7, 2008 12:20 PM
14

Schmader, you missed a chance to say Horse(y)shit.

But seriously, this is why the cartoon is wrong: because it implies that the only notable thing about Obama, the only thing white voters care about and the reason for his success, is that he is a black man.

Obama has superficially at least little or nothing in common with either Cosby or Jordan, except for his color. To compare them in a visual medium, without an explanation...is to imply that a white fascination with a black man is the main - indeed only - reason for Obama's popularity.

Posted by MLeaver | February 7, 2008 12:20 PM
15

@10, Okay I can see how one could interpet that in a couple of ways. I like the first way you described better: It makes me feel much much better.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | February 7, 2008 12:20 PM
16

title of comic is Progression, not Equation. there's a subtle difference.

there are no mathematic signifiers in the comic. your reading is flawed.

Posted by tom | February 7, 2008 12:21 PM
17

I was going to agree with 9, about not knowing why I'm offended even though I feel it, but then I think 14 managed to put it very well. I'll co-op 14, please.

Posted by Juris | February 7, 2008 12:22 PM
18

Obama is more like Tiger Woods. He's black in the racial sense, but not really culturally. They both have touch of the kind of Asian religion that doesn't scare old white people.

Posted by Curmudgeon | February 7, 2008 12:22 PM
19

Yes, thanks #14, well put.

The idea that support for Obama is the natural outcome of a (white) nation brought up on Bill Cosby and Michael Jordan is exactly what made me use the word bullshit.

Posted by David Schmader | February 7, 2008 12:25 PM
20

This bugged me in that "and he's so articulate" kind of way. Glad you thought so too, D.S.

Posted by Massive Eye Rolling | February 7, 2008 12:26 PM
21

Also! The idea that people are only able to support Obama because they've been softened up by Bill Cosby and Michael Jordan is gross.

And the idea that Obama's widespread popularity is the result of a surfeit of affection for Cosby and Jordan is grosser.

Posted by David Schmader | February 7, 2008 12:32 PM
22

David Horsey wouldn't know a young American if it bit him in the ass while he was at church.

I hate that guy.

Posted by Ari Spool | February 7, 2008 12:33 PM
23

That cartoon just struck me as pointing out the reliance of people on media's presentation of people. All about the superficiality of appearance, not on their substance. Like that American Apparel endorsement of Obama: Oh, he's so cool in his leather jacket.

Posted by isabelita | February 7, 2008 12:33 PM
24

I think the point the cartoon is making is fair. Kids that grew up with Bill Cosby and Michael Jordon in their lives won't have a huge objection to voting for Obama.

It's the progression of the kid, not of black people in the media.

Posted by RDM | February 7, 2008 12:35 PM
25

If it's a choice between that guy who draws for the Seattle Times and Horsey, I'll take the guy who can draw, even if he pulls a clam like this Obama cartoon out of his pooper once in a while.

Posted by --MC | February 7, 2008 12:35 PM
26

In 1988, Jesse Jackson won several caucuses and primaries and was a credible candidate for the Democratic nomination. Why isn't HE in the first panel? Especially since Lisa Bonet had left "The Cosby Show" by 1988 and it had long begun to suck.

Posted by DOUG. | February 7, 2008 12:36 PM
27
Posted by john cocktosin | February 7, 2008 12:37 PM
28

David Horsey - a white guy who also draws cartoons.

Posted by blank12357 | February 7, 2008 12:37 PM
29

David, I think you're trying too hard to read something into the comix that is not there. I don't see any racism. I don't see understand your math,
B.C. + M.J. = Obama. Balance that equation please.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn | February 7, 2008 12:37 PM
30

I don't get it.

Posted by Jason Josephes | February 7, 2008 12:43 PM
31

For many of us in the 1980s Cosby and Jordan and Eddie Murphy and so many other cultural touchpoints were part of what turned us against the racist ramblings of our fathers and grandfathers. They presented the view we didn't get listening to our dad's bitch about blacks moving into the neighborhood. So in that regard those guys did indeed 'soften' us or at least paved the way for white america. I see it as more of an homage to what those guys accomplished in the American psyche

The fact of the matter is that his race does matter in this election. Of course he's a brilliant guy with great ideas and an inspirational speaker to boot. But if he wasn't black we wouldn't be feeling this historic opportunity to make such a monumental leap. It doesn't have to be the only reason, but it sure as hell is one of the reasons and you're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Posted by C | February 7, 2008 12:44 PM
32

Quoting the ever insightful Brothers Brothers

"Bill Cosby's a doctor
a lawyer's his wife
and as all blacks know
it's the average life."

OK, it doesn't add anything to the thread, but I always laugh a little when I think of it.

Posted by Brian | February 7, 2008 12:46 PM
33

So Bill Cosby in 1988 was the first time white kids saw a black man in a positive light? There's a problem with that. For starters, it's not even the first time they saw BILL COSBY in a positive light; "I Spy" was on in NINETEEN SIXTY-FIVE. Granted, most Young Americans don't know about "I Spy", but that just raises the question of why this same cartoon doesn't feature, say, Cosby in '65, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in '75, and Jesse Jackson in '85.

If anything, the theme of the cartoon to me is: "Black people: always back on square one".

Posted by Fnarf | February 7, 2008 12:54 PM
34

Hmmm. I read it a slightly different way. Not as "one white kid's progression", but as, who are the African-American role models that young white kids had to look up to at different times. "For Young Americans, a progression", not, for one person, a progression.

In other words, in the 80s and 90s, the only mainstream black role models were TV stars and athletes. In the 00s, we have this amazing person that is Obama. And, isn't that awesome....

Posted by Julie | February 7, 2008 12:56 PM
35

i kinda liked how @31 put it.

it's just a comic, so it choose a couple of big moments that fit with the main character's time line. we've grown up in a world where people who were black were visible, heroes, part of the community, you name it.

it's certainly not funny, nor insightful. but it did generate conversation. and did those moments lead to the moment of today, or were those moments just part of the fluid progression?

Posted by infrequent | February 7, 2008 12:58 PM
36

@33
Because it's about young Americans, not middle aged ones. And i think he was just picking 1988 because it helped break the strip into a balanced 3 panels of 10 year increments. 88, 98, 08.

Posted by C | February 7, 2008 1:02 PM
37

Hit or Miss? Miss.

Posted by Hernandez | February 7, 2008 1:04 PM
38

Yeah, but as I said, why doesn't that apply to any other arbitrarily selected twenty-year span of black icons?

Posted by Fnarf | February 7, 2008 1:05 PM
39

DAVID - GET OFF THE PIPE, THE CARTOON TELLS THE STORY OF DECREASING RACISM, THANKS TO MODERN MEDIA AND VERY SHARP FOLKS LIKE COSBY, THE SO AWESOME TO EVERYBODY ESP. KIDS, MAGNIFICENT MICHAEL JORDAN, ETC.

==== CHANGE ===== OBAMA HAS A GOOD CHANCE

Posted by Seattle Hippie | February 7, 2008 1:07 PM
40

@38
Because it's a cartoon about people in their early-mid twenties, for whom these are relevant cultural icons.

Posted by C | February 7, 2008 1:09 PM
41

Where does Soul Plane fall in the progression?

Posted by Mike in MO | February 7, 2008 1:13 PM
42

A guy I know made this point about a year ago when confronted with the "conventional wisdom" that America isn't ready for a black president. He pointed out that there are a lot of not-particularly-progressive white 20 and 30 somethings that are used to not just tolerating, but rooting for, black heroes. My skin's not crawling from this one.

Posted by skweetis | February 7, 2008 1:14 PM
43

Jesus Christ it's a fucking cartoon you guys are analyzing as if it were a state of the union speech. “I’m offended but I'm not sure why”, because you're a fucking pansy ass that’s always looking for something to be offended by.

Posted by Nat Cur vag | February 7, 2008 1:18 PM
44

bingo Nat

Posted by ho' know | February 7, 2008 1:27 PM
45

@43
It's an EDITORIAL cartoon -- they're supposed to be analyzed.

Posted by MIchael in Bremerton | February 7, 2008 1:33 PM
46

I think he was trying to say "Yes, We Can!"

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 7, 2008 1:42 PM
47

@38: Fnarf, David Horsey got it right picking these three for my age group. These are the major black figures on TV I recall from when I was those ages.

Posted by Greg | February 7, 2008 1:53 PM
48

@34, the glass is really half full huh? I think that's giving Horsey too much credit...

Posted by jhell | February 7, 2008 2:02 PM
49

@47. Agreed. I was 9 in 1988 and loved the Cosby Show. They were absolutely the most high-profile, African-Americans figures in my life (being from middle-of-nowhere in the Midwest). And, Jordan was absolutely the #1 figure in sports in the 90s).

So... for those in their 20s who are supporting Obama so strongly now, those icons are appropriate.

Posted by Julie | February 7, 2008 2:15 PM
50

That's definitely the product of something that's post-intelligence.

Posted by AMB | February 7, 2008 2:16 PM
51

@48. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit. More likely, I just interpreted the cartoon based on my own frame of reference (since everyone here has a difference frame of reference, everyone's interpretations will be different).

My frame of reference being that I lived in a town with virtually no African-Americans (there were exactly 2 black kids in my high school), and that Cosby and Jordan really were the biggest mainstream African-American figures when I was a kid.

Posted by Julie | February 7, 2008 2:28 PM
52


So, if we want to follow the same progression...the gays just need a major sports star somewhere now, and we can field a candidate for President in ten years?

Posted by bohica | February 7, 2008 2:34 PM
53

at least charles hasnt offered a deconstruction where he says the young person is actually black and all the black people in the cartoon are actually white.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | February 7, 2008 2:39 PM
54

or that jordan and cosby are capitalist uncle toms that oppress the "young white man, who is actually an old negro" by offering him entertainment that draws his attention away from being a jive talking brother laborer.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | February 7, 2008 2:42 PM
55

I loathe David Horsey. Loooooathe him.

Posted by elenchos | February 7, 2008 3:15 PM
56

Hmm. I saw it as three cases where popularity (or admiration) transcends race. Nobody talked about Cosby as a show about black people (for good reason -- race was seldom addressed except in certain "special" episodes). Jordan was/is popular worldwide as a spectacular athlete, not a black athlete. And while nobody is suggesting the country is colorblind where Obama's concerned, it's another hopeful sign that we can transcend the issue.

Maybe The Stranger could contact Horsey and ask him what he was thinking before slamming him. It's possible he just missed his mark; it happens.

Posted by tomcat98109 | February 7, 2008 3:21 PM
57

Sooo weee wereeee BRAINWASHHEEDD!!

Get out of my head fresh prince!!!

Posted by Cale | February 7, 2008 5:26 PM
58

Had I seen this cartoon on its own in the paper, I would have glossed over it and forgotten about in just that instant. It is that unremarkable. Mr. Horsey must be loving this.

Posted by homage to me | February 7, 2008 5:27 PM
59

forgotten about it...

Posted by homage to me | February 7, 2008 5:34 PM
60

I'm not familiar with Horsey, but I don't find this cartoon racist or irrelevant. Bill Cosby and Michael Jordan are not just black men, they are heroes and role models. These guys have had a huge impact on suburban white kids and their perceptions of black people over the last two decades. Keep in mind how important these figures might be to white kids who lacked a dependable father figure in their lives (like me, who yearned for a dad like Bill Cosby).

In part because of these men, young white Americans (unlike their parents or grandparents) are comfortable with the idea of black authority -- they welcome it. These guys paved the way for Obama. It's a natural progression.

Posted by Irena | February 7, 2008 6:18 PM
61

What's heroic about Jordan?

He was a good ballplayer. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not exactly Nobel material.

Posted by TLjr | February 7, 2008 7:00 PM
62

In what way did Jordan "pave the way" that Abdul-Jabbar, or Willie Mays, or Jackie Robinson did not? Likewise, in what way did Bill Cosby pave the way that Nat King Cole did not? What's different about 88-98-08 from 47-57-67 or 65-75-85? I still think it's a case of "random black star" plus "random black star ten years later" equals "Obama".

Posted by Fnarf | February 7, 2008 7:18 PM
63

Old Fnarf is oooooooold.

Posted by brent | February 7, 2008 10:43 PM
64

Fnarf, I take your point, but the cartoon is pretty specific about its subject here: average twenty-something Americans today. Michael Jordan has more symbolic capital for them than the others you mentioned because his image was everywhere when they were growing up. Same with Cosby. They are not random; they were chosen because they had such mass, mass appeal for today's young voters.

TLjr, so call Jordan a role model, then. You get my point, yes? White kids idolized him. His posters were all over their bedroom walls. And this is significant. My parents sure didn't grow up with any black role models.

Like I said, I'm not familiar with the cartoonist, but taken on its own, the comic contains a grain of truth that I don't find particularly offensive.

Posted by Irena | February 7, 2008 11:15 PM
65

@62 - Jordan paved the way because he was alive and at the peak of his career when the guy in the cartoon was a kid. Agree with all the others here, in that the point is what is relevant for a 20 something, not, what is relevant from a historical standpoint.

Plus, you are old. :)

Posted by Julie | February 8, 2008 10:12 AM

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