Go, Read: Matt Bors On The Hajo Lion King Cartoon

Good article by Matt Bors at Cartoon Movement on complaints over a cartoon by Hajo de Reijger depicting President Obama as a baboon in a Lion King-style scenario that has him lifting up Osama Bin Laden's head. The article notes that the blase reaction of European cartoonists to this kind of imagery, but challenges the assumption that follows, that there isn't cognizance of the issues such choices represent. For instance, comparing people to monkeys is a common tactic taken against black players in soccer stadiums all over Europe.

One of the rhetorical hiccups that comes up when processing issues like this is the automatic presumption that a cartoon that uses racist imagery is best understood as some sort of referendum on the innate racism of the person making that art. That's why you find so many debates over whether or not the cartoonist is racist and to what degree. In actuality, you can make all sorts of racist statements or make art with racist elements for any number of reasons, ranging from insensitivity to wanting to be mean to wanting to call attention to yourself to a simple misunderstanding of how certain visual keys are going to be interpreted. Just because you can look at the artist that made a racist statement or racially insensitive art and reasonably confirm that this person would probably not turn a fire hose on black people in the American Deep South 50 years ago doesn't mean that making this kind of statement is desirable or even allowable. There should be an even stricter standard for a professional maker of cultural imagery.
 
posted 10:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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