Satire requires literacy

The trouble with the new New Yorker cover, I think, is that the satire will be missed by all but intellectuals -- that, in fact, there will be more who will see it as an "I told you!" moment, and so this just makes the task of communication about real people and real issues more difficult. In an enlightened culture, satire like this has a purpose. In ours, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy promoting our worst selves. In this context, the cover amounts to elitist intellectual masturbation. (And this from an elitist intellectual ha ha!)

clipped from news.yahoo.com Magazine over featuring Obamas draws criticism WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is "tasteless and offensive." The illustration on the issue that hits newsstands Monday, titled "The Politics of Fear" and drawn by Barry Blitt, depicts Barack Obama wearing traditional Muslim garb — sandals, robe and turban — and his wife, Michelle — dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder — standing in the Oval Office. The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantle hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden. In a statement Monday, the magazine said the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are."