If you are switched on to the news, you might have heard about this row concerning a cartoon allegedly portraying Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. Here's a link to the cartoon and background:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/18/new-york-post-cartoon-race
But George Bush was regularly portrayed as a chimpanzee by Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell for years, without any uproar or complaint - here's an example:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/cartoon/2008/sep/04/george.bush.us.elections
Can or should there be a "level playing field" for humour, or must it always take note of historical and cultural background?
Friday, February 20, 2009
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Firstly i believe this issue transcends humor alone.
I believe there should be a level playing field in all forms of interaction with all people. Your cannot live with double standards and expect to be treated with fairness.
This reminds me of a youtube video i watched in which a white boy sang 'lift every voice'. Comments ranged from "why is he singing the black national anthem?" to "But he's white". neddless to say, i was very disappointed at this display of narrow mindedness.
Why is it OK for a black man to call another black nigger but wrong for a white man to do this even with no animosity intended? If it is wrong for one why is fine for another?
It is true that wounds are deep and that people may still be healing but does it make it okay then to treat 'other' people differently and expect fairness in return?
However, is this double standard completely baseless? The issue of discrimination is less obvious today but still existent.
I think this is just a matter of some sort of a cyclical chain reaction. Everybody is discriminating against everyone else and it is high time we realized that every individual should be judge based on who hes is as a person. with the same rules applying to everyone.
What is wrong should be wrong for all not wrong in some cases and alright in others.
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