My husband Mark, who has a really good eye for visual humor, recently started entering the New Yorker’s fun weekly cartoon caption contest. And we’re both thrilled that he’s one of only three finalists for this week’s New Yorker contest.
I hope you’ll check it out and vote for Mark’s caption. His is the best one, … and I’d say that even if he weren’t my husband.
Mad Kane (Madeleine Begun Kane) is a writer, musician, and "recovering lawyer." She won the Robert Benchley Society Award For Humor and enjoys writing limericks, song parodies, and current events haiku.
You can email her at madkane@madkane.com, visit her non-political humor blog, or stop by her home page.
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A Humorist’s Lament (Covering The New Yorker Cover Brouhaha In Verse) – Updated
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008By now, everyone’s surely seen Barry Blitt’s New Yorker cover, depicting Barack Obama as a flag-burning, bin Laden-loving, fist-bumping Muslim. Intended to satirize “The Politics of Fear,” the image is being widely criticized as reinforcing the very stereotypes it seeks to mock.
Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow has a very interesting take on the topic here and here, as does cartoonist Ruben Bolling here, and Don Davis here, here, here, and here. The New York Times queries some late night talk show hosts here and Mark Karlin of Buzzflash speaks out here.
Here’s my view in verse:
A Humorist’s Lament
Madeleine Begun Kane
A humorist like me sure knows
How tough it is to write, compose,
And sketch satiric toons and prose
And poems. It’s not without its woes.
For instance, Barry Blitt’s lampoon,
New Yorker’s well-intentioned toon,
Is meant to show as crass buffoon
The lie and bias-spreading goon.
The humor quand’ry, if you please:
This toon could fit with equal ease
In any right-wing, racist sleaze
And readily its readers please.
That’s why it draws this fit of pique
For spreading what it would critique,
Confirming to the knowledge-weak:
Barack Obama — Terr’ist Sheik!
Update: Some more funny people have chimed in on this topic: skippy; David Horsey; Jon Swift; and Talk About Comics.[tags]Barack Obama, New Yorker Cover, Barry Blitt, Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Racial Stereotypes, Media Humor, Election Coverage Satire[/tags]
Posted in Barack Obama, Campaign Humor, Election Satire, Humor Writing, Media Satire, New Yorker, Political Commentary, Political Limericks, Political Verse, Politics Satire, Social Satire | 4 Comments »