Cover letters
Re “Cover charges,” editorial, “Has it gotten so difficult to recognize satire?” July 15 and “If you can’t take a joke ...,” Opinion, July 16
Let me explain the difference between funny and not funny.
Funny exaggerates a reality that no one takes literally, like George Bush acting as a housemaid for Dick Cheney. Not funny exploits stereotypes that some do take literally -- which can reinforce those stereotypes.
Barack Obama as a Muslim knuckle-punching Michelle Obama as a gun-toting terrorist, with the American flag burning in the fireplace and Osama bin Laden on the wall, belongs to the latter category.
This is not satire. This is slander.
Rosemary Ruether
Claremont
In your look at the fuss about the New Yorker cover that satirizes the ignorance-bred fear in this country, The Times reminds the intelligent to keep their sense of humor as they blithely dismiss both the legions of illiterate Americans whose only votes are cast for reality shows and the legions of ignorant, complacent Americans they are breeding.
Here’s a sobering anecdote: When one of my 10th-grade students sported a Nixon T-shirt, only two of his 30 classmates had heard of Nixon. None knew that he was a disgraced former president.
Despite the lip service, no one in this country has any interest in educating anyone. Humor is not dangerous, but ignorance is.
Pamela Felcher
Los Angeles
Being clever isn’t enough. Democrats who want to reach out to that other 50% of America must not trivialize or ridicule the genuine concern that our candidate is soft on terrorism.
By shamelessly pandering to the liberal intelligentsia, the New Yorker’s cover represents a step in precisely the wrong direction.
Julius Wachtel
Garden Grove
The Obama cartoon may win an “excellent” for satire, but we have to realize we are not playing tiddlywinks here.
This is a watershed election for the country. The Democrats cannot afford to lose one vote. Can the New Yorker tell me that not one voter will flee because of this?
Robert S. Ellison
Arcadia
Only a person who does not read the New Yorker would be upset by the recent Obama cover. The magazine denigrates the president at every turn, thinks little of Sen. John McCain and generally supports the opposition, including the junior senator from Illinois.
Apparently, some are unable to detect a blatant joke meant to cause discussion of the misconceptions illustrated.
Jim Ketcham
Malibu
While considering which voters are and aren’t smart enough to know that the cover of the latest edition of the New Yorker is satire, please also consider: Not long ago, a group decided who was white enough and male enough to vote at all.
Suggesting that these “clueless people,” as you call them, who “weren’t going to vote for Obama anyway” are the only ones affected by the portrayal of Sen. Barack Obama as a Muslim extremist and his wife, Michelle, as a gun-toting militant is highly irresponsible. There is a thin line. A turban and an Afro today may be a watermelon and a piece of fried chicken tomorrow.
I dispute columnist Tim Rutten’s assertion that I called for a boycott of the magazine for political reasons. I have consistently defended civil rights throughout my career.
Bernard C. Parks
Los Angeles
The writer represents the 8th District in the Los Angeles City Council.