Actual racism

[andrewducker]

Cheers fo Mr Grossberg for pointing out these anti-semitic cartoons.

Despite knowing about this kind of thing in a general sense, seeing examples of it is still rather disturbing.

Comments

Re: heh

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

Right, sure. I'm not saying it's a nice cartoon, or that I agree with it. But political cartoons are often very nasty. And considering the U.S. is not portrayed any better, and the U.S. is not a race, it doesn't seem like the portrayal is inherently racist to me.

To me, it seems like the cartoon portrays both the Israeli and U.S. governments in a very nasty light. But I don't see an awful lot about the Jewish people specifically. And that's what I would consider anti-semitism.

Here are some other political cartoons, which look similar but are clearly not anti-semitic:

Mexico

France

Germany

In each of these cases, the opposition was made to look ugly and unattractive to prove the point of the cartoon. I think the prevalence shows that it's a frequent technique used in political lampooning, more than a direct stab at the Jewish people.

Re: heh

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

But that just demonstrates that racism is a standard technique in political cartoons. Racism is what's bad - anti-Semitism is just one example of it.

Re: heh

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

So the U.S. is now a race? Because like I said, they are not portrayed any better than the Israeli government. Similarly, I wouldn't call either Germans, French, or Mexicans a race.

And although the names for my links might not have made it clear, it was also the governments, not the people, that were lampooned in my support. I could also give examples where specific people are used.

Therefore, I think it is more that some political cartoons try to portray their targets in the worst possible light, than a case of anti-semitism.

Though mocking people (whether race, country, or whatever) based on a caricature of what other people expect them to be is definitely bad, and one of the reasons why I don't tend to enjoy political satire.

Re: heh

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

that just demonstrates that racism is a standard technique .

I don't really think that Americans, Germans, French, or Mexicans are a race. They are nations. And although my headings might not have stated it well enough, most of these cartoons lampoon, again, their governments, not their people.

Political satire often casts the target in the worst possible light, using hyperbole as a tool. It's one reason why I don't tend to like it much. But I think to call this stuff racist, devalues the horribleness of real racism.