Gag-worthy: Bipartisan indignance over “Barack the Magic Negro” parody
Oh, give me a super-sized break.
Leftie ’60s leftover/songwriter Peter Yarrow at the Huffington Post fumes over the “Barack the Magic Negro” parody that has RNC candidate Chip Saltsman in hot water.
All of sudden — after eight years of “F**k Bush” bumper stickers and “Kill Bush” assassination chic and Bush-or-Chimp parodies — the left is concerned about insulting the office of the Presidency?
Now, they are concerned with protecting the dignity of the office and with forging “commong ground and mutual respect?”:
The sending of a Christmas greeting by Chip Saltsman to the members of the Republican National Committee that includes a recording of the so-called parody, “Barack the Magic Negro” is not only offensive, it is shocking and saddening in the extreme. It flies in the face of America’s deeply held hope for a new era in which common ground and mutual respect characterize the exchanges between our national leaders.
I and my co-writer of “Puff,” Lenny Lipton, have been eagerly awaiting an end to the mean-spiritedness, outright disrespect and bigotry that was commonplace prior to this last presidential election. What might have been wearily accepted as “the way it was” in the campaign, is now unacceptable. Obama is not a candidate. He is the President-Elect, and this song insults the office of the Presidency, the people who voted for him, as well as those who did not — and taking a children’s song and twisting it in such vulgar, mean-spirited way, is a slur to our entire country and our common agreement to move beyond racism.
If the song “insults the office of the Presidency,” what about the 2007 Los Angeles Times op-ed by David Ehrenstein that inspired the parody in the first place?
AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.
But it’s clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the “Magic Negro.”
The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. “He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,” reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .
He’s there to assuage white “guilt” (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest…
…Obama’s fame right now has little to do with his political record or what he’s written in his two (count ‘em) books, or even what he’s actually said in those stem-winders. It’s the way he’s said it that counts the most. It’s his manner, which, as presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden ham-fistedly reminded us, is “articulate.” His tone is always genial, his voice warm and unthreatening, and he hasn’t called his opponents names (despite being baited by the media).
Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn’t project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.
The hysterical rush to protect magical Obama from ridicule only proves Ehrenstein’s point. And the parody is as much, if not more, a satire of race-mongering demagogue Al Sharpton than it is of Obama:
As much as I am nauseated by the left’s reaction, the overreaction of some on the right is even more gag-worthy. Current RNC chair Mike Duncan professes to be “shocked” and “appalled.” Others are assailing Saltsman’s lack of “sensitivity” and “tone-deafness” in sending out a joke CD by his good friend Paul Shanklin. Still others argue that even though the parody is not racist and is totally defensible, it’s just too much work to defend it.
If that’s the kind of GOP “leadership” we’re in for the next four years, it’s going to a long, long four years.
***
Stacy McCain shakes his head at the ritual denunciation.
JWF: Child Molester Reacts in Horror to ‘Barack the Magic Negro’
***
Quick reminder of how liberals respected the dignity of the office of the presidency over the last eight years:
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Just as deep as your idiotic drivel, Ya got what ya deserved. An empty comment to reply to your empty, tired, worn out rhetoric.
Peter Yarrow’s upset? Oh, no! And the Dems think its an insult on the Office of the Presidency? Or Office of the Presidency-Elect (if there were such a thing)? Well, aint that just too bad. We aren’t calling him a baby-killer, at least not yet, or any of the vile things they’ve hurled at President Bush for eight years. So Peter and the others on Huff-and-Puff-or-I’ll-Blow-Your-Post-in can go get a life.
Are Obama’s kids bi-racial as well?
Chip Saltsman isn’t an “elected official”, as far as I know. I believe he was Frist’s campaign manager – which should give you some idea of how effective he’d be as RNC chair. Duncan’s indignation is probably fueled more by the fact that they’re both running for the same job than any real distaste for the song or the phrase in question. As others have pointed out, it isn’t making fun of Obama anyway – it’s about Sharpton, Jackson and the other race hustlers.
What rhetoric? I don’t believe you know what rhetoric is, which is why you resorted to such a cliche.
Yes of course. So are my descendants by the way. But since my wife is Asian, there is no controversy in this.
that it’s not stupid for the Republican party to support a “parady what was a clear instance of liberal racism” called “Barack the Magic Negro”? You don’t feel that that maybe, just maybe, that wasn’t the best idea?
If you were to actually read the comments I’ve made, you’d see that I’ve said that it was stupid multiple times.
…and I did it again.
What rhetoric? I don’t believe you know what rhetoric is, which is why you resorted to such a cliche.
How can one describe the mind numbing and ultra-obvious hypocracy in these types of situations? Truthfully, are these people just single digit IQ imbeciles that really believe this stuff; or are they just deliberately 100% intellectually dishonest?
So my question is this: Of the Thurgood Marshall, Terrence Howard, Dave Chapelle and Wynton Marsalis, which are black and which are bi-racial?
I took something you said in a previous comment, that was otherwise innocuous, took it out of a context, spun it to make you look like racist, and the used your “it’s stupidly racial” comment to attack your own statement. (Although it may have been more effective had I not screwed up the block quote formatting).
Fixed.
hatfield,
Fine. What did I say that you consider to be rhetoric?
You tell me, since I don’t know the race of their parents. Do you?
I will say that my kids are biracial however because they have parents of two races. Now you tell me, where am I wrong?
You are way above mp’s ability to comprehend.
Just remember: Zombies don’t care what race you are. Neither do earthquakes.
I truly don’t think, and I’m being honest here, that you don’t understand rhetoric. Just re-read your,I believe,initial post on the subject.
I see. A clever attempt, but it doesn’t work.
Here’s the statement you took out of context:
.
And your reponse:
Taken out of context, my statement had absolutely no racial element. It’s as innocuous as they get. You, in your reply, bring up race. How can a statement that has no racial element be racial or racist?
Oh, NOW I get it. You are talking about which one LOOKS biracial. Having lived 10 years in Hawaii I would say Obama, and Marsalis LOOK biracial. Thurgood looks black (but may have some white, don’t know) and I don’t know who Terrance Howard is. However Jason Kidd looks white, yet he is biracial. You will find both Asian and Black features dominate over white when biracial, but skin tone seems to be more gray.
Jeremiah White, btw is also bi-racial, being 3/4ths white and 1/4th black. Maybe he is conflicted as his white side feels guilty about how it treats his black side
But it is genetics, not looks that determine race, and I am sure you know that.
.
So you’re just going to cop-out?
The militant environmentalists should be greatly encouraged by that earthquake map. If the Yellowstone volcano should finally erupt, it’ll solve their complaint about overpopulation. Of course, it’ll probably kill all of the bears too, but some collateral damage is to be expected, and it’ll cure the bear/crap/woods problem. On the other hand, it’ll also kill pretty much all of the environmentalists too, so it isn’t all bad. I’m not quite sure how it’ll affect the zombies.
lol, only hurricanes care about race.
Yes, here’s exactly what I was getting to.
Race is not genetic. Especially not in America. Here’s why:
Races are social classes that are used to distinguish groups of people. Yes, race is also used scientifically, but it’s the most tenuous of relationships. Race itself is the classfication of PHYSICAL attributes. The originally races were classified solely on physical attributes(which is why race has been a part of human life long before “genetics” even become a word). Our genes are what make use human, yes, and are genes determine our phyiscal characteristics, but our genes only determine our race BECAUSE they determine our physical characteristics.
Genetically, the vast majority of blacks in America are bi-racial. There are more bi-racial blacks, or blacks that have the genetic code of other races in their genes, than “pure”(for lack of a better word blacks, particularly among those blacks whose ancestors were slaves.
Since race is a physical, relatively artificial phenomenon, one’s race is very much indeed based on their looks.
No. I’m being honest.
It’s who you choose to identify with that determines race. Suggesting anything else is just racist.
Just like car makers. They make us choose a color for our vehicle as if one is better than another. Henry Ford was the only true non-racist, at least in his Model T years.
I would say that a person’s race is less determined by who they choose to identify with, but who OTHERS choose to identify them with.
If I said my car was blue, and everyone I drove it around said it was green, well, I could call my car blue until the calls came home, but everyone would treat me like my car was green.
You know…its times and on threads like this when I think we could all do well to just step back, take a deep breath and remember the immortal words of Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder.
ROFL That was a great line but not accurate. Since the hurricane that hit LA was Bush’s fault, clearly Bush is the racist. As for zombies I am sure, in the end, Bush will get blamed for them too.
Am I the only one here sick of all this race baiting from both sides? obama will not make a crappy president because of his genetics even if that helped him become president. obama will be a crappy president because of his history or lack there of.
Ah, but Obama’s father is not from the US. He is from Kenya, so you supposition does not hold. However I agree, we still rely on the old “tinge of black” to define black from the slavery days, and it is time to get past that.
Obama is African/American ONLY in the sense that his father is African and his mother is American. It is not because of his race.
Flesh eating or slave (voodoo) type of zombies? And how about the vampires??? Will no one think of the vampires?????
The shame!!!
My race is NASCAR. I bet I look like a redneck – right?
I am with chap on this one. Hey chap!
So you would insist that Jason Kidd is white?
Yes
HEY CHAP!!! How is that top secret mission to stop the swarm of small quakes below yellowstone? And is hillary swank hot in person?
If the GOP went comatose in failing to push Democrat noses in the sub-prime debacle – the blood trail led straight to the Democrats doorstep, from Jimma to Clinton and the Congressional Democrats.) – what makes any thinking person believe Republican “leadership” will rise to the occasion on any issue? These guys are political eunuchs, slavering for affection. Totally useless.
Don’t be silly. The flesh eating kind. It remains to be seen whether they will be the slow George Romero type or the fast 28 Days Later type.
Be prepared for both.
Personally, I think Obama’s is perfectly African-American. I think the term has outlived it’s use. Now, it’s just inaccurate. To me, black is a race. African-American isn’t. I used a date a girl who was African-American. South African. White as the day is long. Pretty damn annoying too. But not because she was white. Or African-American.
(Here’s a statement ripe to be taken out of context)
Nope. I’d say he’s bi-racial(or mixed as we say around here) because he looks bi-racial. If he told me he was black, I’d call him black. If he told me he was white, I’d call him white. Some people are just squarely in the middle.
LOL! I have an African American friend who is Indian and one who is White. I know race and ethnic groups also get confused. For example, for example I have seen forms that ask if you are white, black or latino (huh?).
The worst program I saw recently was on CNN. It was about Obama’s mother and “How a white women raised an black child.” – Are you kidding me, how absurd. She raised HER child.
But I am a proponent of losing one’s racial identity, and maybe in that we agree.
That’s interesting. I think he looks white, but sounds black.
But you are saying if Obama called himself biracial, you would call him biracial? My next question is why does he call himself black, especially growing up in Hawaii, where 60 percent of his classmates were biracial?
That fact was the first red flag when I started studying Obama.
Shootgun or AR-15? I am thinking AR-15 for the magazine capacity. Both take out the brain. But there is still the issue of thier masters the vampires and thier allies the werewolves. Sliver tiped bullets for the werewolves and some sort of garlic round for the vampires? I wonder what sort of voting blocks the vampires, werewolves and zombies are?
I’m all for losing it like the Cowboys lost to the Eagles.
But at least we all agree they won’t be the super fast I Am Legend type (Will Smith version).
Exactly! Can we get back to the AR vs. AK discussions?
Whoops, wrong web site.
I root for Romo, the only NFL player from my college EIU. Now I wonder how many Italians are willing to admit that they are biracial?
That Hanibal got around.
Neither do I, Chap!
My Italian grandmother was from Northern Italy and had blonde hair and blue eyes. She could also trace part of her family back to Syria.
Vampires? Werewolves? If you are not ready to take the zombie threat seriously, then there is little I can do to help you.
And, FYI, a shotgun is a terrible choice, especially if they are the Romero type, which tend to attack in large swarms, wave after wave.
Personaly I wish to remain an english -scottish – new zealander – american
(oh and non-vampire/werewolf/zombie)
After all the completely awful things these people said about President Bush, they have absolutely NOTHING to complain about and I refuse to care what they are complaining about.
..and Bill Clinton didn’t exactly respect the office, himself, either….
I would call him bi-racial if he called himself bi-racial, but it’s relatively rare that people who are mixed in that way call themself bi-racial. Particularly because Obama is looks so black, it would be difficult for him to come through life calling himself bi-racial. As I said, race is as much of how you see yourself as how others see you.
I believe that he called himself black because people treated him like he was black. For example, if people treated a person like they were intelligent and called them intelligent, the person would probably begin calling themself intelligent. There’s that, for one.
Also, despite the fact that his classmates were bi-racial, I doubt many looked as black as he did and were bi-racial in the way that he was. So while the kids in his class may be been able to pick up the sublties in their own groups, to them, he probably just looked like a black guy. It’s the same way in the black community. In the black community, there’s light-skinned blacks, dark-skinned blacks, blue-blacks(don’t ask), but to everyone outside the community, it’s just black.
Is bi-racial a race?
The reason why Republicans lost in ’06 and ’08…this left wing feel good traitor to the conservative principles and values of the party.
Will we notice what race zombies are?
If we kill the wrong race will we be racist zombie killers?
Will they have a religion?
Can muslims be zombies?
Can Christians?
Can Christians defend themselves against a zombie?
Will we go to jail for killing zombies?
Will the ACLU make sure the zombies are treated well?
Will PETA get involved?
So many questions, so little time.
Same with the zombies. Romeo type, will smith type, voodoo type… all still zombies.
Except of course zombies can make you a zombie as opposed to a black woman biting me and turning me black. (I have experience if hickies count)
Its more of a public service than a crime.
You clearly miss the points that:
1. I don’t care what The Left thinks of me.
2. They already think that about “us” no matter how nice you are to them.
3. It’s absolutely true. He IS their magic negro.
4. Clearly, the parody is over their heads, which makes them look even dumber than we know they are.
5-infinity. I don’t care what The Left thinks of me.
Hense the discussion of the vastly more important issue of replusing mass zombie attacks
But touch a zombie kitty cat and WATCH OUT!!!!
How exactly would you tell the difference between a regular cat and a zombie one, since the primary characteristics of zombies tend to be their insatiable hatred of humans and the desire to bite them?
Good point. Damn now I have to go home and shoot my cat in the head. Thanks chap. How exactly will I explain that one to my kids?
he he
If PETA gets involved, they will take away our bacon and that’s the only thing thing we have in common with the zombies: our love for crisp, delicious bacon.
That’s because Karl Rove can send them to black neighborhoods at will.
Really people, do we think someone who can’t foresee all this when he chooses to use that song is leadership material? Especially when he didn’t graduate Georgetown Law when they will graduate anyone?
Yeah, how can something entirely void of substance , something completely fabricated, be insulted by a parody on/from/about another imaginary subject?
They’re 50% ARAB /2 + < 1/8 black + MO’s contribution to their gene pool.
sooooooooo, You tell me.
maybe quad racial-
Just in case someone miss-reads me, no I am not actualy going to go home and shoot angel, our white persian pain in the butt cat in the head. Looking at YOU liberals….
?? Was that the GD America agreement or the agreement that the NAACP & the black caucus was going to disband?
All the feigned indignation on HuffPo is laughable. The concept of “parody” is apparently too difficult for the average simpleton to grasp, especially when it’s not accompanied by a canned sit-com “laugh-track”.
OPoA (Old People of America) might remeber that silly little song It’s my party and I’ll cry if I Want To by Leslie Gore:
Leftie ’60s leftover/songwriter Peter Yarrow at the Huffington Post seems to have taken it to heart. Is was just a silly little song Peter. Geesh.
Now I have to round up some stray cats for our New Years Eve tamales. I have tried to come up with an acronym P.E.T.A. for our tamales but haven’t as yet. ZOMBIES?
There. Fixed.
Meaning the Bush election! BO hasn’t made it to the office yet!
Arizona tamales? You’ve been overrun, right?
Obama in that backwards baseball cap is parody enough for me.
This parody was funny when it first aired and it’s still funny. Its focus is on the originator of the term, “Magic Negro”; not in the person of Barack Obama anyway. Man. Talk about thinking the world revolves around a single man.
It is “pc” today, to call any republican or conservative anything you want. It is not “pc” to call any liberal or democrat anything but with words of praise;our society today and not unique to our history. Even if Obama turns into another Wilson or Carter, “pc” will rule in his defense…for now.
Chap! Lock the doors and load for Zombie! They’ve already overrun Arizona!
Which kind ya got, AzN?
I don’t remember Peter Yarrow protesting when Michael Jackson had lyrics to a song that said “Jew me, sue me”. I don’t recall many Hollywood types complaining when liberal icon Spike Lee made a virulently antiSemitic movie called “Mo Betta Blues”. To their credit, Siskel and Ebert both concluded that what Lee did was antiSemitic. In response, the New York Times gave its oped page to Lee to repeat his propaganda.
I would never corner myself.
On topic (surprise!):
I finally was able to listen to the song. Meh. Both in terms of offensiveness and funniness.
Who was supposed to be singing? I swear I thought it was Bill Clinton’s “voice” at first.
Now back to the real threat….
Wow… read all the pontifications of all. The song is a parody. Yes, race is a subject of parody. Get over it. It’s funny and it hits home. I’m an Irish Catholic unemployed former combat Marine with a deformed right leg. I’ve heard all the innuendos of all my characteristics and am still standing tall and proud. Just get over it and start defending my country against socialism, marxism, liberalism and Islamofascism. Oooooh, did I just eliminate topics of discussion?…. Tough crap!
Thank God I’m Lutheran!
People like me get parodied all the time. A little white-haired lady who can barely see above the steering wheel, driving 45 mph down the freeway with my left turn blinker on. I am actually a very good driver and I just laugh at the jokes. It’s called a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at ones self. Sure makes life a lot more pleasant!
On December 29th, 2008 at 6:49 pm, John Deaux said:
The WORST kind of all
, yes we are being over run by KalieyFornia Liberal Zombies. They come here to escape The Socialist Peoples Republic of KalieyFornia’s taxes and regulations and demand we provide the services that caused KalieyFornia to impose it’s taxes and regulations.
We have sprayed, put out bait traps and leg traps, but as in The Night of the Living Dead they keep coming. Then the KalieyFornia Liberal Zombies hire illegal aliens to cut their lawns. That is called EchoZombie. You can always tell when they have been here: your car is gone.
But to not suffer alone we are sending our Zombie Mistress of the Night, J-No, aka: Governor Janet Napolitano, to Home Land Security.
We are doomed!
Night of the Living Dead 2009-10-11-12
happyscrapper
God bless you! I think I love ya!
These moonbats only have a sense of humor when it makes our side look bad
You all forget, an office occupied by a Democrat is automatically above criticism – they’re just trying to do what’s best, after all. But those guldurn ReTHUGlicans are evil and KKK rednecks, lets have a deRepublicanization just like we had a deNazification!
/moonbat
Sadly, I have seen variations of those comments many, many times.
Thanks David! I need all the blessings I can get! It looks like we are two conservatives in the vast wasteland of liberal Minnesota. It can get lonely, cant’ it? I do have some great conservative friends and, thank God, my husband is conservative. But I am surrounded by moonbats and ZOMBIES. I hope you have a good support system too!!
Possibly because he didn’t write the original version of that.
Al Sharpton. The bullhorn is a dead giveaway.
Speaking of zombies…
…congrats to Bristol Palin on the birth of her new son. May everyone leave them both the hell alone.
(Okay, that had nothing to do with zombies, but you know how I always try to stay on topic.)
Oh. I once ran smack dab into Al Sharpton in the Bronx once and was roughly pushed aside by his men.
He had much longer curls back then. And a flowing purple robe thingy.
I would rather say: Barack the Magic Hero.
Obama is the BEST President this country has ever elected. On the opposite side Bush is definitely the worst President this country has ever [s]elected. Bush has destroyed this country and the sad thing is that he is too dumb and retarded to even realize it.
You’re OK unless you get between him and a TV camera.
That is EXACTLY what happened, actually. I was staring at the camera wondering what it was filming and BAM.
happyscrapper
thanks for your thoughts.
No, I’m surrounded, not only by neighbors, but family as well who are moonbats and zombies. Funny thing is…. I’m not afraid…..we will prevail… even in Minnesota…… they need us… doncha know?
Wrong board. The Koz Kidz are meeting down the hall. Second door on the right.
Journalism school. MM’s opinion pieces have all the intelligence and insight of a second-grader scribbling with a crayon.
edelweiss…. you keep that deluded thought process in shape…. we need blind followers to laugh at…… the treasure chest is full folks…. rather than mourn, let’s revel in the next 4 years. I suspect it will be two years pending resignation or impeachment.
Now see, here everybody’s getting along OK and you have to go and drop one of your nasty little stinkbombs.