Tom Tomorrow Kicks My Ass

Posted on 07/17/2008 at 11:47 am by Bob Cesca

See, I tried to set up my post from Monday with a LONG preface suggesting that the Muslim rumor thing is uniquely dangerous and ought to be handled with a little more care than other political satire because:

(A) Americans often try to assassinate charismatic leaders, plus
(B) too many Americans are deathly paranoid about Muslims and want to kill them, plus
(C) a totally false rumor suggesting that a charismatic political leader wants to take over the government in the name of al-Qaeda, plus
(D) too many Americans believe these rumors to be the truth.

A+B+C+D=Not a good combination.

And then I went on to suggest that, by mishandling it, the New Yorker probably augmented the rumors, rather than helping to quash them.

Tom Tomorrow, however, thought I was being too much of a simpleton in my evaluation of the New Yorker cartoon on Monday. I say “I” because Tom’s punchline is an exact illustration of my speech-bubble suggestion, so it’s reasonable to assume it’s partly directed at me.

Well okay, Tom. But in my defense, if SNL aired a sketch showing the Obamas wearing militant Islamic regalia and burning a flag for eight minutes without saying a goddamn thing and without any set-up or context whatsoever, then… cut to commercial… I would be equally as harsh in my reaction.

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  • FrictionSoul

    Bob, I read TT’s post and I don’t see how it’s directed at you. I think TT’s point is that if satire has to be explained then it has failed as satire.If that’s TT’s point then you’re both on the same page.

  • Bob_Cesca

    Maybe it wasn’t directly literally ‘at me’ but I’d be shocked if it wasn’t. The speech-bubble thing is exactly what I described in my post. And Tom and I agree in the broad sense, but definitely not when it comes to the New Yorker’s Obama cover. Read Tom’s piece again — he’s being sarcastic.

  • lnbno13

    Bottom line for me, I like my satire to be insightful, funny/clever, and/or original. Tom Tomorrow and The New Yorker cover(s) are/were neither. That’s why I haven’t consistently read either one in a very long time (if a New Yorker article is worth reading, I hear about it, same with TT, only much less frequently). They thought it made them look ballsy, it just made them look stupid and greedy. Some choose to live in their own selective world.I know that many might disagree, but some of you may also know I don’t really give a shit. Nothing personal.

  • http://fifty50blog.blogspot.com StuporMundi

    Bob: I read Tom’s thing on HuffPo and, honestly, I didn’t understand who he thought he was upbraiding, of even if he actually understands satire in terms he can explain to others. I do appreciate his satire, very often — he can be wicked, which is good. But I simply did not get his point: was he criticizing the critics or satirizing the satirist? Whatever he was trying to say on HuffPo, it was ambiguous and poorly executed.In a few places I have seen pushback against critics of the cover in the form of “how dare you tell The Satirist how He should express Himself!” It’s a BS argument. The Obama New Yorker cover could have appeared on the National Review and made a powerful wingnut point without any modification whatsoever. Some “satire.” If Barry Blitt was going for satire, then he fucked up. But ultimately the responsibility rests with the New Yorker editor for not requiring Blitt to do it over.You’ve seen the McCain “response” cartoon, right? I wonder how many people would say “it’s just a cartoon” if there had been a picture of Mussolini or Hitler on over the fireplace, instead of Cheney; and if McCain’s text dialog had been along the lines of “Fuck off, cunt” instead of “Bomb Iran.”If people like Tom Tomorrow think that the Blitt cartoon was true satire and that the criticism is out of line, they’re entitled to say so. But the rest of us are free to think that Blitt fucked up (or is disingenuous about his intent), and that Tom Tomorrow doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about in this case. But, then, I’m just a simple country editor.

  • http://dansolomon.com dansolomon