Satire Lost

"Satire is the use of irony, wit, or derision to

attack human weakness or foolishness."
Library of Congress

It's probably a good thing that very few people bother to read "The New Yorker" magazine these days. I always thought that the covers of "The New Yorker" were the best thing about the magazine, but after seeing the cover above, I have to wonder what it was they were hoping to accomplish.

The magazine purports that it shows all of the misconceptions that our body politic hold about Mr. & Mrs. Obama. With the Anglea Davis afro and an AK-47 on her back, Mrs. Obama is the picture of 70's radicalism with their deep seeded hatred of America. They've managed to add a turban and bisht (the thing that looks like a nightgown) to Mr. Obama to illustrate the misconception that he is a Muslim. You'll also note the American flag burning in the fireplace and the picture of Bin Laden on the wall.

The phrase that springs to mind is: "With friends like this, who needs enemies?"

It is a time-honored fact that perception becomes reality for many people. Even those of us who seem to have a modicum of intelligence can easily fall into this trap. An easy example to site is the supposed "stupidity" of President Bush. Frank Caliente's commercial that has the President explaining how you can "recordificate" and speaking the word "pause" as Frenchmen would is hilarious, and is one of many examples where comedians and others strive to paint President Bush as stupid. The last time I checked, you don't graduate from Yale if you're stupid. In deference to my more liberal friends, a college degree does not connote any degree of common sense, so you may still comfortably recline in your chair of superiority.

As a satirical cartoon, I get it, but how many thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans will look at this with no concept of satire? It will merely reinforce the misconceptions they already have about Senator Obama. Both campaigns have voiced their dismay over the cover art, as they should, and we can only hope that both campaigns continue to try to operate with dignity and honesty, knocking their partisan bulldogs down when the step over the line.

Speaking of dogs, (nice segue huh?) I received an email that I would classify as satire as well. I'll leave it up to you to determine:

Have you ever heard the stories about how a dog can sense an earthquake coming?

Have you ever heard that a dog can "sense" a tornado brewing, even as much as 20 miles away?

Do you remember hearing that before the December tsunami struck Southeast Asia, dogs started running frantically away from the seashore, at breakneck speed?

Do you know that dogs can detect cancer and other serious illnesses and danger of fire?

Somehow they always know when they can 'go for a ride' before you even ask and how do those dogs and cats get home from hundreds of miles away?

I'm a firm believer that animals - and especially dogs - have keen insights into the Truth. And you can't tell me that dogs can't sense a potentially terrible disaster well in advance.

Simply said, a dog just KNOWS when something isn't right . . . when impending doom is upon us . . . they'll always try to warn us. . .!

Many thanks to my buddy Dave for sending that along - I got a chuckle out of it - I hope you did too.