When desperation drives, there is hardly any distinction between a 71-year old man and an 80+ years old institution. Yes, my unabashed reference is to the GOP presidential candidate and the New Yorker Magazine, respectively.
The way I look at it, the much-talked about NYM lampoon arose from the pit of a totally freaked-out majority white America for whom the superiority of the United States is contained in the singular phrase ‘bomb ’em, maim ’em, kill ’em’. It is also out of the acute fear of a man of mixed heritage coming to the helm of the American stewardship on January 20, 2009.
But in reality, all NYM has done is that it gave a definitive form to the shapeless growing-in-decibel whispers created by its own accomplices (and rivals) in the media. Otherwise, how many of us in the public have heard from or debated with our friends and coworkers at lunch tables or in coffee houses, the possibility of Mr. Obama being a Muslim and its repercussions on life within the country and the America’s standing beyond our shores?
The truth is that no one other than the media salivates at this devilishly naked rumor, which by the way, tickles the Muslims in America not in the least. Has anyone ever thought of raising a legitimate doubt about Mr. McCain possibly being a Jew or if Mr. Lieberman perchance was Amish?
The other day I read Thomas Friedman’s op-ed where he drew a picture of some Egyptian friend of his in ‘high places’ beaming at the prospect of Obama ‘the Muslim’ becoming the Next US president. Well, those are Friedman’s words; I never heard from that Egyptian myself, and chances are nor did you.
After all, in this free country of ours with the unlimited privilege of free speech, anyone could submit a byline emphatically highlighting the possibility of Mr. Ahmedinejad willing to defect to Israel! Would NYM consider asking its gifted artist to draw this historic exodus as its next cover page decorative?
This is the kind of journalistic crap we are being throttled with day in and day out, which comes the very next day as media poll number! Isn’t this media hype a kind of ‘speculation’ very much similar to what is drowning the stock exchange in the toxic rise in oil prices these days? If that can be called the financial demise by speculation, why isn’t the media-mediated caricature a moral demise by speculation?
The latest NYM cover page is a slap on the face of everything, we as American consider sacred, including patriotism. While the magazine and its elite readers are calling the offensive cover page a mere satire or lampoon, I’d call it a NYMPH: New Yorker Magazine’s Pathetic Harpoon. How could, in the name of honest journalism, a magazine whose home town was set ablaze on September 11, 2001, where millions of American flags were seen hoisted in every home, business and building, could show so heartlessly this sacred parchment of our symbol of unity, in flames again?
When I saw the cover page, it brought back the pain and agony. For me, it was 9/11 all over gain! I can understand the ignorance behind the deprecating Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) but this fresh onslaught on Barack and Michelle Obama’s Americanism and patriotism in the guise of feigned artistry is something American public must view with a different lens. NYM has entered a territory where even angels fear to tread.
