This is not funny, not in any way, shape, or form. Do I have to list the ways it's not funny?
Calling names is not funny. Suggesting the Army is so desperate for warm bodies that they will now accept the formerly unacceptable is not funny. Suggesting that recruiters lie to potential recruits is not funny (mainly because it's too true in a lot of cases, sadly enough). Some jokes about fat can be funny, but not when they're mean, and the jokes contained in this cartoon are mean. It's not satire, it's not funny, it's mean. Danziger should be ashamed for creating it, and the NYT should be ashamed for printing it (yeah, like that's ever gonna happen). Fuckwits.
ETA: H/T to Annie McPhee for sending this cartoon to me (you know me so well, friend) :)
Whoa. That is so not okay. When I first looked at it I only read the recruiter's remark and thought, "that's not so bad, it's only commenting on the news." Then I saw the guy with [pizza? cake?] in hand. Then I read the vicious posters. How does this stuff make it into a major publication?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was my thought when Annie sent me the cartoon. She thought I might want to post about it, and she was so right.
ReplyDeleteI thought a quesadilla, but the point remains.
ReplyDeleteI have a comic. Humor is hard. I was up until 1 AM trying to do a single 3-panel comic because I was afraid the joke wasn't funny enough. I'm still not sure the joke's funny enough for publication. So, I understand how hard it is to come up with a funny, relevant joke.
But... lardbutt? Even I can come up with something funny without being dehumanizing.
Not only those things you listed, but the Army is represented as bribing the fat guy into joining up -- as though fat people have so much desire for food that they'd be convinced to join the Army over it.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Just... ugh.
Wow, I didn't realize you had just posted about this issue and there was the hideous cartoon. You're right - not a whit funny, not satirical, not even thought-provoking (which would be acceptable, no?) Just...bad. It's disturbing to hear that once you join you are forced to "lose weight" too; I didn't know that. Brave new world I guess.
ReplyDeleteActually, looking at the illustration; I'll say this much - the chubby guy just looks like a sweet, nice guy. Unlike in this video dissected in this link: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2009/01/07/abc-special-searches-ugly-americans-anti-immigrant-bigotry where a not-so-subtle side note (that no one notices) is that "these, the Ugly Americans" are depicted, of course, as fat. For no particular reason except that of course it makes them uglier because they're...fat. I know that wasn't the point they were making but it came through loud and clear.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be very good.. u write well.. Why don't you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘Big Fat Delicious’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;
BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!
This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)
Cheers,
ray - thanks for the invitation, but I have enough on my plate as it is, without adding more readers or another site to check in on daily (I have 175 blogs I'm following, so it's all I can do to keep up with them). I might end up with more fans, but I don't blog to gain fans, I blog because I like to write about things that pique my interest and things that make me mad or I think are unfair/illogical. That usually gets me more trolls than fans...lol
ReplyDelete