By adamg on Wed., 10/1/2014 - 10:11 am
This is today's Herald editorial cartoon. As Greg Reibman writes:
Would it have been so bad to just say "peppermint" or "bubblegum"?
UPDATE: The Herald has issued a sorry/not sorry statement:
As Jerry Holbert discussed on Boston Herald Radio this morning, his cartoon satirizing the U.S. Secret Service breach at the White House has offended some people and to them we apologize. His choice of imagery was absolutely not meant to be hurtful.
We stand by Jerry, who is a veteran cartoonist with the utmost integrity.
For the full interview click here.
Gwen Gage
Spokesperson
October 1, 2014
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Comments
Sigh
By relaxyapsycho
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:19am
Let's make a racial issue where one doesn't exist. Awesome.
P.S. Everyone loves watermelon.
Clearly they're appealing to
By tenfortyseven
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:26am
Clearly they're appealing to their targeted readership demographic.
Not racist.
By bulgingbuick
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:30am
Sarah Palin uses watermelon douche.
Errrrr isn't that the point of the cartoon?
By SomerVillain
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:47am
I thought the cartoon was suggesting that the intruder was a racist, and - judging by his insane rapeface - mentally ill. "Watermelon" isn't exactly racist subtext; it's straight up racist text.
Are you suggesting that the
By Scratchie
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 12:13pm
Are you suggesting that the Herald might actually be willing to acknowledge that there are people out there who dislike the president due to racism?
Yes?
By SomerVillain
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 12:36pm
I guess; I just refuse to believe that the cartoonist would A) not realize the racial connotation, or realize it and think they were being sneaky with something soooooooooooo obvious, or B) put effort into drawing and coloring a cartoon without an actual joke in it. It's lame either way, but the intruder saying something racist is at least wacky and edgy in a "shock value" sort of way. Changing it to "raspberry" reminds me of watching Blazing Saddles on regular cable, where almost none of the sanitized jokes make any sense.
EDIT: After reading the author's excuse of "finding his kid's watermelon toothpaste", I guess I must accept that the dude is both not funny and really, really dumb.
Look
By Goosen
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 1:57pm
Look at all these people twisting themselves into a pretzel trying to convice us that it's not racist. Really? Go post in the herald comment section complaining about the "PC police" with all the rest of the dying breed of people that still actually read the herald
It doesn't matter if it's
By tenfortyseven
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:48am
It doesn't matter if it's racist or not. That shit-can "news"paper used that word for one reason- the editorial staff are indeed bigots, and they're not afraid to own it. And a lot of pathetic loser Bostonians think that's ok.
Oh hell no
By rsybuchanan
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:26am
Watermelon is a waste of farm real estate. Flavourless crap.
Well, actually...
By whyaduck
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:30am
the stereotype does indeed exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_stereotype
So let us pretend it does not exist. Awesome.
Some Guy on the Internet
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:33am
Some Guy on the Internet has declared that it Isn't Racist! Therefore, it is not possible that it is racist.
Gee, we can all just move on now. Some Guy on the Internet is always right about these things, you know.
It's a tough time of year for SGotI
By Michael
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:46am
We're in that delicate season when Some Guy on the Internet (a) has to make it clear that the Washington R******s football team name is just a word and it's meant to honor and how could anyone possibly be offended by mere words, while (b) simultaneously gearing up to scream at the first clerk in a month or so to wish him "Happy Holidays"
While
By anon
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:57am
The Fighting Irish, Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres and so on are acceptable.
"If you're not offended, you're not a Liberal."
"If you're not using bad
By anon
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:21am
"If you're not using bad corollaries, you're not a Conservative."
An example of liberal stupidity
By anon
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 1:53pm
Tom & Jerry is deemed a racist cartoon by Amazon Prime.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2776323/Am...
An example of right-wing denial
By zadig
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 4:30pm
Old Tom-and-Jerry cartoons are chock full of dated racist stereotypes. You can't watch an episode with the (lower half) of the black maid without seeing what is essentially animated minstrel show material.
The real question is, why would you ever object to letting people know that ahead of time? The racism existed at the time. It was played up for laughs in the cartoons. Nobody is deleting it, because it's important to keep the material complete and to recognize the times in which the cartoons were made. But who is harmed by letting potential buyers know that the horrendous content exists among the classic cartoon material?
What do right-wingers have against full disclosure or informed purchasing?
Wait a cotton pickin' minute!!
By MC Pee Pants
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 5:07pm
I wonder if it has anything to do with the dated caricature that is Tom's owner...
All of those are groups of
By anon
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:27am
All of those are groups of people, but none of those are racial slurs. And the fighting irish is the mascot of an irish catholic school, so a little different than a white guy owning a team whose name is a racial slur.
I was always
By anon
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 12:33pm
told by liberal MA public schools teachers that the word "Indian" was derogatory. Maybe that was a 90's thing!
Well...
By R Hookup
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 6:33pm
it is inaccurate at the least, since we aren't talking about people from India.
American Indian Center of Boston....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 8:20pm
... in Jamaica Plain.
No further comment needed, I believe.
Oh, so one example of a term
By lbb
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:30pm
Oh, so one example of a term (no doubt chosen because the larger culture didn't know any other term at the time) means that that's THE one valid term for all eternity? Tell me, did it hurt very much when you removed the top of your skull and sprayed on the lacquer to keep anything from ever changing?
I actually spoke with the people there...
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:58pm
... and they said they really have no problem with the term "American Indian" -- which means something slightly different from "Native American" (which includes Aleuts and Eskimos). It is a useful collective term, which has little resonance, as most individuals primarily identify with their tribe, and not with any sort of generic Indian-ness,
Any reason why your basic attitude in this forum so far has been so hostile?
I suspect those who bring up
By jmk816
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:37am
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/10/05/no...
Native Americans fight against the idea of all Indian mascots. The Redskins is particularly damaging because of the fact that it meant the scalped head of a Native American that the government paid people for. Can you see how this is different than the word Brave or the Chiefs?
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/redskin-name-update
Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta
By ian
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 2:01pm
All three of these have been protested by Native American groups and their supporters (especially the particularly racist logo of the Indians).
Cleveland Indians logo
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 10/15/2014 - 6:44pm
They dropped Chief Wahoo this season. It's just the block "C" now.
Don't forget these Irish,
By kvn
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 8:04am
Don't forget these Irish, 69th Infantry Regiment (New York)
The 69th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. It is from New York City, part of the New York Army National Guard. It is known as the "Fighting Sixty-Ninth",[1] a name said to have been given to it by Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. An Irish heritage unit, as the citation from poet Joyce Kilmer illustrates, this unit is also nicknamed the "Fighting Irish", immortalized in Joyce Kilmer's poem "When the 69th Comes Home" .[2] Between 1917 and 1992 it was also designated as the 165th Infantry Regiment. It is headquartered at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_Infantry_Regim...(New_York)
Chief Wahoo is pretty much
By Jack
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 4:39pm
Chief Wahoo is pretty much the most racist mascot avatar I can think of, for sure.
Duplicate
By whyaduck
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:49am
n/t
Deleted
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:51am
Deleted due to comment deletion.
Thank you.
By whyaduck
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:53am
Comment deletion.
I'm sure MLK would feel the same way...right?
By whyaduck
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:54am
When some guy on the internet dismisses something important like a well known racial stereotype as being non-existent, I feel compelled to comment.
But if...
By G
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:57am
If some guy on the internet is always right, and another guy on the internet says he isn't; which one is guy is right?
The one with the higher post
By SomerVillain
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:13am
The one with the higher post count, duh.
Nothing to see here!
By tcf098
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 3:19pm
Everybody move on! Some Woman on the Internet (i.e. SwirlyGrrl) has declared this a non-issue. Some Woman on the Internet is always right about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.
All those periods!
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 3:25pm
They make it all the more amazing that you missed the point.
Right
By The Beer Guy
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:39am
It would only be racist if he suggested fried chicken tooth paste.
Looks like Herald changed it from the original "raspberry"?
By M
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:59am
This lends a little more credence to it being a racial issue:
https://twitter.com/steveannear/status/51731633012...
More likely that 'watermelon' is the original
By aldos
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:01am
And it was changed to 'raspberry' in other media for this reason.
Cartoonist apologizes
By KellyJMF
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 12:18pm
It was watermelon orginally. Herald didn't think anything of it but the national syndicate did and asked to change it to raspberry.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_cov...
On its face, the cartoon seemed racist to me but his explanation of where he got watermelon makes total sense and I think it really was just an unfortunate coincidence.
I use cinnamon flavored
By kvn
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 2:22pm
I use cinnamon flavored myself , when I can still find it.
Crest Complete Multi-Benefit Gel, + Whitening Cinnamon Expressions
$4.79
Walgreens.com
Seven words in that caption
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 3:02pm
Only a few more in the entire comic.
Google might have been the cartoonist's friend ...
Who the fuck are you to
By CS
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:54am
Who the fuck are you to decide whats offensive and what isn't? How would you know, ARE YOU BLACK?
When was the last time you
By lbb
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 3:08pm
When was the last time you heard of watermelon-flavored toothpaste? Please, if you want to delude yourself, by all means have fun with it, but don't think others are so foolish as you.
Like most fine lodgings
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:29am
I'm sure that the White House keeps a stock of white robes on hand.
BTW, Boston Herald, the intruder wasn't one of your white teacracker friends, but a mentally ill army vet of Hispanic ancestry ...
Yes
By BostonDog
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:43am
He was an IMMIGRANT who SHOULD NOT BE HERE but OBAMA WANTS TO TAKE AWAY OUR JOBS.
Oh, he's a sick vet? Well, OBAMA HATES VETERANS AND DESTROYED THE VA BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SEE THEM SUFFER.
See? It's easy to turn absolutely everything into a pointless condemnation of Obama without any understand (or concern) for the real facts. Between that and complaining about lack of travel lanes and parking I don't know how they get though the day.
FYI
By SomerVillain
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:04am
It's pretty racist of you to read "hispanic ancestry" and assume "immigrant".
See? It's easy to find racism everywhere if you look hard enough.
Racism
By anon
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 10:31am
The fence jumper wasn't white.
DAAAAMN dude
By SomerVillain
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:16am
Calling a hispanic a "fence jumper"? That's a paddlin'.
And? Do you think all non
By Steeve
Wed, 10/01/2014 - 11:49am
And? Do you think all non-whites are one happy group of people that can't be racist toward one another? I hate to say, but that assumption is quite ignorant, or at worst, pretty racist.
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