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I subscribe to the RSS feed of History News Network, which has a “breaking news” section for news stories on historical topics that are apparently submitted by third-party news sources. Most of the time it's pretty good, and I post links to some of those stories here on WCF. But I've also noticed that news stories submitted there are sometimes from liberal sites, and this annoys me. Most recently it was a story “Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor,” which really had nothing to do with history. In other words, it was a way for a liberal site (TPM.com) to get its story ought to smear conservatives. I wrote HNN and complained. Hopefully they'll take note, and maybe even respond.
Here is the response I got:
On a regular basis but still in frequently — say once a week or so — I'll include on the Breaking News page an entry that is obviously biased from either a left or right source, but which gives readers a flavor of what's making the rounds.In this case, I thought it was important for our readers to know that overtly racist appeals are being made by some against Obama and that liberals were complaining.Stories involving racism like stories involving anti-Semitism resonate because of the history associated with them. These seem worthy of HNN's attention. These are judgment calls, I admit. I wouldn't expect everyone to agree with every call we make.Rick
Frankly, I don't know why just any claim of racism has automatic “historical” relevancy. Is any story on abortion history-related as well due to the history of Supreme Court decisions on the matter?FYI, Rick Shenkman appeared on the Daily Show last year:[html]
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Rick Shenkman Daily Show
Full EpisodesPolitical Humor Joke of the Day [/html]
That's good that he answered you back so quickly. I wonder what he defines as overtly racist. Honestly, I thought that pic was funny. Obama is trying to conjure magical health care with other peoples' money.
I wouldn't call the picture racist so much as it is satire. As Ski said, the piece is about the Obama/Democrat health care boondoggle. It would appear to me that images like this in reference to a political position are fair game. I definitely don't think it is racist but Liberals will use Obama's blackness as a bludgeon to silence dissent on issues that Obama supports.Race is not the issue. The issue is the satirization of a politician. Why is it not okay to present Obama as a Witch Doctor in reference to his health-care proposal but it was OK to make a feature length film fantasizing about the assassination of a sitting president whose policies you disagree with? I seem to be detecting a double standard at work here. I cant speak to Prof. Shenkman as a historian but as a detector of racism I fear he has a ways to go and needs to take his own personal bias/prejudices out of his assessments. I dont see how a subjective assessment of racism makes for objective reporting. He does not seem to be reporting that the piece is racist so much as promoting the view that the picture is racist.
