The Most Powerful Media Man in the World
(Picture from Ask Men.)
Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns the New York Post, apologized today for the chimp cartoon. It’s a warm, sincere apology, and it’s the right thing to do. It’s good to hear that the apology came from the very top. The most powerful media man in the world has apologized for an offending cartoon in one of his many papers.
“It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such. We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard, and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.”
Still, and not to dampen the mood, but part of me wonders about why Rupert hasn’t yet apologized to Asian people. Murdoch’s Fox News produces nonsense like this dismissive interpretation of the Miley Cyrus incident (aka White people weigh in on anti-Asian racism), and Rupert hasn’t apologized. I know that I’ve written him about articles in the Wall Street Journal that display Orientalism, but I haven’t heard Rupert make a public apology for the Journal’s work (though to the Journal’s credit, one of their editors responded and said he agreed with me).
What makes this ironic is the fact that Rupert is married to Wendi Deng, a powerful and glamorous young Chinese American businesswoman and socialite who is friends with Zhang Ziyi. He’s married to one of the most powerful Asian women in the world. One would figure that a guy married to an Asian woman would be “attuned to the sensitivities of our community” and put an end to this media bashing of Asian people.
Rupert and Wendi
(Picture from here.)
Anyway, I’m not blaming him. I’m sure there are probably tons of Chuck “Watchoo Talkin’ About Willis” Willises who surround Rupert and tell him that us field Asians are being too sensitive. But the irony still amazes me. We shouldn’t be talking much about lack of media access. We may be underrepresented, but we have access. We just don’t have many people with access doing the right thing.
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My wife is a beautiful redhead, and quite often I joke with her that “her” ancestors are orangutans (red hair) and mine are chimpanzees (dark brown/black hair) when we go to the zoo or see primates and apes in commercials. Are you telling me that if that was a cartoon of an orangutan … that she should have been offended? Would all redheads be offended? Should all redheads protest and threaten the Post. Who is the idiot? Who sees a chimp and thinks “african american”. Grow up people!!!!!
Clearly there is a history of comparing black people to monkeys and being less than human. This is not the case for people with red hair so comparing the two is ridiculous.
If there is a long history of something that has effected you/your family/ancestors you are going to be more likely to be more concerned with it than others, especially if it is something negative.
Though as I said before I don’t think this cartoon is racist or that the cartoonist should apologize.
However as there are clearly people upset, it is best to avoid needless conflict by saying you genuinely acknowledge their concerns even if you don’t agree. Or you could be some louf mouth talk show host looking to stir up anger and resentment to boost ratings but hurt society and better understanding among people.
I used the political cartoon in my writing course to discuss art as argument. It was interesting because I forced the students to respond to the political cartoon only. They couldn’t respond to the controversy, and they had to avoid any discussion of the artist as racist. They had to look at it as a purely rhetorical analysis.
It was nearly impossible for them to see how the art could NOT be subtly racist.
It lead to some good conversations.
Good exercise, P2H. I like it because it removes the personal issues from the controversy and focuses on the art itself.