The story, and resulting flap, over the bar in Cobb County and their "Curious George" Obama t-shirt, has really jammed my brain. How do I begin to sort out exactly what bullshit is in play here? Even ATLMalcontent missed the boat on this one, opting for the history/awareness angle in a response that amounts to taking the bait, and giving the 'tards much more credit than they deserve.
So, let's review: Bar owner in Cobb County prints "Obama in '08" t-shirts with a graphic of Curious George eating a banana. Potential copyright issues aside, the shirt, bar, bar owner, and county have received national press, local protests, national criticism. The like-minded people's main response to criticism of said shirt has been a cacophony of finger-pointing, claiming there is no difference between this mashup, and running joke of mashups which liken President Bush to a chimp.
My thoughts:
- The humor kind of writes itself here. As I posted on ATLMalcontent, the Cobb Countians and their like-minded GOP bretheren are claiming that racism is now a derivative of politics, and the past 140+ years of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, de-segregation, and the resulting polarity of Atlanta metro, is some external political force that has generated racism, instead of being political effects of racial bias. That folks, is proof that sometimes, The Onion peels itself.
- Oh yeah, whenever someone claims "Curious Obama" is on-par with "President Chimpy", that person is implicitly admitting the racist nature of the "Curious Obama" graphic.
- The operative quote from the bar owner: "I'm saying out loud what everyone in this town whispers." This is actually true, when 'everyone' is constrained to the old money that runs that county, as buttressed by the "White Flight" of the 60's. These would be the fine, upstanding, hood-wearering klansmen of Cobb County, that have led the Republican Party since 1994.
- That's right: remember Bob Barr and Newt Gingrich? Gingrich more or less ran the House of Representatives for several years from Cobb County, and Barr was ushered into Congress on the heels of Gingrich's efforts in 1994. So in a very material way, Cobb County (along with the rest of Atlanta's Northern Arc) are responsible for the past 14 years of taliban meddling, and 7 years of taliban control of the U.S. Hence the nickname, "Corn-Cobb" County.
- Boy, wait 'til the mainstream press finds out about the rest of the internet. In fact, the graphic in question is rather par-for-the-course for the anonymous, online racist. It just so happens that in meatspace, we can actually infer the nature of these people, through their support of the offending graphic.
- This episode serves as yet another reminder that demographics are still the prime motivator in this election cycle. Now that we're down to two* candidates, the demographic noise has concentrated accordingly. Our little hookers in media-land are milling around to channel whatever demographic noise is thrown their way. So, expect more (and louder) versions of this same story to play out over the coming months.
- The actual difference between the "President Chimpy" graphics and the "Curious Obama" graphics is actually straightforward. The former alludes to both President Bush's role as Placeholder-in-Chief for our taliban (aka "Fundies"), and to the evolutionary origin of the leader of the Creationists' representative(s). The latter alludes to who Barack Obama is, regardless of whatever job he might have. As such, the "President Chimpy" graphics are semi-intelligent political commentary, and the "Curious Obama" is a direct product of bigotry.
The 7th Annual Dunwoody Beer Festival, a.k.a. "The Party in the Parking Lot." Great weather, good music, good times. It's too bad Dunwoody is seceding; more on that, at a later post.