Thursday, April 27, 2023

Strib faces an overreactive political correctness issue. And apologizes.

 This link. "4 Muslim legislators condemn Star Tribune editorial cartoon; publisher apologizes - Lawmakers say cartoon linked Islam to gun violence, contributing to Islamophobia." This link, for the cartoon which drew lightning.

Get real. Any fool can see the cartoon mocks those who'd say Muslum prayer calls would be unacceptable "noise," when the thing segues to gun noise, by, interestingly enough, ones wearing hoodies.

If I have any complaint it is the depiction of hoodies, known to be popular among black youths, the gun shooters being so implied. 

Beyond that, animated cartoons are STUPID. If you cannot make a single-image cartoon that works, change jobs.

That said, that particular cartoon is stupid. But to suggest it intended to tie Muslim prayer, during the day, with dangerous gun violence activity (beyond the noise) at night is pushing norms of political correctness to new, wrong, levels.

It was a dumb cartoon, not Islamophobia.

So, Malcolm saying the white man is the devil, I take issue with myself generalized into the rich whites and the racist whites, the devil, but not me. But, again, get real.

We all knew who Malcolm was demonizing and it was not me or white people like me. It was police differential treatment, it was police doing what was expected by those with political power to set expectations for police behavior. It was "the system" which is still in need of major change with the wealth and income disparities that exist now, a real issue, as opposed to waving around non-Islamophobia. One thing that is interesting in the issue, call to prayers, church bells, nobody is in a snit about church bells, which seem to be fewer than in, say, the '50s.

Finally, gun noise is not the problem, it's the bullets fired hitting people that is the problem. People getting shot is not sensible cartoon content, even by implication.

Bottom line - really dumb cartoon. Really not Islamophobia.

This seems akin to all the self-righteous newspapers dropping Dilbert. Overreaction. Dropping Dilbert while thriving on reporting each and every gun death where the saying is, "If it bleeds, it leads." Strib online does over-focus on gun play, bodies found in road ditches, domestic violence growing to gunplay, etc.

Last, one thing which would surprise me - if the Anoka County Board were to introduce Muslim prayer calls into its jurisdiction. It trails Minneapolis in that respect.