Is this racist?

[Cheetah]

A Norwegian cartoonist, who's also quite popular in Sweden and some other countries, drew this little cartoon which was included in the Swedish newspaper Metro:

Translation:
- So, N'gatti... you have come to ask for my daughter's thigh?
- eh... hand! Hand! Did I say thigh?

About 50 or so readers of the newspaper, including a well-known Swedish artist, Timbuktu, felt the cartoon was racist and very inappropriate. The people in the newspaper and the cartoonist have all apologized for it, and at least Timbuktu has accepted the apology.

The Norwegian cartoonist apology:

I'm very sorry that the "Rutetid"-cartoon which was published in Metro January 10. has had such a hurtful and offensive effect on readers. I strongly condemn all forms of racism, and I feel devastated over this issue. Some of the jokes in the "Rutetid"-cartoon is a play on clichés and stereotypes from earlier times, from the culture that created this type of cartoons, and the exaggerated details in the drawings is a parody on the stereotypes from that time and that time's cartoons. The main point in this instance was found in a literal understanding of the expression "to ask for someone's hand [in marriage]", which is somewhat old-fashioned, but still used in Norway at least about wanting to get married with someone. Cannibals, at least the type I portray in "Rutetid", belong to the same universe as Santa Claus, werewolves, Dracula, etc. They are fairytale creatures which nobody in my wildest dreams would ever find offensive. That has never been my intention and will never become that either. But as it has still been viewed by some as racism, I apologize most profoundly.

Source

Personally, I really don't feel that this cartoon is racist. This cartoonist makes lots of cartoons and comics and portray all kinds of stereotypes in similar manners, and I've never heard anyone complain before.

A poll in one of the biggest newspapers in Norway found that 96% of the respondents thought the cartoon was acceptable.

So I thought I should ask at CFC as well: What are your views on this? I'm especially interested if our Swedish members think anything differently than me and most other Norwegians on this.

 

[Synobun]

Not really racist. People are too uptight these days.

 

[amadeus]

No, just unfortunate for being Ted Rall's protege while in art school.

 

[Patroklos]

No, not racist at all.

 

[Akka]

The only problem with this picture is that, unless I've missed some non-obvious or culture-specific in-joke, it's just not funny at all.

If it's funny, I don't really care even if it's racist. Like all preachy garbage, political correcteness and forced consensuality just ended to work counter-productively for me and just make me craving for offensive jokes.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well the joke is supposed to be that the young man wants to eat her thigh, and disguises that will as a will to marry her. A very poor joke imo too...

Also the village mage/ruler's face looks rather more like a fat northern european, so i guess one could stretch it to say the cartoon presented africans as savages, and europeans as cultured.

But still, bottom line is that it is a bad cartoon.

 

[civ2]

I don't now...
Reminds me of an "European" joke (abridged, can't remember full):
-I came to ask for your daughters hand and heart.
-Oh, and what about the rest???
Would you consider THAT offensive - or rather amusing???

 

[Loppan Torkel]

No, not really racist, but it might be a bit insensitive since some Africans seem more predisposed than others to put on weight on the thigh-hip region. ..and it's not funny..

I've got another one that was pulled some time ago, from DN:

(Edit: The dog to the right, Rocky, is supposed to be the actual writer of this cartoon - Martin Kellerman, who draws this comic for the newspaper DN.)

Translation:
-"At least I work well when I'm unhappily in love and miserable... I'm starting to suspect it's the Jews at Bonniers [A powerful concern who owns the newspaper DN] who are behind that all the girls I fall for are mean. It increases my productivity and their cash flow"

"It's just a theory... I may be wrong... I just throw it out there, as a foundation for an important debate..." "I'm lifting the question..."

"It may be a coincidence..."

-"It may be your own fault..."
-"It may be my own fault, but I'm leaning toward the Jews..."

Quite funny imo. More inappropriate, because it might be interpreted wrong, and subsequently pulled for this reason.

 

[Ajidica]

I support fining the cartoonist for making an unfunny cartoon.

 

[civ2]

Loppan
I would rather LAUGH at this - cause it's DOGS.
As in THIS joke:
During the Reich, a German makes fun of a Jew:
-Today they killed a dog and a Jew on the main street of Berlin.
-Thank G-d, WE weren't there.
Meaning: the German wanted to compare the Jew to a dog - and got switched.
Same feelings about this cartoon.

 

[luiz]

In these cases, racism is in the eyes of the beholder.

But the cartoon was not funny at all.

 

[squadbroken]

Seems pretty racist to me, although it's more of the "quaint and embarrassing" variety as opposed to the "hateful and violent" kind. Not that I find it acceptable either way, but it's understandable, considering where it came from.

 

[shadowplay]

I think the reference to her thighs is racially tinged.

 

[Mise]

The cartoon in the OP is simply not funny. It's offensive to my sense of wit more than anything. And even if it was funny, it's making fun of cannibals, not black people. You have to be kind of racist yourself to associate cannibalism with all black people (as opposed to just the particular tribe in the cartoon), and that therefore this is offensive to all black people...

Loppan's cartoon is funny not because it makes fun of Jews, but because it makes fun of a man who is apparently bad with women and blames his problem on the Jews. It's making fun of anti-semitism, which is different to making fun of semites. It's not racist either.

 

[Winner]

People are too uptight these days.

Touché. I'd tell them to buzz off and choke on it if they can't handle a little fun.

 

[civ2]

Mise
Couldn't agree more.
On both points.

 

[kochman]

Poorly executed, and insensitive... but meant to be funny...
Would it be more ok if it were actually funny?

People need to lighten up.

 

[Winner]

Poorly executed, and insensitive... but meant to be funny...
Would it be more ok if it were actually funny?

People need to lighten up.

You among them, apparently. I agree it's not really that funny, but "insensitive"? To whom, for gods' sake?

 

[Ajidica]

You among them, apparently. I agree it's not really that funny, but "insensitive"? To whom, for gods' sake?

Insensitive to anyone capable of reading.

 

[Winner]

Insensitive to anyone capable of reading.

I am perfectly capable of reading, and I see nothing insensitive about it. So, what's the *real* reason?