Sensitivity Level: High

I heard about the Barry Blitt New Yorker cover yesterday on NPR's Morning Edition. I kind of shrugged and thought if the New Yorker put it on the cover, it couldn't be that in poor taste. It's called satire people, come on. Then I looked it up on the web--it didn't take much searching as EVERY news agency was running the cover. First reaction: oh my god and when is Barack Obama going to reprimand, condemn, disavow, etc the New Yorker? That afternoon in fact, via a spokesperson, along with John McCain (good call.) Then, around 8:30 pm, I picked my own New Yorker from the mailbox. Second reaction: oh my god look at Michele Obama's evil eyes, the flag burning in the fireplace, and Osama above the mantle. Third reaction: Who won the caption contest?

Overall, the cover was a little too Fox News for my taste. Of course I get the "satire", but come on, there are people out there (my parents) who actually think Barack is a flag burning, Osama loving, muslim, and are scared of Michele because she is a strong African American woman. I wish it were Wednesday so I could see what Maureen Dowd thinks of the matter.

My opinion is the cover didn't quite hit the right note, and is poking fun at things that frankly aren't that funny because people believe these things to be true (again, my parents.) Sensitivity levels about race are higher than ever in America, and this cover succeeded in magnifying them. We are on the verge of having a black president, and it's stirring up a lot of weirdness over race. Barack not only has to deal with being black (he's half white too people), but also untrue accusations that he is a Muslim which of course would make him a terrorist, which then leads him hate to America--a quadruple whammy. And then Jesse Jackson threatened to cut his nuts off. So at this point, nothing would shock me.

Frankly, I can't wait until my generation (generation y?) is running this country. We grew up with the Cosby Show, rap music, black sports stars (Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, etc), sexiest man alive: Denzel Washington, and on and on--we are so over race being an issue.

And before I go, I just wanted to make mention of poor Barry Blitt. I googled him last night and found his sad little webpage, which basically consists of his email address and a tease "coming summer 2007." Can you imagine how much hate email he is getting right now? Barry, time for a new email address, and um, did you forget you started a website? Now might be a good time to get that thing going--you know, when you are basically THE news story. Just a suggestion.