Election Cartoon
If you're new here, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. Thanks very much for visiting!
The Asahi Shimbun (major newspaper) published this editorial cartoon about the upcoming American presidential election today. Interesting.
Editorial cartoon from the Asahi Shimbun Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 on page 26.
***
The caption reads: 「ちょいと本選試投をしてみるか」. In English that says something like “Let’s see about throwing a ball for the real election once in a while.” It implies that Hillary’s days are numbered, since it implies that the election in November will be between Obama and McCain. The bottom part says 「クリントンさん 頭越に失礼」or “An overhead slight for Mrs. Clinton.” I’m not really familiar with these kanji, but I think I’ve interpreted correctly.
Another interesting note about the caricatures: Obama has a big, honkin’ Tengu nose. Is it because he’s the foreigner in the foreground? Why not focus on his ears, like many American editorial cartoonists do? He’s sensitive about them and everything… Stylized convention, perhaps? Hmm. I seem to remember some awkward Obama impersonations before…
Also - Alex has some interesting numbers up about media coverage that the candidates are receiving in Japan. Check it out if you have a minute.
EDIT: Alex caught something good here. From the first comment below, “There’s no need for the caricaturist to identify Obama or Clinton, but she had to scrawl マケイン氏 next to McCain’s image, or people would have just been baffled by the old guy standing in the background.”
on May 15th, 2008 at 9:11 am
You missed one of the most interesting points! There’s no need for the caricaturist to identify Obama or Clinton, but she had to scrawl マケイン氏 next to McCain’s image, or people would have just been baffled by the old guy standing in the background, which supports the evidence from number of hits for each name on newspaper sites.
Alex’s last blog post..Balanced News Coverage
on May 15th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Holy cow!
You’re right! Ha ha ha. Awesome. Thanks for pointing that out - I’m not shocked that something got by me, but something substantial like that…ha ha ha.
on May 15th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
This Obama has big lips too.
Why not big ears?
As you wrote, I guess noses and lips are bigger stereo types for gaijins.
BTW I have a question.
I think the part of the reason of his high popularity among middle class Whites is some sort of guilt conscious. Probably voting for him is like buying a letter of forgiveness to aquit from their sins.
Each time I go to an Korean grocery store, the deep inside of me saying, “I’m so sorry, so sorry about what we did even that happened before I was born.” “That” was more than sixty years ago. Blacks had been lynched until ’60s. Then why not Whites feel the same way, especially the ones who are educated enough.
Of course, I know that is not only the reason why Obama is so popular.
But, isn’t that guilt playing some role in this??? hmmmm.
I am curious.
on May 15th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
You may be right, blue, but I hope you aren’t. That anyone has a guilty conscience and feels compelled to vote for him because he’s black is, actually, still a form of racism. It’s still acknowledgement of a wall that differentiates “us” and “them”, which is what racism is, only in this case it’s not mean-spirited or violent.
I have a feeling, though, that Obama has the support that he does because he’s an “agent of change”, at least he’s very outspoken about it at the moment. Actually, all three candidates claim the same title, only I think Obama does a better job of expressing it in his rhetoric. With such a high-level of dissatisfaction in the U.S. these days over both national and international issues, citizens are “looking for change”, and that’s the platform all candidates are running on.
Alex’s last blog post..Balanced News Coverage
on May 15th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
P.S. Is it just me, or does McCain actually look more like Dick Cheney in that cartoon?
Alex’s last blog post..Balanced News Coverage
on May 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Yeah, obviously the his image of “Agent of Change” is the biggest factor, especially because he is relatively new to most of voters and he looks younger, no doubt about it.
But I am interested in other factors as well.
A while ago, Bill Moyers’show of PBS had Shelby Steele as a guest, who is a author of several books about race relations.
And he himself has a White mother like Obama.
He stated that Whites loved Obama because he was a bargainer like Opera, Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier.
His definition of bargainer is the Black person who says, “I do not bring up the subject of race or the things you have done to us as long as you do not hold that against me.”
Interesting, isn’t it?
No matter how you see it, race is a huge factor in U.S. or any other place including Japan.
The difference is that Blacks and Jews in U.S. speak out about this issue so much that it seems to be more obvious than anywhere else.
on May 15th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Blue & Alex - I am very much in line with Alex’s thinking on the “racial guilt” issue. He said it quite well, I think. To sum it up, if people are voting for or against someone due primarily to their skin color (or gender) then it’s still racism (or sexism). Prejudice is prejudice. We should be choosing the person we think will best perform as President. And I agree that Obama’s speaking skills are tops among the three - but I get seriously frustrated with the tired turns of phrase and empty, clichéd platitudes that issue forth from his syrupy rhetoric. The thing is, when he speaks in specific terms, I really dislike his policy ideas. (Then again, I really dislike both of his opponents’ ideas too. Sigh.)
Blue, I disagree with you about the level of racism in America. I feel that America is one of the more fair places - and I am from South Carolina, a state with the slavery stain on its record. (I really wouldn’t compare it to Japan, though.) I feel like most racial stuff in America is played up by the media more so than it actually occurs between real people and neighbors. This is not to say that racists aren’t present - they are. But I think the media is quite condescending to the average American when they decide that their motives in voting for or against someone must be racially based.
Hillary has been the focus of the “gender card” for her campaign, and she plays it when it fits her needs. Similarly, Obama has been the subject of the “racism card” which is played when it is convenient for him. You can’t blame them - they are trying to win in a pretty rough race. But it does make me sigh. It’s pretty old. I will not be won over by being offended by someone’s opponents, nor will I necessarily be lost over by disliking someone’s supporters. The Jeremiah Wright controversy was the most meaningful of any of the weird bumps so far, but not in a racial sense. More in a judgment, personality, and ideology sense.
Again, I’m off track. One year ago, people were asking whether or not Obama was black enough or too black to run. Then they went into analysis over the (assumed) collective white guilt. David Ehrenstein wrote a piece for the LA Times called Obama the Magic Negro that got that ball rolling. Chaos broke out around it. Here we are a year later, and all we’ve proven is that the media cannot honestly tell you what’s going to happen. Nor why it happens. So the racism might be a talking point now, but completely forgotten after the fact. The decision comes down to real people, not policy wonks or political junkies. Forget everything you hear about why people are voting the way that they vote and just watch. We’ll see what happens.
By the way - do you feel like black Americans and white Americans alike could put to rest any collective anger or guilt that might respectively still exist over past wrongs if Obama is elected President? I hate to say it, but I don’t think so. I think race hustlers will keep their games going as long as they can, which is sad for the rest of us average folk.
on May 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Alex - Yeah….he does kinda resemble Cheney… Ha ha ha.
on May 15th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
“If people are voting for or against someone due primarily to their skin color (or gender) then it’s still racism (or sexism). Prejudice is prejudice. We should be choosing the person we think will best perform as President.”
Yeah, I 100% agree with that.
However, I think that is the ideal and the ideal is not always same as the reality, sadly and unfortunately.
“America is one of the more fair places.”
I agree with that one too.
Actually I have never said that I believe the level of the racism is higher in U.S.
I always think Japanese are more racistic than average Americans.
Well, I should say at least they appear to be.
Shelby Steele pointed out that now Blacks did not know even what they should fight against because most of Whites did not show it anymore.
I definitely agree with that.
Sometimes media says that they wonder why Arab immigrants in U.S. do not become terrorists while Arabs in Europe do.
To me, it is very clear because American Whites have been so well educated by Blacks about this issue. Therefore most of them know how to behave and it is kinda hard to find obvious ones in U.S.
But unfortunately, that has not eraced prejudice and racism completely. They really have gone under.
Also the racism in U.S. is very complicated because it is entangled with other issues like cultural differences, classism and the religion.
And I really feel sorry to say this because I do believe not only White men have and perform racism but everybody else do.
But also I think White men never fully understand this because almost always they play at the top of this game.
When I was in Tokyo, I read lots of articles and books about racism in U.S. because I loved Black music like R&B, Jazz and blues. However, what I had at that time was nothing but simpathy toward Blacks.
When I experienced more racial humiliatin from Blacks and Hispanics of under-educated class, I realized how stupid I had been and how complicated the reality was. Also I realized there were something you could never fully understand until you experienced them.
You might say Gaijins are treated in different ways.
As Japanese always sees the glamorous American (or European)images behind Gaijins, which were grossly amplified by Japanese media and things like Hollywood movies, Gaijins are usually not treated badly, even sometimes it can be in a prejudical ways.
But that is not always the case if you are a non-White foreigner and came to Japan as a cheap labor, I guess you know that.
There are so many realities of U.S. that you do not know if you are White men from middle class suburbs.
For example, do you know public shools’ budget are decided on the property tax of the area’s residents pay?
That naturally makes the budgets for all White schools in suburbs much higher than the ones for innercity schools where most of kids are non-White.
Minimum pay is a little over $5 and has not changed for a long time. In New York, it is $6 but tax is almost 1/3. So after tax, you take home about $700. Nobody can survive on that and it is still nothing but a struggle even if you make double amount of that. And as the result of this, many low wage innnercity workers have lost motivations.
Then Whites(and Japanese too) say Blacks and Hispanics are lazy. You rather be on the welfare than you work and starve.
Much more Black suspects are convicted and get stiffer punishment than Whites because most of them cannot afford to hire a good lawer and the goverment do not provide their public defenders enough budget to fight back prosecutors.
To me, these are all systematic racism in the land where Whites say racism is not the big deal anymore.
When Virginia tech shooting incident occured and CNN reported the suspect was an Asian, I seriously prayed, even I am not religious, that he would not be Japanese because I feared another round of Japan bashing.
And I relieved when I heard that he was Korean.
Then I saw on TV that Koreans gathered in front of city hall with the only one Asian city congress man and sent the message through the media not to bash any Koreans or any other Asians.
I realized the place I am living now is where I can get bashing anytime when this kind of things happen.
Yes, this is where Whites says that racism is not a big deal anymore.
I am sorry, I really think it is not fair to blame only White men,
but, hey, White men are the top of this food chain.
I do believe average Japanese behave in more racistic ways than average American because they have never been educated by anyone as minorites in Japan are just too small and do not have enough power to speak up.
As for your question, I do not think this issue can be solved so easily either even if we get a Black president not only because of race huslers but also many other factors as well. This is far more complicated than you think and it is gonna be too long to talk about.
At least, one bright news is that, according to the reports from PBS, the Generation Next, which you belong to, is much more tolerant to the differences of races & gays and supports the democrats (very bad news for Republicans and Pat Robertson).
They said U.S. would chage a lot within 10-20 years.
On the other hand, Japanese are becoming more and more ignorant and stupid about social issues and politics.
Well, at least, they have Korean stars now, which I could not imagine 20 years ago.
Very sorry for a looooog post!
on May 16th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Ok a lot of those previous posts were pretty long so I’ll admit I skim-read, so if I say anything someone else has already said then I apologise in advance.
Perhaps my viewpoint on things is slightly skewed because I am from Scotland where really, race is nowhere near as big a problem as it is in the states, but my point on the “race” issue is this: the only way that race will ever cease to be a problem in this world is if people just stop talking about it so much! Deas and I have spoken about this before and agree that everyone should just take a step back for a moment, and chill out. Though many of you feel that America is a “fair” country with regards to racism, I know many Americans who would disagree. Many people who would argue that things happened to them or their friends and family, because of their race. I always feel inclined to argue that if people let go of the “race card” every once in a while, they would realise that quite often it is not the case that those things happened “because of their race”. Obviously in many instances it is the case that people were the subject of racism, however, the “is it because I’m black” thing gets used WAY too many times in my opinioin. In response to that a friend of mine once asked me if I would be able to just “drop” the race thing, if I knew that for hundreds of years my family had been subject to the cruelty and oppression of “the white man”, whether I would be able to just “take a step back and chill out” about the whole thing and not make myself out to be a victim of racism, when I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head because for so long we were the subject of racism and oppression. But to be honest I think this arguement is pretty weak. For one thing, I am from Scotland. We’re not strangers to oppression. For years the English banned us from wearing our national cloth, speaking our national language, and maintaining our traditions and cultures. But I don’t think I have ever in my life claimed that an ill-fortune I have encountered at the hands of someone who happened to be English was “because I am Scottish”. Secondly, if people continued to live in the past and hold grudges against those who once upon a time pushed them around, no country in the world would be able to function alongside another. Racism would be at an all time high.
I’m not trying to say that racism doesn’t exist! Of course it does. But my point is that if people stopped making race an issue, as we can see people ARE doing regarding the Presidential election, then race wouldn’t be an issue. I’m 100% with Deas. It shouldn’t matter whether Obama is black, white or multicoloured, just as in the UK, it doesn’t matter whether the Prime Minister is English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh, what matters is whether he is best for the job. Granted, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that he is black, just as we shouldn’t ignore the fact that Hilary is a woman or that McCain is old, but the point is, do any of those things really matter?! Perhaps people would argue that the fact that he is black, she is a woman, and he is old affect the decisions they have made in their manifestos, but if you vote for one person because of those decisions, it’s not their race, sex or age you’re voting for, it’s the person and their intentions! Perhaps Obama is in support of racial quotas because he is black, and perhaps Hilary supports Roe v. Wade because she is a woman, but what people should be asking themselves is not whether the decisions stem from race or gender, but whether they agree with them or not.
ALSO…
I disagree that Japan is more racist than America. Rather I would say that the type of racism we see in Japan is different to that in America. Racism in America, to my understanding, stems from a hostility towards those of a differing race, whereas the racism in Japan stems more from a lack of understanding and experience. Think about the diversity of race in American citizens, and the percentage of “non-white” people living in the states. Now think about the less than 1% of the Japanese population which is foreign. To me Japanese “racism” is more like raw curiosity which many haven’t quite mastered the art of disguising yet. Without the constant subjection to diversity that we have in the West, is it any wonder the Japanese react to us the way they do?
on May 16th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
oops
that turned into a bit of a stream of consciousness. i dont know if it made any sense
feel free to ignore/delete
on May 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Aileen - I think we’ve always pretty much been on the same page here. Why don’t you comment more often? You’re welcome to go all stream of conscious anytime.
on May 19th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
because most of the time my little brain cant deal with intellectual conversation
on May 19th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Ah yes - the stimulating intellectual conversations. Like…lolcats and faildogs… Ha ha.