Boycott the NY Post

So the NY Post published a political cartoon depicting police officers shooting a monkey or chimp, with a caption that reads something to the effect of  someone else will have to write the next stimulus package.  The fallout of this seemingly innocuous statement has been nothing short of nuclear.

Al Sharpton was the first to latch on and attack.  Many others followed suit, including Dr. Eric Michael Dyson, Julian Bond and Eric Holder, the first African American US Attorney General.

I have to admit that I initially was offended by what I deemed to be an overreaction.  My first thought went to the chimp in Boston who was shot by police after he attacked his owner's best friend.  I was extremely disturbed by this as I had just read an article about the myth of 75 years old Cheeta the Chimp who is apparently a hustler.

My next reaction was that I was expecting this.  When President Obama was elected one of my first thoughts was woe be unto the cartoonist who portrays the President as a monkey. Remember, for better or for worst, President Bush, Jr., was incessantly portrayed as a monkey in looks and deeds.  No one had a fit about this.

I get the historical context in which to be offended, but there is a real opportunity here.  The conversation about the Post should, IMHO, crash and die.  I never read the Post and I never will, especially now.  The conversation needs to focus on Eric Holder's comments about the cowardice of actually having a conversation about race in this country.

I am going to stop here, because this is a topic for another blog, but I hope I have gotten your minds attuned to where I am going with this . . .