Via memeorandum, I see that the Washington Post issued a preemptive apology for this cartoon accompanying Gene Weingarten‘s humor piece, “Monkey Business – The good news for men: Women love apes” in the Sunday supplement:
The apology:
The headline, illustration and text of “Below the Beltway,” a column in The Washington Post Magazine today, may cause offense to readers. The magazine was printed before a widely publicized incident last week in which a chimpanzee attacked and badly mauled a woman in Stamford, Conn. In addition, the image and text inadvertently may conjure racial stereotypes that The Post does not countenance. We regret the lapse.
Given the controversy over a recent NY Post cartoon involving a monkey, one understands the Post’s caution. And, yes, I understand that there are unfortunate racial connotations going back generations. But, seriously, are all references and images of monkeys off limits for the duration of the Obama administration?
We elected the man President of the United States. The glass ceiling has been, shall we say, shattered.
For that matter, despite their both having larger than average ears, there are far, far more allusions to George W. Bush and variations on “chimp” than there are on Obama and “monkey.” Precisely, as it turns out, because one is merely personally insulting (Bush equals not smart) while the other invokes racial prejudice and is thus taboo.
Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes a monkey is just a monkey
