Plattsburgh Faculty Discusses Racist Cartoon (NY)

[struggle4progress]

By PAT BRADLEY • 2 HOURS AGO

Plattsburgh State faculty met Friday .. to discuss .. the publication of a racially controversial cartoon .. illustrating a black-faced graduate in the ghetto ... The head of the .. senate called an all faculty meeting .. to discuss .. actions campus leaders and teachers can take.

... Kyla Relaford says the cartoon .. broke the camel’s back. “It was that moment that students finally said enough is enough. And to some degree this was particularly egregious because the Cardinal Points newspaper is run by their peers.”

http://wamc.org/post/faculty-discusses-racist-cartoon

[Idaho Joe]

1. Trigger Warning: Free speech and reason are more important than your feelings...

A picture is worth one thousand words. Yet, one thousand objective words, are no match for one subjective statement: “I am offended.”

Apparently, emotions are more important to the administration of SUNY Plattsburgh than any objectively reasoned, evidence based examination of the content contained in the October 23rd issue of the Cardinal Points.

The PSUC Administration carelessly merged with the “offense mob”, condemned the Cardinal Points editorial staff and funneled any hope of objective discourse from competing viewpoints down the drain of politically correct outrage, where free thought and speech go to die in sewers of racist conspiracy theory. As the cudgel of PC justice descended, emotion replaced evidence as the standard for truth.

The issue brought forth in Tim Lyman’s piece; whether diversity should be considered when determining who is admitted to public institutions, is an excellent topic for academic consideration. However, instead of a debate worthy of higher education, the cult of hypersensitivity has hijacked the dialogue, preferring to focus time, energy and attention on bringing fledgling student editors in front of their kangaroo court. An abysmal lesson in debate subterfuge for any aspiring academic or citizen: take offense, invalidate and ignore.

In the cartoon, I do not see overwhelming evidence of negativity, nor racism. The concept is simple and effective. A smiling young and accomplished man is juxtaposed with a dilapidated neighborhood. He strides in his cap and gown, diploma in hand, representative of the virtues of higher education. In this concept I see a man who is proud of his accomplishments, endowed with critical thinking skills garnered at Plattsburgh State and ready to apply them to a poor neighborhood.

At its best I interpret hope. At its worst, I see an imprecise interpretation of the human body no more offensive than Bart Simpson. Mind you, it was crafted by a student illustrator, working under a deadline, with cheap computer equipment, balancing 15 or so credit hours, homework and hopefully a decent social life.

I do not see racist conspiracy, perpetuated by villainous journalism students, hell bent on advertising the inferiority of black people. And I see no reason that the students should be blamed when professional educators responsible for quality control allowed it to go to press.

Two issues arise that require introspection. First should certain ideas be censured because they are perceived to be offensive? How far are we willing to slide down that slippery slope? The other and more important issue is whether race, ethnicity or anything other than merit should be a determining factor in college admissions. Freedom of speech must win the day, the administrators must support it above all else, for free speech is the ultimate equalizer.

Trigger warning:

Here is my cartoon. It may offend you. It is simply an analogy to what happened at Charlie Hebdo. The Islamic Terrorists are replaced with a politically correct ones. The end result is the same. Silence the press because we don’t like your cartoon.

I am thankful to all of my PC friends for inspiring me to draw. I enjoyed very much slathering my thoughts onto notebook paper and wouldn't have done so otherwise. I felt it was a more appropriate medium than words. Feel free to condemn it or me, I look forward to reading your thoughts and taking from them what I can. Remember, creation is hard, criticism and destruction are easy...

The portrait below is not a threat, a call to action or any of that bullshit. It is simply a drawing intended to provoke thought. It can only hurt you if you let it. If it does, sorry, but ideas are more important than your feelings.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://cardinalpointsonline.com/minority-admission-rates-examined/
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

[struggle4progress]

2. College Paper Prints The Most Racist Front Page in America

10.27.151:00 AM ET
Felice León

... Plattsburgh, New York, is home of the only KKK chapter in New York State ... The cartoon’s illustrator, Jonny Zajac, in an Instagram post said “My favorite person in Plattsburgh #niggers.” His Instagram account has since been deactivated. Yes, there is a problem with racism at SUNY Plattsburgh ...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/27/college-paper-prints-the-most-racist-front-page-in-america.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. wow.

[Idaho Joe]

9. Hi again

The daily beast wrote it, so it must be true. Case closed...

[struggle4progress]

12. Mebbe. Dunno. It's always worthwhile IMO to wonder whether press accounts are correct

OTOH readers at the school have every right to expect their campus paper not to promote stereotypes, such as blacks come from ghettoes or Italians have mafia relatives or Jews control our banks or ...

People usually want to be known as themselves, rather than to have others make instant assumptions about them based on fleeting impressions

The question -- Why do particular individuals live where they do? -- can, of course, sometimes be very interesting; and there are sometimes unhappy historical answers, as in the case (say) of the strange demography of Corbin KY

[malaise]

4. And of course only what you see matters

[ryan_cats]

6. Nice

Nice rendering of Ralph Wiggum on the second computer.
My cat's breath smells like cat food.

The 3d perspective seems forced.

[Idaho Joe]

11. Thanks

Yeah it's been a long time since I've drawn anything. I really enjoyed it. (I know it shows!)

Anyway, all of my cats are dead. My favorite died a noble death. He was bitten in half by the neighbors german shepard at the age of 18. He died the way that he lived, killed by a larger predator. It was hard to see him shaken by the dog, I ran out and tried to kick the Shepard but Sputnick was finished, neck and body efficiently broken in two or three shakes. I really loved that cat, I now realize that the Shepard was just doing what came naturally, that in a way he did not murder sputty, he gave him a noble death that he deserved. His breath only smelled like cat food in the winter time and even then it was almost as likely to smell as fresh as a bird or squirrels warm blood, feathers and fur...

The third perspective was forced. Thanks for analyzing it for me, how would I fix that? I couldn't wrap my brain around a 2 dimensional picture. Maybe I'll give it another go. Have a good one...

[LanternWaste]

7. Many hacks hide behind behind a fictional message...

Many hacks hide behind behind a fictional message to better mask a dramatic lack of talent and unoriginal thought*, regardless of how hard it is to be unoriginal and without talent

*e.g., Thomas Kincade, Boris Vallejo, etc.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

8. You might have had a leg to stand on until the illustrator outed himself with the n-word

Honestly, I was totally confused as to what the cartoonist was trying to get across, but now knowing what I know, it clearly was nothing positive.

[johnp3907]

5. "a drawing intended to provoke thought."

Didn't work. Please don't try again.

[gratuitous]

10. Apparently it provoked the wrong kinds of thought

None of this is supposed to boomerang on the illustrator. See, verbal objections to racist depictions are exactly the same as someone shooting up the illustrator's office. See?