When Satire Goes Terribly Wrong

Satire is a delicate thing to do, especially in print where the reader cannot hear the tone of your voice or its inflections. Some writers do it especially well, like Scrappleface or Iowahawk. Sometimes, however, writers attempt satire only to have it blow up on them, like this one did (h/t Reader Norm):

Oh, the irony. That "Obama Bucks" image sent out by a Republican women's club in San Bernardino County, which featured a photo of Barack Obama on paper currency surrounded by a potpourri of racially-charged Jim Crow-era images? Turns out it wasn't created by club president, Diane Fedele, but was lifted from Please God No, a satirical website devoted to skewering the Republican right.

The originator of Obama Bucks -- we'll call him Joe the Blogger -- is no stranger to the tasteless joke and the offensive image. Steeped in the scorched earth impudence of "South Park" and following in the irreverent footsteps of the Onion, Joe the Blogger's site has drawn scores of outraged comments for posts about dead Boy Scouts, Heath Ledger, genital odor and the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, which uses the N-word.

If Obama Bucks was going to draw much fire, Joe the Blogger always assumed it would be directed at him. To have the very Republicans he mocks misunderstand the satire and go up in flames for his work leaves him bemused.

"It’s horrible and funny at the same time" Joe the Blogger said. "I feel bad for the poor lady who did this, but how stupid do you have to be not to see the racial aspects?"

Fedele came under fire for the mailer and for her subsequent claim that she didn't notice the image's racist nature. Even as she apologized and her fellow club members disavowed the mailer, the story -- and reactions to it -- shot around the world.

Though Fedele's caption ("Obama talks about all those presidents that got their names on bills. If elected, what bill would he be on ????? Food Stamps, what else!") associated Obama with food stamps, Joe the Blogger said he merely Googled around and found an image of play money on which to display as many racist stereotypes that would fit.

"It was so over-the-top and obviously racial and offensive, and that was the point of it," Joe the Blogger said.

It was a little dense of the Republican women's club president to pick this image and send it around. While I think the Kool-Aid is appropriate for Obama supporters, the other images clearly push past the accepted bounds of decency in this politically correct age.