Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Post colonialsm: Post colonialism is a result of the damage done by colonalism. When European nations began expanding and colonizing other nations, they often saw the natives to the land as inferior. Europeans would exploit the land for goods, and often exploit the people as well. The natives were not treated fairly and were looked down upon. Therefore, the Europeans tried to assimilate other cultures by disallowing certain practices. From a European point of view, the natives to the land were bad, evil and unintelligent while Europeans and their culture was good, smart, and correct. This is the damage that has been done by colonialism and is part of our everyday life.
In this cartoon, two policemen are shown, one just having shot a monkey to death. The caption reads "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill". The cartoon is referring to an incident in Connecticut where a woman was attacked by a chimpanzee. However, the stimulus bill is considered as one of President Barack Obama's legislative victories. The policeman here implies that the stimulus bill was written by someone as unintelligent as a chimpanzee. Because the bill was by Barack Obama, America's first African-American president, the policeman also compares Obama to a chimpanzee. This is an example of post colonialism because an African-American is portrayed as unintelligent and inferior. A chimpanzee is often described as barbaric and primitive which, when referring to an African-American, is another example of post colonialism.

Though this is a political cartoon, there is not much to be laughing at.

2 comments:

  1. I had never realized how bad the political cartoon was until you explained it. It's a shame that we still have these racial views in society. I enjoyed reading your post! :)

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  2. Your post was extremely interesting to read. It clearly explains how postcolonialism is still a part of our world today. The thought of Barack Obama being compared to a chipanzee is preposterous and discriminative against African-American people. The cartoon may appear to be innocent but really it is cruel and unjust. It's upsetting that African-Americans are still considered inferior in our world. This ridiculous cartoon is used in a way not only to portray that African-Americans are inferior, but that Barack Obama himself is as well.

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