Posted on 11/13/2004 6:26:49 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
In a recent comic strip in the Daily Illini, a student says he wants to tell a "Jew joke'' but decides not to because he doesn't want "Isiah down at the bank to beat me with his nose.''
That cartoon in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's student newspaper has caused such an uproar that the paper has apologized and suspended the cartoonist, Matt Vroom, along with the editor who approved the strip.
In the apology, editor in chief Evan McLaughlin, of Palatine, said even though Vroom "did not intend for the comic to degrade Jewish people or Judaism, we understand that the content was offensive to those concerned.''
In an interview, McLaughlin said Vroom's attempt at poking fun at stereotypes didn't work.
"We realized this doesn't come off as satire,'' said McLaughlin, 21. "It comes off as hate speech.''
McLaughlin said the punishment might have been harsher --a one-month suspension for Vroom, two weeks for the editor -- if the strip hadn't been placed in the paper accidentally. In fact, the strip was rejected for publication but was left in a folder with other cartoons. A student filling in for several editors out of town at a journalism conference saw it and ran it.
Still, some who saw the strip are pushing for the paper to fire Vroom, who has written the "i hate pam'' comic since last August.
"Universities have a special responsibility to be opening minds and to be setting examples,'' said Gail Steinberg, a 1969 U. of I. graduate and the former executive producer of the Ricki Lake talk show. "Four weeks' suspension seems like pittance.''
School has no power over paper
U. of I. spokesman Jeff Unger agreed the newspaper "should have gone further in distancing itself from the cartoon, which recalls . . . blatant anti-Semitism,'' but said the university has no power over the paper. The Daily Illini receives no funds from the school. Although students and faculty make up its governing board, the student editors run the show.
"We don't micromanage,'' said Susan Cohen, an associate business professor who is president of the Illini Media Co. board. "They are learning to be journalists. You have to let them learn.''
Cohen said she thought the paper's quick response to the situation was appropriate. She was "dismayed,'' however, by several student letters to the editor that defended the strip.
One student, Krzysztof Ciupka, wrote that Vroom "makes fun of everyone and everything . . . I don't see how having a joke playing off of stereotypes is grounds for this sort of attack.''
Vroom's strip has poked fun at sorority women, Democrats and Republicans, lesbians, even Jesus. It often depicts students having sex and contains foul language. But McLaughlin said the latest strip was the only one that was "definitely past the line.''
What an idget.
What a BUNCH of idgets....
Another Ted Rall in the making.
::::::shudder::::::
There's your idjets!
Ah, yes, an understatement and a rationale, all in one sentence....Obviously, Vroom's brain was running on empty. (No more Vroom, Vroom...)
...
In the apology, editor in chief Evan McLaughlin, of Palatine, said even though Vroom "did not intend for the comic to degrade Jewish people...
Say wha? How can there be no intent to degrade Jewish people? Actually, he should have just made fun of Christians. It is perfectly acceptable, and in most lib. newspapers it is open season on bashing Christians these days.
...'' but said the university has no power over the paper."
Isn't it about time the university exercised its power over the paper?
"Vroom "did not intend for the comic to degrade Jewish people or Judaism"
Yeah, right.
And it 'accidently' got published in the school newspaper.
What a bunch of B.S.!!!
Ah yes. Another fine example of a good socialist media whore in training.
He's learning his lessons well and this little stunt will likely earn him a plum job at the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine or Newsweak.
Oh I don't know. I'm sure the "chique, Leftist, loved-those-'60's, everybody-I-know-voted-for-Kerry" crowd is concerned too.
As for Flyover Country--who cares whether those hicks are offended or not?
"Vroom's strip has poked fun at sorority women, Democrats and Republicans, lesbians, even Jesus."
Sounds like this guy had the PC crowd just waiting for the chance to attack.
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=22&x_article=454
I'd be less likely to call those complaining hypocrites if they had raised as large an outcry against his attack on Christians and their beliefs.
That's not much of a joke, or much of a slur. Here's the bright side: If they are that strict with a little Jewish joke, the campus must be a relativew paradise compared to most, because pro-Pali groups must be unable to spew their hateful propaganda.
My hunch is that the school has been dumbed down as well a been PC'd up so that the dope thought that his freedom of expression trumped any other value such as good taste or considerations of another's feelings.
Champaign County was an island of blue in otherwise red downstate Illinois.
My hunch is that the school has been dumbed down as well a been PC'd up so that the dope thought that his freedom of expression trumped any other value such as good taste or considerations of another's feelings.I believe there was an article in the Tribune a few years ago that demonstrated that all of the schools in the Chicago-land area and UIUC had high levels of grade inflation (or "dumbing down"). The only exception was the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
Of course this is the same PC crowd that constantly rails against Illinois' racist mascot, Chief Illiniwek.
http://www.illinimedia.com/di/comics/index.php?id=1416
(Language & blasphemy warning)
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