Satire Piece Not Satire For Some

Since the writer talks about "bitch-slapping" John Edwards for being a "Pretty Boy, if you get my jist," I don't know why you would say that the article wasn't offensive to gay people. I guess gay slurs have become so accepted and subtle as to not even generate attention.

Time to call the Rev. Al Sharpton!

The Independent has done it again? I didn't know they did it the first time. I guess that's because no one actually reads that cat box liner. They were probably trying to spark a little interest in their failure of a "magazine".

I read the piece and thought it appropriate considering the racist campaign OJ and Omarosa Obama are running. He is a part-time blackman that knows how to exploit his own community. It is about time a newspaper ran a satirical piece identifiying the flaw in OJ's rhetoric. Unfortunately, the publisher wimped out and sold out. Shame on you Jerry.

The award-winning writer's choice of going "tasteless" in "Low Tidings" is a choice that many readers obviously appreciate given the wide circulation of the newspaper and its many appreciative readers. Murphy's writing is consistently top notch and humorous but he cannot score 100 every time. People can get offended at anything. Mostly if they choose to. The first rule of SATIRE is to break the rules. Sometimes in tastelessness as I give examples below. Here is the deal: As soon as the self-righteous people who are SOOOO offended by the Obama parody (parody - social commentary in high relief -- exaggeration) can provide this writer with evidence that they have applied the very same standards to Redd Fox, Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor, Damon Wayans, Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock -- all of whom have potentially offended others not of their race -- I'll accept their criticism. Until their proof is forthcoming, they should allow the same tolerance for people with whom they don't agree. Many of the comedians I mention in fact have given performances far more offensive than Rick Murphy's "LOW TIDINGS" column which, in its title, makes it clear what is to follow. Where do YOU draw the line? Do YOU want to impose on satirists where they should? Do you believe in freedom of speech? At what point would you impose on others where to STOP 1. being funny, 2. being tasteless, 3. being mindful of others "feelings"? Are blacks' or gays' "feelings" more deserving of velvet glove treatment than the feelings of other groups who were at one time or another persecuted -- AND RIDICULED? Why do these two groups deserve more protection under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment than the other groups within the body of the American public? I'll tell you. Under the Equal Protection Clause every group is equally protected, and equally not protected; one no more than another! What Constitutional power nulls the Right to Free Speech that does not incite violence in the criticism of black, gay, or female politicians, er, I mean politicians of the Democratic persuasion? Why should these politicians be free of ridicule and the Idiot in the White House, er, I mean The Chimp, ridiculed daily DURING TIME OF WAR? What gives ANY politician immunity from being the target of satire because of his alliances, history, belief systems, or religion AND RACE -- AND SEX -- WHEN THAT POLITICIAN USES HIS RACE AND HER SEX TO GET ELECTED? Jerry Della Femina. You have about as much reason to apologize for a brilliant, astute and regular satire column that is written by the award-winning satirist Murphy as I because of the phases of the moon. BECAUSE some people with thin skins get offended -- mostly because it EXPOSES one of their gods with the circuitous mechanism of humor -- one need not apologize to people who claim tolerance as their birthright and who are in fact intolerant of anyone who does not conform to their world view. Andrew G. Benjamin agbenjamin@gmail.com

Respectfully, I believe the author of this piece MAY have written this with the following intentions: 1) The piece intended to be racist, which of course, I do not believe was the intention, therefore, I will not address it. 2) The piece was intended to be satire. There are several problems in accepting this piece as satire. As a Caucasian male, the writer is limited to his own cultural perspective as a white male. Frankly, he cannot claim to have the insight or authority to comment on the issues of the African-American living in the States. Rick Murphy simply does not have the appropriate frame of reference to make this type of commentary. In addition, the piece is simply poorly written, stringing stereotypes together in an attempt to be profound and deep. Andrew Benjamin referred to some truly brilliant masters of satire and to compare this piece to the work of those individuals and claim that readers aren't "deep" enough to get the joke is simply ridiculous. I am going to be be blunt. This is simply a poorly composed piece and an obvious cheap shot for the writer to GET ATTENTION. You can claim Murphy is a satirist, and that the readers have thin skins, and that Murphy has the right to write whatever he wants (which, of course, he does) however, it's just a poorly written piece. As an aside, I have also won awards for my writing. But that does not mean that every piece I write is award-winning. The difference is, I have the common sense to write from my frame of reference. Mr. Murphy, if you believe this piece is truly satire, I suggest that you relocate to Newark, New Jersey and republish this piece. This is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to garner attention in an area of the country in which the minority group you are commenting on is greatly underrepresented.

satire has nothing to do with a person's frame of reference, but everything to do with the quality and effectiveness of the ideas the individual is putting to paper. this piece was simply poorly-written and painfully unfunny. it is a cheap, easy example, but Candide is a work of satire that is bitingly hilarious. no one can deny that it is funny. on the other hand, you have this article that deals only in cliche racial humor that has stopped being comical even to the most hard-core of honorary white separatists littered across the east end of long island.

This is THE most offensive article I have ever seen in ANY newspaper! Calling it "satire" doesn't cut it. Shame, shame on the author!!!

I saw this article for the first time today (as of Jan 28th 2008, there are still copies available in storefront doorways, where it is given away). I read it because I like to keep an eye on what knee-jerk conservative/racist publishing buffoons are up to. Anyone who reads it should receive some sort of payment, because each issue is painful, and often nauseating to get through. This edition is no exception. It's not news that the Independent is an even more poorly written, and more poorly edited East-End Long Island version of the NY Post. But it IS a great fire-starter, and goes right up as a matter of fact. The fire in the wood stove tonight started that way. Della Femina (apparently a NY Advertising guy from way back) made a claim that he didn't see the article?.... Hmmmm, well, there's perhaps an indictment of him as a publisher right there, whether he's lying about it or not. Maybe go back to advertising, or just stick to the eatery biz, Jerry? And, racist or not, the writer should be fired for just plain NOT BEING FUNNY. I've read his column many times, and am still waiting for the "funny" to show up. I would like to add that this article, the publication in which it appeared, and those responsible for it seeing the light of day are NOT representative of the general public's view out East here. At least I hope not. I'm glad this publication is getting skewered in a public forum. Thanks. {PS - Jerry's also the guy who permitted a web cam to be mounted at his mansion that was pointed directly at a not-so-well-known local surf spot. This enraged the locals so much that someone stole the camera itself - not a good start to 2008.)

There are many issues raised and most of them are straw-man ploys. In other words, phakes! The issue is NOT whether Rick Murphy's writing is "award-winning" in each case, or even funny, or the best parody ever written. Or if it's racist (of course not! Murphy allows similar treatment to other candidates and is mostly liberal in his political sentiments as anyone who has read the paper knows.) The issue is the corrosive, obsessive-repulsive, demeaning, illogical and anti-democratic attitude that we call Politically Correct. The issue is not if better satirist exist or that my examples may not "fit" your standards for good satire. Again, the issue is that some people who MAKE THE CHOICE to become offended -- and there are ALWAYS people who get offended no matter what -- would MUZZLE the free speech of others with whom they don't agree with, not because of what the satirist said, but because of what the former FEELS about what the satirist said. In other words, I repeat the observation of the greatest satirist of all time, Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain who must have had the people I speak of in mind: "They make much of "feeling" and mistake it for thinking." Andrew G. Benjamin agbenjamin@gmail.com

Andrew G. Benjamin is getting most upset about the freedom of speech and political correctness, but as i understand it, the paper pulled the article by its own volition. Clearly, the newspaper felt it was offensive or vulnerable to legal action. Neither the article nor its author have been outlawed. No-one significant has called for a change in the law. The newspaper presumably felt that the article would affect sales badly or its reputation (such that it is) and reacted accordingly. The newspaper muzzled itself in response to negative repercussions of the article. If a much greater number of people loved the article and wanted it back, the Independent would surely do so. Democracy in action.

What do you want to bet that Andrew Benjamin is one of those Republicans who say that criticizing Bush is an atrocity and shoudn't be allowed since those criticizing are him are "proterrorist"?

Mr. Benjamin says that those of us who objected to the article should just shut up so only his views can be heard. That's his idea of Free Speech.

There is no defending this piece of trash. Any of you that try are stuck in some alternate racist reality with Murphy. Let it go, it is wrong and leave it at that. Anyone supporting or advertising in this rag should be outraged. You have gotten national attention and it ain't good.

As I hope that everyone knows The Independent wrote 2 of these Low Tidings Columns back to back, January 16 about Hillary Clinton, and January 23 about Barack Obama. The Hillary Clinton article was loaded with Homophobic, Sexist and Racist slurs, and the article on Mr. Obama was over the top racism at it's worst. Clearly this rag wants attention, and to be there is such a thing as bad publicity. Freedom of the press and Freedom of Speech is one thing, BUT there is responsibility that goes along with both. Frankly we do not even this paper as there are plenty more that cover the East End, year round.

This is the kind of article an African-American could write, or do as a stand-up comedy routine. And it would be funny! It is funny, in the abstract. But we have not progressed enough on racial issues, in this country, that a white person or group can say this stuff. It's just not funny when a white person says it. There ya go, the SOURCE matters.

just solidifies what most of us already knew, the Eastcoast is full of, to put it nicely, not very smart common people. No hard feelings though idiots, we don't really pay much attention to you guys here in the REAL world anyway. Go back to your huts and cabins, and fantasies...OUR MOVEMENT will continue.....Bitter Gerorge W republicans mad cause their right-wing lunacy is over forever. The YOUTH movement has taken over...you might want to think about moving countries, you are no longer welcomed wanted or needed here

The one and ONLY good (If I can call such a disgusting piece of prose that) thing to come of this is that it takes the lid off of any underlying racist slurs on Senator Obama out into the open - I say reveal yourselves! lets finally know who is still stuck in the "good ol' boys" thinking - lets get into the 21st century accept that America is now a multi- racial, multi cultural society, but it is The UNITED States of America and we have no hope at all on the planet if we dont get past this old evil history that lurks beneath the surface and does nobody any good - Time to open the minds!!!

Racist magazine, with a racist editor, lucky for us your garbage never reaches our eyes, and I see why. Like I said, it does not bother us NORMAL people to read this garbage, but it does reconfirm what we already knew, America is ready for the MOVEMENT, right-wing luncay is finally about to disappear...and RACIST East coasters are going to have to go into hiding(you did pull the article out of FEAR of the MASSES, not fear of your small reader base) you might have been able to get away with this racism before the internet craze (20 years ago), but America (young America especially) is way passed these trivial, race-based attacks...you only make OUR MOVEMENT STRONGER, Thank You!

WELL...IF THIS ABYSMAL CHUNK OF DETRITUS DOESN'T SEND REAL ESTATE PLUMMETTING IN THE HAMPTONS, THE CRETINS WHO SUPPORT SUCH DESERVE BEING SURROUNDED BY THEIR KIND.

We can all agree that even to a racist mind, this piece doesn't qualify as a good piece of comedy writing. Good comedy/satire that gets genuine belly-laughs is incredibly hard to execute. And, as one commenter put it here, "cliche racial humor that has stopped being comical" doesn't work anymore. (Well, MAYBE if you're in the KKK). To be funny these days, comedy regarding ethnicity has to be ratcheted up an intellectual level or two, and The Independant really doesn't have writers that can cut the mustard in that department. Stick to hard reporting. Oh wait, you guys don't even do THAT very well. Sadly, this piece seems to be is written from a FEAR standpoint. (By the way, Nineteen-Fifty-Five called, and they want their backwards attitude back). Perhaps the writer, and the paper for which he works, (and commenters such as Andrew Benjamin) are truly worried that either a man of color (oh no), or a woman (yikes) might wind up in the White House? Well, you know what? Either way, it'll be better than the dumb white stooge that is getting ready to vacate the premises he never earned, to head back to the Crawford Ranch.

< Really? FULL of? Skip English takes offense to that statement. Quite absolute, irrational, and illogical. I mean, all I have to do is find ONE very smart UNcommon person around here to prove that the East Coast is not actually FULL of "not very smart common people". Kurt Vonnegut (R.I.P.), for instance.

Um. Wow. I just randomly picked up the "Apology" issue - complete with front page "APOLOGY", ditto from Jerry Della Femina, and four full pages of outraged letters- on the bus, and backtracked my way to this discussion a few hours later. I must say that I've never read this Murphy cat's column before, but the one that's being discussed did make me feel a bit as though he had vomited, Michael Richards- style, crazy, racist unfunniness all over me, and the entire East End, for that matter. I honestly can't believe that this guy's still employed by this newspaper - any newspaper, really. People are heated about this, and I take a modicum of comfort from that. To those who seem to think that said outrage stems merely from ersatz political correctness, that it is somehow unjustified and phony, I say to you: Try substituting your own cultural heritage, ethnicity, religion, race, whatever, and imagine a similar piece tearing you up for being, well, yourself, using only the shell of your inherited identity to do so. Use your imagination. Normally, you will feel something, such as some sort of indignation, anger or sadness. If you don't, I would suggest that you have an empathetic deficiency, self-esteem issues, and/or perhaps sociopathic tendencies. The other thing I'd like to say is, yeah, I hear racist crap out here all the time. I hear acquaintances and co-workers say mean, dumb things about black people, and latinos, and jews. Thing is, they usually stop the stuff about jews when they find out I'm jewish. Black people don't get to hear the racist stuff that's said about them. I don't know which is worse, really. Sullivan's column allowed everyone to see those impulses on public display. It was gross, but maybe some air will do all those musty, crusty attitudes some good. - Neeko p.s.- Freedom of speech is a total non-issue here, since the government has nothing to do with any of this. Yeesh, read the Constitution, will you? p.p.s- It's not the east end of Long Island, rich people, or what have you. This is an American, and, to some extent, a global problem

By the way, Skip's comments are money: "And, racist or not, the writer should be fired for just plain NOT BEING FUNNY" lol!

So, Is this a Satirical Newspaper? Because if it is not, then that writer needs to be fired, plain and simple. That would NEVER be published in the Seattle Times. Maybe in Mad Magazine, but no matter where this is published, this crosses a line in a million ways. MAYBE if it was followed up with equally disgusting articles on Hillary, Mccain, and Romney I could see it, but to just put it out about Obama is just racist, RACIST. This person MUST be fired, and if the editor does not do that, then it means he is supporting a flat out BIGOT. I am 65/35 Dutch/African, and I would NEVER vote sharpton or jesse jackson to be president, but Barak Transcends the issue of race. And Please visit www.barackobama.com/tv and listen for yourself to his MANY unedited 30+ minute speeches to see for yourself if he's "just all rhetoric". Thank you.

I was born and raised in Sag Harbor, most of my family is still scattered amomg the Hamptons. I must say that I had a lovely upbringing. However, after spending much of my time as the only black person in a crowd, I can tell you that this sort of thing is exactly what you overhear every once in awhile, by accident of course, in very ackward Hamptons moments. This satire is not at all surprising to me. I spent 4 years of HS ignoring very similar attempts at humor. I have the good sense to know that East Enders are not all racists, but it's not always about what's on the surface. Everyone reading this post knows who they really don't want to have as neighbors and why. I no longer live there, and would never return for more than a weekend to visit. After college,I discovered the correlation between the prevelance of these types of cultural assumptions and attitudes, and your chances of getting the job you earn, the mortgage you deserve, and being respected by police. So I moved. I take comfort in knowing that I now work and live in a community where an "error" in publishing such as this, would probably never occur. You don't have to have a cross burning on your lawn to know that you're not really welcome. I feel it a little each time I visit. My experience is not at all unique, just ask some of your black "year-round" neighbors, if you have any.

So many sad things about this column, starting with the obvious one: that humanity still has far to go. Sad in another way is the writer's failure to achieve his goal of being daringly irreverent. Instead it's just clumsy and, the ultimate sin, unfunny. Kind of like the latter-day Imus.

Satire you say, with tongue in cheek you would like us to believe. This is a clear distinction of being a RACIST. Being a Black single mother, might I add, this was not an out of wed lock child, some Black women HUSBANDS have passed away, I must pause, and realize that stupidity runs in every walk of life, even the print media. I won't waste my time defending my dark skin, or my beautiful full lips. If this is offensive to you, then I can not help you over come your problems. But I can suggest, perhaps on going therapy is in order for you, coupled with electric shock treatment Mr. Murphy. When it is all said and done, in the end it is surely you who will come out as the loser. Spreading racist thoughts under the guise of satire is certainly mental illness. With so many pertinent issues on going in the USA, it is a pity you fail to focus on solutions to make this world a better place. In essence you are a spineless, weak, afraid white male, who still thinks you hero is JIM CROWE.

IF I were a Republican on the East End -- and I'm not a Republican -- I'd feel totally ashamed to have della Femina and Rick Murphy ATTEMPTING to represent Republican political views in their sad excuse for a newspaper. (It's really a vanity project, not a newspaper, let's get real.) But POINT #1: Neither Murphy NOR Della Femina is a "local." They're both from either up the Island or the City or somewhere else. This kind of open mindless loud-mouth racism never USED TO be the prevailing culture of even CONSERVATIVE locals. It's too IDIOTIC. And, believe me, not all "locals" are conservative. Far from it. POINT #2: If this so-called "Andrew G. Benjamin" isn't either Rick Murphy himself, Rick Murphy's wife, or some very sad near relative, I'm a monkeys uncle. Betcha $50 bucks!

This column is obviously insanely racist. But it's also incoherent and moronic. IF I were a Republican on the East End -- and I'm not a Republican -- I'd feel totally ashamed to have della Femina and Rick Murphy ATTEMPTING to represent Republican political views in their sad excuse for a newspaper. (It's really a vanity project, not a newspaper, let's get real.) But POINT #1: Neither Murphy NOR Della Femina is a "local." They're both from either up the Island or the City or somewhere else. This kind of open mindless loud-mouth racism never USED TO be the prevailing culture of even CONSERVATIVE locals. It's too IDIOTIC. (And, believe me, not all "locals" are conservative. Far from it.) POINT #2: If this so-called "Andrew G. Benjamin" isn't either Rick Murphy himself, Rick Murphy's wife, or some very sad near relative, I'm a monkeys uncle. Betcha $50 bucks!

As a black reader, I felt more embarrassed for this writer than offended. Sort of akin to watching a white person trying to act or sound black. You know their intentions may good but it's still a hard thing to watch'. No offense..