I have sent the following letter to the editors of the New Yorker.
There Are No Words
Reprehensible, irresponsible, venomous, hateful, destructive, idiotic, unpublishable...I have no words in my vocabulary that even approach my opinion of the disgusting and heartbreaking image of the Obamas on the cover of the New Yorker this week.
My wife and I love your magazine. Your editorial judgment has, in the past, been exemplary. But you hurt me so deeply with this issue, I cannot be sure we will continue to subscribe.
Our world has been slowly clawing towards tolerance and decency. Your cover sets us back decades with its visual reinforcement of hateful imagery. Yes, I know the intent was satire. That failed. Images speak louder and clearer than intentions. That artwork has done far more to deepen the dark thoughts behind the actions of the intolerant than its intended satire could ever do to lessen them.
Furthermore, your article reinforcing the term "flip-flop" and welding it more solidly to the term "politician" dooms us to ever more mistrust of leaders by our electorate, and to ever more inflexible leadership caused by fears of media entrapment in a "flip-flop gotcha."
Our leaders need to be able to earn trust and be flexible in order to be effective. Reinforcing negative associations with the term "politician" and repeating the pejorative "flip-flop" phrase regress us on both fronts.
If this letter is published, I am sad to say that I may not know it. Our subscription hangs by a thread at this moment.
A visual retraction, in the form of a cover image that reverses the hateful imagery of this one, is the minimum response I would recommend.
Regards,
Kyle B