Creator of Obama Joker Image Unmasked

... and Is "Socialist" the New N-Word?



Firas Alkhateeb, LA Times/The Ticket

By Tony Vega

The LA Times reported that Firas Alkhateeb, a 20-year old Chicago, Illinois University student created the now (in) famous Joker image of Barack Obama. Alkhateeb, bored during a winter recess began tinkering with the popular Photoshop software and Jokerized an image of the president's face. Alkhateeb posted the image on Flickr, a photo-sharing site.

Ironically, the White House utilizes Flickr as a hosting site for its official images, which are available for public use. Alkhateeb, used the October 23, 2006 cover of Times magazine, which featured then Senator Barack Obama, as the template for his Joker image.

An unknown visitor to Flickr modified the image by eliminating the Time magazine graphics and added the caption, "Socialism." Copies of the new version were plastered around L.A., becoming a springboard for liberal pundits to jump all over the opposition.

The LA Weekly, which depicted George Bush as Dracula on its cover in 2004, denounced the Obama-Joker image. The incensed LA Weekly writer even added, "The only thing missing is a noose." The writer further blasted Conservatives and the FOX news network.

Many on the left including those caught up in the racial divide, unsuspectingly furthered by President Obama's rhetoric, are fanning the flames. Flames stirred by race-arsonists, hyperbolic pundits and the Pelosi team.

Some are claiming that the term "Socialism" if applied to Barack Obama is now a code word for the “N-word.” Normal discourse is now degenerating into a race war. How did our capacity to reason become so easily hijacked? What happened to the hope of unity?

It was expected (falsely?) that unity might be attained if not further sustained by the nation's first black president. It is ironic if not sad that the chasm of the racial divide is deepened mainly by the Obama supporters, if not the president himself.

These allegations of racism, being hurled around quicker than a drunken fist, are not honest attempts at exposing bigotry. Instead, it is an ugly attempt to win an argument by scaring your opponent into silence. The most demonizing label outside of a pedophile is a racist. If a person wishing to maintain a public presence is successfully maligned, his or her voice will be effectively silenced.

In a MSNBC segment called the C-Note, host Carlos Watson offered, "whether or not 'socialist' is becoming the new N-word for frankly... for some angry upset birthers and others."



During a recent FOX episode, Sean Hannity and Frank Luntz hosted a town hall styled gathering. An attendee mirrored that MSNBC sentiment and stated, "words like 'un-American,' 'socialism,' that you use, Sean, I think it's really code word for it's the new N-word."



The dangerous result of such dramatic recklessness is the boy-who-cried-wolf syndrome and when actual racism rears its ugly head, we may all be blind to it...except the victim of course.

The double standard also extends to how we treat the person(s) leveling false accusations of racism. Where is the same level of consternation when the race card is illegitimately thrown around by the left and even the president? Folks, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

Firas Alkhateeb claims he was making no political statement with his artwork. Alkhateeb, born in the United States says his Palestinian family closely follows Middle Eastern politics. He opined that Barack Obama is doing a better job than Bush and admitted fear of having a perceived anti-Obama stance in Chicago.

Mr. Alkhateeb did not vote and stated Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich would be his choice.

It should be an interesting analysis by MSNBC and the boy-who-cried-wolf crowd regarding the racial and political component of the Obama-Joker image since the creator of it has been unmasked. If we are going to have a conversation about race, or anything for that matter, let it be an honest one.