Obama and The New Yorker

I don't want to add to the silly debate over the (now infamous) New Yorker cover except to say it's an interesting case of what people know, or the fear of what people know.

Some don't like it, some do. Many wonder whether those outside New York, the unsophisticated masses, will get it. E&P has a good column touching both sides. So does the WPost. There are tons of stuff out there, from bloggers to other, and I see no need for a comprehensive list of chattering about magazine covers.

What do I think? Will Joe Sixpack glance at the cover as he's heading for the biker magazines and think, "Oh yeah, knew the guy was a Muslim"?

Nope, of course not. Even having this discussion elevates that kind of thinking higher than it deserves. It's satire. Let's move on.

And yes, it was stoopid of the Obama camp to respond as well.

It's satire. Let's move on.

New Yorker Article

There is an interesting article in The New Yorker available online about political knowledge (or lack thereof) and why it is perhaps not a bad idea that many people do not vote. There's little need for me to repeat the article, which is really a book review, except to paraphrase an old Mark Twain line about half the people don't read a newspaper and half the people don't vote and how he hopes it is the same half.

If you have any interest in what people know, voting, and the intersection of the two, take the time to read the article and even (gasp!) the book it discusses. When I get a chance to read the book I'll post my thoughts here. At the moment I'm finishing another (The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing our Culture). When done, I'll touch on that one first. Some fascinating stuff.