The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo relishes controversy, often seeming to invite offense with its provocative cover art.
The newspaper’s latest issue takes aim at a new target: the victims of the catastrophic Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas on Friday, killing at least 35 people, displacing thousands and causing billions of dollars in damage.
The art on the Charlie Hebdo cover shows swastika flags and hands raised in what looks like Nazi salutes poking out above floodwaters. The text reads: “God exists! He drowned all the neo-Nazis of Texas.” The illustration is an apparent reference to Texans’ support of Donald Trump, who won 52.6 percent of the state’s vote in the presidential election.
But the satirical newspaper was not the only media outlet to take aim at Texas victims over political views.
Politico cartoonist Matt Wuerker came under fire for a cartoon that mocked Texans as hypocritical. The illustration showed a Texan in a shirt sporting the Confederate flag being lifted from the roof of a flooded house. On the roof is a sign reading “secede.” The man celebrates the rescue as “Angels! Sent by God!” The punchline: “Er, actually Coast Guard . . . sent by the government.”
Our colleagues at The Washington Post’s The Fix called the illustration tone-deaf, writing that “people are still being saved, and it’s making fun of those same people.”
And on Tuesday, a University of Tampa professor was fired after he tweeted: “I don’t believe in instant Karma but this kinda feels like it for Texas. Hopefully this will help them realize the GOP doesn’t care about them.”
School officials condemned the comments as “irresponsible.”
(c) 2017, The Washington Post · Amanda Erickson
{Matzav.com}
