When the new New Yorker came out today I greeted all this controversy swirling around it with a shrug.
It's really not such a big deal. (Of course, one person I spoke to today said, "I'm canceling my New Yorker subscription.") It's pretty obviously a joke. It wouldn't be that over-the-top if it wasn't anything but a joke. All the rest is commentary. (And, besides, The New Yorker is free to do whatever it likes.)
However, I will say one thing in defense of those who were outraged: It wasn't a particularly funny joke. (And that's sort of key to any joke.) What was the point? I suppose you could say that the point was, "Look how ridiculous it is to think that the Obama family is some fist-bumping-terrorist-worshipping-Angela-Davis-emulating-bunch-of-terrorists."
Well, I knew that was ridiculous before I saw The New Yorker...
