no.

jdfu!

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I can form my own opinion about a photograph. Doesn't the media have anything better to do than invite or promote judgments about a photograph? Couldn't they "report" for a change? Certainly there are several topics worthy of reporting. I read articles all day long on websites that include facts and information - not one has mentioned this photograph.

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It's not racist, it's just stupid. Did he just sink a game-winning three with this chick on his arm or something?

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and we are supposed to give a damn about whether some magazine critics see King Kong lurking behind the image of basketball player, much the way some folks the Virgin Mary in their toast or trees?!

Get a clue! Get a life! Get out of here!!!

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And a subsection of that .0001% enjoy subscribing to poprags.

Who cares? They're making money, they're building gazebo's, they're catering to their audience.

I don't subscribe to vogue, nor do I watch the Enquirer channel breathlessly. It looks exciting, and exciting sells to a certain demographic. Hope their (publisher/actor/actresses/support staff) kids are being fed by these endeavors.

/off

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Look, I'm the first to note when there is some racist attack - but this? I don't see it. I don't get it.

I wonder how anyone with two working synapses could look at that photo and think it was racist! What kind of person would see that?

As if we don't have enough trouble already...

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Only a racist would pose such a question.

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you kidding me?

If you looked at that picture and saw king kong, then YOU might be racist, but its not like they had him in chains or something. Did Lebron and Giselle not do that pose? Was he photoshopped to look so mean and nasty?

And you know what? If they wanted to do a king kong picture and Lebron was ok with it, so the fuck what? His persona is this huge guy who will tear you to pieces on the court, and that's how we sometimes like our athletes portrayed.

It doesn't make the photo racist unless you racistly equate black people with apes and make that connection yourself just by looking at a picture of a black man. Its not like he was in a furry suit.

When I saw the headline and the picture beside each other, I honestly could not find anything that I saw as possibly racist about it, until I watched the video.

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Yet another non-story story from the major networks. Yes ignore what else is going on in the world NBC. Over 4000 American soldiers in Iraq and who knows how many civilians have been killed there. KILLING PEOPLE, NOW THAT IS OFFENSIVE not some Vogue cover that someone saw as racist.

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Does the picture depict Lebron as King Kong? Yes, that is exactly the point of the pose! However, he is depicted as King Kong because he is a big, aggressive male (as all great pro athletes must be, regardless of their race) and his nickname is King James, not because the photographer made a general statement that all black men are a lower species.

It is unfortunate that black men were called chimps or apes, and still are in many circles, as a form of putdown, but we should rejoice in the fact that these days such a depiction can be made and have it be a compliment and not a putdown: mighty Lebron as mighty Kong! Some folks who have been called chimps as a form of putdown will have trouble understanding this, perhaps with good reason.

BTW, if you haven't seen the South Park episode which deals with racism and changing attitudes, I highly recommend it.

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Well, now you all know what's on the cover of Vogue. It doesn't matter if it's racist anymore.

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Again the American MSM is creating news stories out of nothing and ignoring criminal acts by it's politicians.
I wonder if this would have even come up if the picture was of 1 caucasian and say maybe 1 mexican, latino, asian, etc..... The friggin new story is racist in itself asking a race question because a famous african-american is on the cover.
And don't get me started about Dan Fieschner of MSNBC asking one of the stupidest questions I have ever heard. Is it more racist to not notice race than it is to notice and comment on race. NOT noticing race is the definition of non-racism. And this guy gets a big salary with medical benefits for being this STUPID!

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That's a first. Challenging - yes. Controversial, even. But infamous? You've got to be kidding me.

And, beyond that, it's just a silly argument made by someone who sees racism everywhere. I didn't even see the King Kong reference from just looking at the picture.

I agree with most of the previous comments - this is a stupid "controversy" about work commissioned by a huge magazine, done by one of the top photographers in the world, with a leading sports figure. I somehow doubt the whole thing was set up to make a subtle racist jab.

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What everyone seems to be skirting here is the obviously SEXUAL relationship the Vogue cover suggests between BLACK HYPERAGGRESSIVE Lebron and WHITE PASSIVE Giselle. It is ahistorical to think the cover does not tap into one of the biggest taboos in American history: BLACK MAN RAVAGING WHITE WOMANHOOD. The fact that Giselle is obviously gleeful in the photo taps into the sexual fantasies of many a white woman: being mauled by a strong, virile, goodlooking black man. These mental images are as old as America itself. Black athletes provide fodder for the fantasies of many whites of blacks as primal and beastly and singlemindedly interested in immediate gratification of visceral urges. White Americans, who are often sexually repressed, find such fantasies irresistible -- hence the Vogue cover and the Robert Maplethorpe photos and Birth of a Nation and the OJ Simpson trial and on and on.

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It's ridiculous to believe this racist image on the April cover of Vogue magazine just came out of nowhere. The last few months the Clintons, the right wing scream machine and major media have been doing everything possible to destroy Barack Obama's campaign for president using the most racist words and images imaginable. Is it just a coincidence this racist cover appears as Barack Obama becomes the apparent winner of the Democratic nomination campaign for president? The cover says we should fear the coming of the wild black man. The flap over Rev. Wright's words say the same. And Obama is smeared with his own pastor's words even though every word is the truth. It simply doesn't matter. The only thing being sold is the fear of the black man. When are we going to stop all this foolishness and really grow up?

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I don't see it as racist. I can see it being construed as such. Can we move on now?

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If Brian Urlacher (big; white; middle linebacker for the Bears) was posing with a football with Naomi Campbell on his arm, would that be a racist image? If not, why is this Vogue cover "racist"? If so, is any bi-racial pairing that suggests a bit of sexual playfulness "racist"? If the answer to that question is "yes," I truly worry about our country.

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The VOGUE cover is racist to those who are so predisposed! To varying degrees we are each 'preprogramed' and can have knee jerk reactions based on our predilections.
To me- the cover shows that we have made progress in recognizing we are all cut from the same cloth.
Sadly, when I saw it the thought occurred to me that those so disposed would look at it as evidence we are headed to 'miscegenation'. One looks at Lebron and sees KK only if one is so acclimated. (KK= King Kong or Klu KLUX)
Good for Vogue. Syd

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Please see www.discussrace.com

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This pic was done by the famous photographer Annie Liebowitz, and a well known magazine, of course. if you get upset with this, then you need a visit to your therapist. We are inheriting giant problems in this country, and all you have to think about is some magazine cover? Sorry, but ,GET A LIFE, certainly applies to everyone making a cow about this. Or maybe some blogger with Vogue created this, to sell more magazine?

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Family....We are really on the verge of our true and serious and committed race talks. We are so concerned and so ready. The nonsensicle sometimes leads before the logical. The point is we are lining up for groundbreaking and challenging conversation. You know it's going to be painful, but we can get through it. Everbody won't be down, but so many will be. Get your tissues ready. We are getting ready to be in love with each other (OK, that was dramatic).

Peace

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No one knows everything. Thererfore the only difference between a wise person and a fool is that the wise person KNOWS what he or she doesn't know. The fool thinks they know.

IF ONE DOESN'T KNOW TRUE AMERICAN HISTORY - ONE CAN NOT KNOW IF THIS IMAGE IS RACIST!!!!! (and really should defer).

If we know American (and Vogue Magazine) history, there is no controversy. The FACT that this cover is patently racist is a prima- fascia, NO-BRAINER!

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See nothing wrong... duh. That's white supremacy at work. If you don't see it, you don't know history and you are grossly under-educated.

I thought, well, MSNBC's "discussion" is going to be useless, and it was (funny the white male got first and last words and largest percentage of talk time to say one thing) but I was surprised to see such an uneducated "conversation" on the Alternets... either the RWA trolls came out or progressives didn't go to the universities they claim they went to.

OTOH, it's still all about rich fuckers, enit?

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stealing away a white woman,You very well might be a racist! It wasn`t my first thought that`s for sure.

I was shocked when I heard that impression / description when listening to the video of the morning show.

The cover photo on this Vogue Magazine of LeBron James holding Gisele Bundchen was a beautiful contrast of handsome masculinity combined with feminine delicacy. A photo of two people in superb physical condition. I haven`t read the article inside, but I believe the topic underneath the photo was about 'Shaping up'.

Annie Liebovitz captured an energy of two people in prime condition, which is related to the article.

If this was Ebony magazine with a white man and black model or even if it was the same two depicted on Vogue, would it have still have had the same sort of reaction? I wonder. It may have and it would be interesting ( but just as disappointing to me ) to have seen.

It`s hard enough for some people ( it seems ) to get beyond racism, if that was the real issue here anyway, without the media playing it up as that.

Even IF it was their intent to evoke a racist reaction, if you felt that emotion when viewing the cover or it came to mind for you when it was discussed on the show, then yes you very might well be a racist. If Le Bron was clutching an Asian woman, would it have then been thought of as him playing a Godzilla figure ! I mean what`s next people!

It`s good to be alert and vigilant about what media does and how they may insult anyone just to sell whatever they are selling. Yet IF we continue to be so thin skinned about imaginary implications and it creates controversy, guess what, that`s what they`ll make blatantly obvious, it`s going to sell and that`s money in their pockets.

Just yet another dumb white guys thought on this matter was not what I expected to hear in the video footage either.

Perhaps I`m simply an enlightened white guy and has evolved so far past thinking of anything racist when I see a mixed race photo, that I just don`t ' get it ' anymore.

Paraphrasing John Lennon, 'I hope someday(the rest of) you`ll join us, so the world can live as one'.

- Ken

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much like the rest of the US... continues to spiral down intellectually, for one.

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@ DeBear and Klife

What I see is a photo of a powerful, strong, virile man who kicked ass in a competition with a beautiful girl that was drawn to him because of it.

People who see racism everywhere are either over-sensitive or racists themselves and often both.

When skin color becomes the primary reason behind most issues for a person, their racist spots are showing. Whether that person is black or white.

Knowing history doesn't make one an expert on racism. It just makes one a historian/obsessed with racism.

Treating people differently because of the color of their skin is racist. How is this cover photo treating Lebron James or black Americans in general differently because of the color of their skin?

I have ran across sites on the internet where people tried to say every white person in America is racist because we benefit from white privilege. Every white person is racist because of the current power structure in this country benefits white people. These people are flat out crazy and in fact racist themselves.

Half the jobs that are filled are because of who a person knew that got them that job. Its friends getting friends jobs. It may be corrupt but it is not racist. To not hire a person because of their skin color is racist.


I think some people obsess about race so much that it is everywhere in their mind, it is the primary reason behind just about everything for them. The irony that people who see white privilege and supremecy behind everything makes them in fact racist against white people is completely lost on them.

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Enough already! We've had more than 4,000 people die in a foreign war (that was declared over days after it started). The economy's in the crapper. We have a black man and a woman seriously engaged in their party's nomination for president for the first time in this country's history. And this nonsense is getting any time at all? It's a photograph designed to sell magazines!

GUESS WHAT? IT WORKED! CAN WE MOVE ON NOW?

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Are we really going to waste our time and energy deciding what some magazine cover means? Why can't a cover simply be a cover? Why must there always be someone who sees something hateful in everything out there? It's all ridiculous.

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Who is the idiot that came up with this? What has happened to good old fun without EVERYTHING having to harbor some unpleasant meaning. Damn the United States of Arrogance is screwed up. Ken

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Some people just WANT TO BE OFFENDED and seek out any excuse to dig up bad blood. Hyper-racial sensitivity doesn't do a THING to help get rid of racism, it only brings more attention to the history of racism.

And WTF is the King Kong comparison all about? Is King Kong the only screaming face that has ever existed, and there's nothing else to compare Lebron's picture to? Or maybe it's the people immediately comparing a black man to a giant ape, who think they're being "good," who are actually just demonstrating their own involuntary racism, which comes out because of their constant need to soak themselves in racist thoughts. Uh, I mean anti-racist thoughts.

People who are so sensitive that they constantly look for racism fill find it. And they aren't much better than actual racists.

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How many times, Friend?

How many times will we be SHOCKED by our own ignorance?

Did you know many plantation owners were SHOCKED that their kidnap, and rape victims wanted to leave the plantation at emancipation?

Did you know many southerners were SCHOCKED when Blacks wanted equality in the 1960's?

Did you know our beloved country was SHCOKED at the Rodney King police mauling?

Did you know America was shocked at Abu Ghraib?

America was recently SHOCKED with the oratory of Reverend Wright, even though the Reverend did nothing more than the Prophets Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Amos, in the Bible.

Why are so many in my native country shocked, so often, by that which should be OBVIOUS?

Because the arrogance in the nation produces fools that think we know - when we DON'T have a clue ........ when we are finally faced with reality, we are SHOCKED!

There is an easire way - listen, learn, study.

Scholars, please answer these easy questions?

How many black men has Vogue had on their pristine covers, in 150 years of publishing?

Why have they had NO black men?

Coincidence, you say?

Until we have the manhood to face the truth, (good, band and ugly) we will be shcoked again, and again.

My hope is that you better understand, so that we can deal with the issues at hand, like adults.

KB

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It doesn't matter if some white people don't see this photo as a savage black male using a pretty white woman as a trophy for his sexual exploitation. That is how some white people DO see it and that makes it wrong. It solidifies negative stereotypes in some people's mind. Although those people do not merit the respect of black people it behooves society to not further propagate these negative and sometimes subliminal images. Let's face it. The average American is a C student. We need to form public policies around the bulk of the bell curve, not the exceptions.

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I am once again saddened by the number of responses on this board that seem to be perpetuating ignorance on the issue of race in America.

The answer to the questioned posed is not nearly as clear cut as people are making it out to be. Surely there may have been no intent to create a photo with racist overtones that implied the Black man having his way with the docile White woman; however, that does not change the fact that the theme is present in this photo. The argument that Vogue had the opportunity to choose a different photo is a valid critique that warrants more discussion. However, there is a flip side to the fact that Vogue is finally putting a Black man on the cover of their magazine. This is what prevents the issue from being as cut and dry as some commentators are making it out to be.

The overwhelming responses declaring that this in no way could be racists is troublesome as it shows people who are unwilling to consider the chance racism permeates our society to this day. It is not going to be the same outward, old fashioned racism where you can publicly denounce another race and still be socially acceptable. It is a long process to overcome a history of racism and sexism in this country. And simply prefacing any comment by saying that you are not a racist doesn't clear you completely. (if you want a different example, think of the clause, "No offense, but..." It is used when we know almost certainly that what follows is going to be slightly offensive, so just stating you do not intend offense doesnt really remove it.)

We have been primed by institutions in our lives (church, family, media, etc) to react to certain situations. It would be silly to say each of us doesn't have some racist feelings here and there, but we usually choose not to act on them because we know better.

So all I ask is that people actually consider the cover could be problematic and discuss it. Don't use faulty arguments like "you saw something racist, so you are a racist," or "the economy is tanking and the war is still going on" because it doesn't address the question at hand very well. Simply because you notice racial overtones in the photo doesnt make you racist, it just means you are aware of the past and the power media images have on our perceptions of the world.

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The operating word here is subconscious. So many people won't consciously notice the subtext. Don't you think international magazines know something about subliminal imagery? The imagery, once pointed out, is unmistakable, like the naughty pictures hidden in the ice cubes that become obvious once they're pointed out. And I was struck by how the Black woman noticed the offensive imagery right away, thinking, "Oh lord, here we go again..." while the White man just kept talking over her trying to drown out what she said. Such entitlement, talking all over her that way. I'm glad she was able to have her say despite his entitled prattle.

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