New York Times Apologizes For Racist Cartoon On India's Space Program

[Potoooooooo]

http://io9.com/new-york-times-apologizes-for-racist-cartoon-on-indias-1643314583

India is basking in the success of sending a probe to Mars, so it comes as little surprise that the country's media was offended by a political cartoon published in the New York Times that commemorated this technical achievement by portraying Indians as stereotypical, cattle-rearing rubes.

The cartoon — showing a turban-clad Indian, accompanied by a cow, knocking on the door of the "Elite Space Club" — went viral on social media and prompted commentary from the Times of India:

 

[TV and credit cards]

Politically correct disparagement is for OWDs only.

 

[ksen]

It is kind of offensive to show the other countries as two old, fat, white guys.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Isn't the correct word "speciesist"? It seems to me that the cartoon's moral is that it's bad to send cows into space.

 

[Valjean]

How did this get by the editor?

 

[EricK]

This demonstrates either the sacred cow of racism, or the racism of a sacred cow.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

How come he doesn't have a feathered headdress and a bow and arrow? .~

 

[dismal]

It is kind of offensive to show the other countries as two old, fat, white guys.

If I had to guess this was the actual intent of the cartoon.

Much of the coverage I heard on this was about how India had done such a great job getting to Mars on the cheap because they did not have the resources of all the other space exploring countries. I imagine the cartoonist was trying to depict something along these lines. I.e., something complementary.

Example:

And India reached Mars with significantly less money.

With a price tag of $74 million, the Mars Orbiter Mission cost a mere fraction of the $671 million NASA spent on its MAVEN spacecraft, which arrived to Mars earlier this week. Some space observers noted that India's Mars orbiter cost less than the $100 million budget for the space thriller film "Gravity."

"It shows how optimal is the design, that way we're able to cut cost and we're not compromising quality," said S. Satish, a space expert based in Bangalore

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/23/world/asia/mars-india-orbiter/index.html