Mr. Obama and the Joker
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Conspiracy theorists will find their beliefs validated everywhere they look, regardless of what they're actually seeing. Philip Kennicott's analysis of the "Jokerized" Obama poster campaign was a stunning example of this fact ["Obama as the Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face," Style, Aug. 6].
Make no mistake, the poster campaign is crude, overly complicated and, ultimately, ineffective. But that doesn't mean that it contains an ounce of the racial tension that Mr. Kennicott claims to find.
Read any of the "Batman" comic books or watch the movies, and you will be hard-pressed to find a shred of racism in the Joker's character. Despite attempts by various media figures to do so, no rational person should associate these posters with racial intolerance or hatred.
CHAD REESE
Arlington
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The Joker represents a character who is astute and witty but has an ulterior motive. The Obama Joker poster represents the man who campaigned as an intelligent, witty and bipartisan pragmatist; however, as the first months of the administration have illustrated, he has revealed his purpose of increased government spending, higher taxation and universal health care, which, to some, are socialist tendencies. Philip Kennicott's analysis of the poster was amiss in suggesting that it played on people's fears of a black, er, biracial man.
MICHAEL A. FERRAGAMO
Boston
