I cannot believe that you featured this disgusting racist excuse for a musician on the front of your publication. The Alibi has been going downhill for a long time, and the fact that you even gave this man attention and did not even address his hateful comments until the last paragraphs of his “review” reveals just how far this “newspaper” has fallen. If I do not see a full apology for this lack of sensitivity to your readers, this will be the last issue I will ever pick up or read.—Connie Jones via emailManaging editor Samantha Anne Carrillo responds: Alibi is proud to stand for equality, justice and truth. Our intent with last week’s cover was to satirize the present state of the right-wing extremist political agenda and Tea Party movement as embodied by American rock musician Ted Nugent. Based on reader feedback, we failed to achieve that effect, and we were genuinely appalled to find that our satire missed its mark and was instead interpreted as promotion of a man whose politics run counter to everything we believe in. In political art and satire, there is an established tradition of referencing the past to illuminate problems of the present. But using a symbol as emotionally charged as the Confederate battle flag is a dangerous proposition; its association with the history of American slavery and protests of desegregation during the Civil Rights movement makes its satirical use highly problematic. The article itself, “Stars, Bars and Guitars: Putting the Nuge in New Mexico," lambastes Nugent, an American musician who the author believes lacks both talent and respectability. Our use of a symbol that has a highly charged history and evokes a powerful emotional response detracted from that journalistic endeavor. I apologize to readers who were misled by our ineffective use of satire.
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