Bigotry requires a certain level of cognitive dissonance among its practitioners. There needs to be a series of blind spots in place if someone is going to believe wholly in racial stereotypes that are very easily disproved. So it isn’t surprising when an act of bigotry is illogical. Take, for example, the National Review’s cover featuring SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

The right’s crazy train left the station shortly after the nomination was announced. They’ve latched on to Sotomayor’s comments that she would “hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life”. The quote was taken out of context and meant to serve as an inspirational message for other Latinas seeking high powered positions. But the right has taken it as an invitation to play pin the stereotype on the minority.

Which brings us to the National Review cover that packs in so many misinformed, below the belt hits that it almost takes your breath away. The most blatant head scratcher is the fact that Sotomayor is portrayed as Asian even as the bold headline below accurately attributes her heritage. There’s the overall implication that the right considers minorities interchangeable. But Neil Sinhababu takes a look at the other clues in this representation:

The Buddha-like pose and Asian features are tied to lofty pretensions of sagelike wisdom. And what sort of person is it who’s pretending to be some kind of sage? A Hispanic woman! As if.

The in-joke in this cover is for people who have already internalized a stereotype of Hispanic women as hotheaded and not that bright. Put one of them in the Buddha suit, and if you’ve absorbed the right racist stereotypes, the incongruity is hilarious.

I’d also offer the interpretation that Asians– particularly Asian women– carry a stereotype of quiet submission. The right’s arguments against Sotomayor have had an undercurrent of “she doesn’t know her place”. Combine these elements and you get what they see her as: a hotheaded, unintelligent woman who should know her place.

Update: I left this out of the original post because I thought it went without saying but there is also the problem that the cover also works in the Asian stereotypes of slanted eyes and buck teeth and placed them on a Buddha like image, which would normally not bear those features.