Two New Cartoons Drive Heated Political Response

Two news stories about political cartoons seem close enough in nature I thought I'd gather them together here. I'm always a little confused by reading of cartoonst that seeks to infuse them with the direct expression of a political idea by people no making the cartoon.

* an extremely blunt criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu that compares his policy-making to the actions taken by 9/11 terrorists is garnering the usual that-was-uncalled-for reaction. The problem with most pushback against cartoons is that they assume some sort of external standard for political rhetoric that simply doesn't exist. In pushing this assertion, critics runk the risk of blowing past whatever a cartoon might be saying of value about an issue or person. The problem with the original cartoons against which pushback might happen is that they very frequently don't have much to say, of value or otherwise, and in some cases really are just sort of positioning ideas in proximity to one another to make a criticism that would fail to bear up to even a minimum of cross-examination. I think we have a little bit of both operating here. The Times article does point out a pair of important contexts in this particular case: the sometimes hostile relationship between Netanyahu-era Isarel and the Obama-era US, and the fact that there are conspiracy theorists that will take this kind of thing as affirmation and encouragement.

* I'm fond of what brought a UKIP-related cartoon to the attention of politicians and those interested in politics in and around Dover: a UKIP supporter re-posting the cartoon as social media because he thought the criticisms were funny. This has led to a discussion not just of the issues but of the British tradition of self-deprecation. There is an element in political cartooning right now where the stew of opinions can be so severe it kind of resists commentary, even of the self-driven variety. To laugh at something is to normalize it. Throwing the thought that "maybe this isn't funny" doesn't garner you a lot of cool points, but it's definitely a part of negotiating the current political landscape in a variety of countries.
 
posted 10:25 pm PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives