MSNBCPR: “Some perceive us as a biased, almost a propaganda-driven, news organization….but I’m proud to announce we’re bringing on the Obama bro, the failed fiction writer, a major player in the Iran Deal who bragged to the media about how they all sold his lies in order to get it done…Ben Rhodes!!!!!!!!!”
This is a cartoon by artist Clay Jones, who runs a blog for showcasing his cartoons called Tales from the Trumpster Fire. This piece specifically looks to target the racial targeting involved in the collection of censuses and Jared Kushner’s overseeing of the secret coronavirus task force. There aren’t a ton of symbols in here, but we can point both to the Nazi armband on the census taker and the SS insignia on his hat as a representation for the artist’s belief that these practices are racist and totalitarian and comparable to certain nazi practices. We also have the dress shirt and tie on the father, which is meant to symbolize that he is a hard working man. This is meant to emphasize the injustice of the family being ignored and looked over by the man looking to take census information from only white people. Things are labeled for clarity, such as the word Jared on Jared Kushner’s body. His head is already exaggeratedly long with the long outward ears and big lips for which he famously has. I believe the labeling of Kushner is to let people know who it is despite the fact they’ve already done a caricature of him, only because he isn’t yet a household name, so some folks might not recognize him on appearance alone. Here, there isn’t so much an analogy, as much as there is a heavy exaggeration of what is actually happening. Jared Kushner isn’t involved in actually going door to door and ignoring the censuses of black citizens, but that is what him and his organization are doing in a metaphorical sense. They’re not literally hollering out for only white voters to complete the census, it’s just that they’re ignoring and not putting the same sort of emphasis on collecting black votes. The cartoonist is saying that this is obviously a bad thing and thinks it resembles nazi-like fascist. Even though I agree, I don’t really find this piece that persuasive, as it is both very basic, and the view it argues against isn’t one I can see many people agreeing with in the first place. There aren’t a ton of people who believe censuses of white people are more important, because most average people would see that as a cartoonishly evil view to hold. However, I can imagine that some diehard Trump supporters who view immigrants as evil outsiders, and think white is the national race of America, would take issue with the comic. I definitely don’t think those people would be persuaded, though.
by artist Tornoe for The Inquirer
Symbols: Face mask, Phillies Jersey, Foam Finger. The face mask represents coronavirus prevention measures, the Phillies jersey and foam finger represent sports fandom.
Exaggeration: No noticeable exaggeration, other than there only being one fan in the empty stadium. Either the event wouldn’t allow an audience, or there would be more people at this event. Also it is exaggerated here that the man would have no problem going out in public to watch the sport, but he’s not willing to accept a hot dog from a worker who potentially has the virus.
Labeling: Very limited use of labeling here, besides the Hot Dog vessel, which would be labeled in real life, as well as the jersey.
Analogy: Not really any analogy here, it is more poking fun of the current situation by presenting us an absurd hypothetical scenario.
Irony: I think the irony here is that the fan is so devoted that he made his way out to the sporting event during quarantine and he’s so loyal to his team, but he’s still cautious about the guy serving hot dogs. I think it could also be joking about how unsanitary the hot dogs are known for being.
This cartoon is about the closing off of sporting events to audiences and the fans who are heartbroken by it. I don’t think the cartoonist feels any particular way about it, except for that it’s ridiculous how devoted sports fans are for their teams. I see this as a cartoon that’s more trying to find humor in a political situation than try to take down a specific figure or issue.
by artist Loujie for Cagle Cartoons
Symbols: Steak, Statue of Liberty, Coronavirus Cells, Fat guy, Torch, Tablet from the Statue.
The steak is a symbol of wealth, as well as the “fat cat” representing greed and wealth. The coronavirus cells represent the pandemic, and calamity affecting the people outside the window. The statue of liberty in this case representing America, as well as her torch representing freedom and democracy, and the tablet representing the Fourth of July and the declaration of independence, which the fat cat is eating his steak on. Red wine on the table also represents luxury.
Exaggerations: The fat guy is exaggerated in his rotundity and the poor people outside are exaggerated in their panic pounding at the window. The statue of liberty is also scaled down to be able to fit into the room, which is the opposite of exaggeration.
Labeling: The Rich, The Poor.
Analogy: America bailing out the rich and doing little for the poor is like our values bending over to serve the rich. They’re luxuriating while the average person is suffering.
Irony: The rich are comfortable and profiting more than others, while the poor are left to get sick and suffer below. It’s ironic because America wasn’t founded on those values, but Lady Liberty is bowing to the whims of the elite.
The artist is clearly saying it’s wrong that this is happening as the average Americans build the backbone of the country. He thinks income inequality is out of control and the wealthy are controlling America to benefit them. People who disagree with them would be rich people or the poor people who worship the rich and want to become part of that class. Not a very convincing piece, more just solidifies what people already know about the upper class.
by artist Steve Benson for Creator’s Syndicate
Symbols: Death, Grave Stone, Covid Face Masks
Exaggerations: Not everyone is going to die so the right side is a bit of an exaggeration, but the death representing America reopening represents the massive casualties that can occur from reopening early amidst the second wave of covid-19.
Labeling: “First wave: America Shuts Down” “Second Wave: America Re-Opens
Analogy: Opening up businesses early is like inviting death into the country.
Irony: By trying to save our economy, we’d be killing our people, and thus doing devastating irreversible damage to the economy.
The artist is concerned about America Reopening early and believes we will suffer many casualties because of this. Opponents of this message would be conspiracy theorists, conservatives, and business owners afraid of losing profits or going out of business. I find it fairly convincing as political cartoons go, but I don’t think it’s really gonna sway anyone.
by artist Tom Stiglich for MediaNews Group
Symbols: Foxes, Feathers, Joe Biden Campaign Pin, Chickens, Chicken Coop.
Exaggerations: The New York Times, DMC, and Joe Biden have been anthropomorphized into foxes. Joe Biden is shown to be murdering chickens, which is not what he actually has done.
Labeling: New York Times, Democratic National Committee, Biden.
Analogy: The New York Times and DMC are in cahoots with Joe Biden aka fellow foxes, so them saying they’ll investigate him fairly, is like foxes saying they’ll investigate a chicken murder perpetrated by a fellow fox fairly.
Irony: They all committed the crime and are covering it up together.
This cartoonist is untrustworthy of Joe Biden and the people who claim to be investigating his claims of wrongdoing. People who disagree with this would be staunch liberals, or people who like Joe Biden. For me it is fairly persuasive, because even though I am a liberal, I am wary of trusting Joe Biden, or the New York Times, or the Democratic National Committee. I think it’s a cartoon that reaches both sides of the aisle because Joe Biden is a terrible candidate, and even us liberals who are voting for him are really not happy with him as an option. I do appreciate that during a time of corona-virus, this is one of the few up to date cartoons that chooses to tackle another topic, and I applaud it’s originality while still being timely.
The language we use to discuss social issues is multi-layered, imbued with history and contexts beyond the present. The headline pictured above, from Look’s November 1967 cover, has intrigued me for some time just in its wording.
Picking out the use of each word is a lesson for an English class. But I briefly want to focus specifically on two words used in this headline: Naziandindifference.
Top[Original]: How US Indifference Aided Nazi Murder of Six Million Jews Look, 14 November 1967
2nd, [Word ‘Nazi’ Removed]: How US Indifference Aided Murder of Six Million Jews
A Nazi Obsession After WWII, people wanted greatly to understand how the Holocaust could have been allowed to occur, how Hitler rose to power. If you look at more recent iterations of this analysis, you can find all sorts of wild conspiracy theories and media, that could easily be interpreted as glorification of Hitler and the Reich — tools of recruitment and propaganda.
These newer films, attempt to frown upon the atrocities of the Holocaust, while seemingly praise the techniques and ‘ingenuity’ of the Nazis. Looking for new means to market programming, media outlets run films like ‘Hitler & the Nazis’ which comes across as some hip new band promotion; and is quite a disturbing trend in popularizing/normalizing abhorrent behavior and mindset.
Nixing the Nazi Comparison of current political figures with Hitler occurs with unbound swiftness. To call out, oppose, squelch, and defeat totalitarianism and hate is necessary.
But in the context of the headline above, what purpose does the word Nazi serve? Aside from justly aligning the murders of six million Jews, its inclusion here allows for a subtle absolution of guilt from the indifference that the article means to highlight. In simply removing the word Nazi from the headline, the complicity of American people in the Holocaust comes across more strongly.
The narrative that ‘we didn’t know’ is much more palatable for the conscience — to deny, to ignore, to go about our day-to-day.
A more shocking revelation should be that, as a nation, we continue to be complicit in the murder of millions.
25 years from now, what will the headlines read? The original headline could certainly become a template for a horrific new MadLib — fill in the blank with a different country, ethnic group, minority.
How US Indifference Aided Murder of Millions of Afghani, Iraqi, Yemeni, Syrians, Libyans, Migrants…
