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JUNE 30, 2006
Our newest Cartoon Week in Review Slideshow
is up now on MSNBC.com. Click here to see it!
JUNE 29, 2006
Cartoons as a Measure of Freedom
By Daryl Cagle
We all know that cartoonists can get into
big trouble for drawing the Prophet Muhammad, but cartoonists
around the world regularly get in big trouble for drawing all
kinds of things. One cartoonist in Iran is in prison for drawing
a cockroach.
 Mana
Neyestani drew a child talking to a cockroach; in the cartoon,
a boy says the word "cockroach" in different ways,
and the cockroach replies, "What?" in the Azeri language
of Northern Iran. (That's the cartoon to the right, click here to see the whole newspaper page
containing the cartoon.) Mana has a lot of Azeri friends and
colleagues, a minority group that constitutes about 25 percent
of Iran's population and which is often the butt of local ethnic
jokes.
It would seem that the Azeris have thin
skins; when they saw Mana's cartoon, they rioted. Thousands of
Azeris filled the streets to protest the cartoon; they set fire
to a newspaper office then pelted government buildings and police
with stones, injuring several policemen. Dozens of rioters were
arrested. Mana and his editor were abruptly fired from their
jobs at "Iran Friday," the weekend edition of one of
Iran's largest newspapers, which ran a front-page apology for
three days following the riots.
Iranian officials blamed America and Israel
for the riots fueled by the cartoon, but threw Mana and his editor
into Tehran's notorious Evin Prison where they face trial on
charges of "insulting the Azeri minority." Mana's cockroach
cartoon was published on May 12; the newspaper was closed down
on May 23 and is awaiting a court decision on whether it may
resume operations.
Tehran's chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi,
is pressing the case against Mana and his editor. Mortazavi is
best known for closing about 80 pro-reform newspapers in Iran
and is rumored to be in line to become Iran's next Justice Minister.
He is also wanted in Canada in connection with the murder of
a Canadian photo-journalist. Mortazavi ordered photographer Zahra
Kazemi's arrest and imprisonment on charges of "photographing
a prison;" she died after being beaten and tortured. The
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister also accuses Mortazavi of falsifying
documents to cover up his involvement in the case.
The Canadian Press quotes Prime Minister
Steven Harper, "We're appealing to the international community
to use all manner of law available to detain this individual
(Mortazavi), and have him face justice. I don't know whether
we'll see a willingness or an ability to do that, but we want
to make it absolutely clear that the government of Canada has
not dropped this matter." According the same Canadian Press
report, Canada condemned Mortazavi's appearance at a United Nations
human rights conference this week and narrowly missed an opportunity
to extradite him when he skipped a scheduled stop in Germany
on his trip back to Iran.
My friend, Nik Kowsar, alerted me to Mana's story. Nik
used to be Iran's top cartoonist; he escaped to Canada after
receiving death threats. Back in Iran, Nik was recently tried
and sentenced in absentia to four months in prison for insulting
government officials and clerics. Nik tells me that Mana's brother,
Touka, who was another of Iran's top cartoonists, has given up
his profession out of fear.
 I
run a popular political cartoon web site on MSNBC.com (at www.cagle.com)
where I feature Nik's cartoons, and I used to run Touka's work.
The government of Iran recently blocked access to my site and
I've been getting e-mails from Iranian readers, wondering where
the site went and how to find it again.
Cartoons are more powerful than words.
A cartoon on the editorial page screams louder than the words
that surround it. The response to the Danish Muhammad cartoons
shocked the West, but came as little surprise to Third World
cartoonists who are used to seeing nutty reactions to their cartoons.
Cartooning is a dangerous profession in much of the world where
the accepted response to an insult is vengeance. The fact that
a murderer is prosecuting a cartoonist should be seen as a measure
of Iran's dysfunctional society.
Most people in the West came away from
the Danish Muhammad cartoon imbroglio with the idea that we need
to be more tolerant of other religious views, and that drawings
of Muhammad should be forbidden out of respect for the sensitivities
of Muslims. Nothing could be more wrong as we see crowds riot
in response to a drawing of a cockroach. The lesson to be learned
from the Muhammad cartoons, from Mana, from Nik and from many
other cartoonists who suffer from unreasonable Third World reactions
to their cartoons, is that cartoonists are on the front lines
in exposing the repression, intolerance and underlying chaos
in totalitarian societies.
Read a Canadian Press report on the prosecutor,
Saeed Mortazavi in the Halifax
Chronicle Herald.
Read an IFEX press release
from when the "Iran" newspaper was closed.
Read a Cartoonists Rights
Network Press Release about Mana's
impending trial in Islamic Revolutionary Court.
Freedom of Speech cartoon (above) by Thomas Boldt. Cartoon below by Nerilicon.
JUNE 27, 2006
The Middle East Media Research
Institute has put up a nice article
with lots of cartoons from Algerian cartoonist Ali Dilem, who
I met at the AAEC convention. Yaakov Kirschen introduced me to MEMRI which
does great work showing us in the West what really goes on in
Arab media. See
my Quicktime movie interview with Ali Dilem, who continues
his struggle to stay out of jail as insulted government officials
prosecute him for his cartoons.
JUNE 22, 2006
Our newest cartoon Week in Review slideshow
is up! Come take a look!
YOUR RESPONSES
We asked for it, and we got it - more than
three hundred responses to the Benson
cartoon below. The letters ran 3 to 1 against the cartoon.
Here is a representative selection from our burning email bag.
I was trained in unconventional warfare
by the US Army Special Forces in the early eighties. Winning
a war against insurgents is done by using their own tactics against
them. It is nasty business but the only way to win. I think the
Marines did the right thing. If they killed my buddy, I would
call in an air strike on the entire neighborhood. They would
know if one American was killed, lots of them would die. They
would leave an area or warn us rather than bear our wrath. If
you can't rule through mutual respect, rule through fear until
the insurgents can be hunted down. It is necessary to protect
and reward those who help you WITHOUT FAIL!!! Anti-insurgency
is carrot and stick. After what they did to those two privates
they captured (literally chopped up alive), how can you call
what the Marines did in Haditha, wrong?
Mark Wheeler
Santa Barbara, Ca
Hasn't it occurred to anyone
the shell casings in the videos on TV were from AK-47's, a weapon
NO us military force uses?
Jim Johnson
This one's a toughie - on the one hand,
we've (the U.S.) taken so much crap over trivial bullshit such
as the "slightly rough" treatment of the "detainees"
at Guantanamo (sp) when the Arabs see no problem with kidnapping,
torturing, and eventually beheading American soldiers.
On the other hand, we are supposed to be the bastion of the free
and Democratic World - forcing us to bite the bullet, as it were,
in maintaining a civil decorum and abiding by the Geneva Convention
in war time treatment of captives.
All of this unequal treatment (beheadings vs. drawn-out court
procedings in each and every case) begins to take its toll on
the psyche of American soldiers thrown into situation unlike
any place on Earth - he who has the biggest sword, wins. No wonder
they snap!
On the third hand, once it happened - don't cover the incident
up - that makes it twice as bad.
So, - I guess my bottom line is - the cartoon told it like it
was - this is America - we have the right to say what we feel
in our heart, even if it goes against the jingoistic attitude
of mainstream America.
Later. Dano
I am a Navy, Vietnam veteran, so I guess
I have a little standing when it comes to evaluating war controversies.
The cartoon has a bite to it; most political cartoons do. Cartoonists
just look at the anomalies of the world; they don't create them.
I'm sorry the events that made this cartoon possible took place.
I don't blame the cartoonist for them.
That being said, I congratulate the cartoonist for his representation
of the blot on the Marine Corps that Haditha is becoming...and
his courage.
Mike Herbert
I am sure that if he had drawn a cartoon
with a black or Hispanic person that he would have lost his job,
but to pick on the military because something happened in a war
area and in the heat of battle and under what circumstances which
we do not know of at this time shows me that he is only trying
to get glory where there is none for this type of reporting.
I wish him well in the future and that he continues to live in
a country that allows him to show what a complete fool that he
is. Maybe he should go live in another country where he could
work for the local dictator (for as long as he is in power).
Sincerely, Harry Bageant
When I was growing up
I was always told that the "truth always hurts".
Enough said.
Do I support the troops-yes as I've had two relatives over there.
Do I support immature and irresponsible actions-no.
Bob Miller
San Jose, CA
It is truly amazing how "Free
Speech", which our country is founded upon and the militant
right has bastardized, is so effectively demonstrated with one
picture and four words.
Congratulations Steve Benson for ensuring the freedoms of our
society are truly utilized, and are not surpressed by the forces
of the "Republican Taliban" led by George W. Bush,
Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of their cronies.
-John Dempsey
Rochester, New York
I was appalled at the cartoon.
After what has happened to our marines in the last two weeks,
I say that the cartoonist had gone to far. I say what they (
whomever they might be) since our troops really do not know who
the enemy is) do to our troops is only suitable for our troops
to do to them. Who is this cartoonist that he should make such
a bold statement. Has he been in combat, has he experienced the
brutality of war? I doubt it. Put those SOB's on the front line
with pencil,pen and paper and let them then draw their cartoons.
Sue Archer, A proud American who stands behind our troops.
Mr.
Benson has done a great disservice to the Marine Corps in general
and the accused Marines in particular. Not unlike Rep. Murtha,
Jane Fonda and others of their ilk, Mr. Benson has become judge
and jury.
Dick Probert
Tell Benson to keep up the good work!
Paul Mouriski
Count me as one against Steve Benson's
cartoon. Do you think for one second that Alquida or the Muslim
radicals would even hesitate to do much worse to your own family
given the chance? And remember there are only accusations at
this point.
Jerry Tydman
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.
Steve & Suzanne
The cartoon about the Marine's
action at Haditha is repulsive. I was never in combat, but I
have no trouble imagining how difficult it is to stay alive in
situations such as the marines in Irag are facing. Honor requires
you at least wait until the investigation is finished.
Jeff Palmer
Seymour, Tennessee
Send him to the front lines
in Iraq.
MaryAnn Pepe
I think that the cartoon is in very
bad taste. We have a 19 year old son scheduled to leave for Iraq
in Sept. My husband and I were in San Diego,CA for his graduation
from boot camp and to see the dedication of these young men and
the men training them makes you proud to be an American. We do
not know what happened or who was responsible for deaths in Iraq
,but this kind of cartoon is insulting and bad for morale.
Connie Palmer
Midland,MI
About the cartoon depicting a Marine
Corps cover-up, it appears Steve Benson is freely exercising
the same rights those Marines have been defending in mortal combat.
And when did it become politically correct to convict someone
before the trial? This cartoonist is drawing without lead in
his pencil or ink in his pen.
William Neel
I would have preferred that the cartoon
focus on the individuals responsible instead of implicating the
marines as a whole. That aside, the huge reaction doesn't surprise
me. It's pretty clear that
there was a massacre, and there was a coverup. The truth hurts.
- Shaun
Do you understand THEY CUT HEADS OFF OUR
TROOPS?!! YOU DUMB ASSES. Our TROOPS should be able to defend
against attackers when under fire. Wait and see what the outcome
is.And then print that. I bet that will happen. Watch the video
of people getting their heads cut off, you tell me what kind
of people these are. Have you seen them?
I would
be interested in knowing how the "marines" covered
this up? The men are in solitary in shackles, etc. It is very
easy to spew comments; we are having an epidemic of that now.
Thanks for piling on. I do know one thing for sure. If for any
reason in the future you think you need the military, don't call.
Save yourself.
David Hidy
I think the Benson cartoon was what
we need to wake some of these people up
James Farley
While I am supportive of free speech,
so I will not say this shouldn't have been published, I will
say I find this cartoon distasteful and inappropriate. Haditha
was and is a terrible mess, and if those Marines are found guilty,
it will be a terrible black spot on US military history. Those
Marines have not been found guilty yet, though, and so this is
jumping the gun. On a lesser note, this cartoon paints the entire
Marine Corps with the brush of a few Marines possible deeds.
Even should they be found guilty, it is by no means the fault
of the entire Marine Corps, but rather a mistake in their training
procedure that allowed these few to get through. Marines have
long served our country honorably, and it is wrong to deface
them for the possible deeds of a few.
Christan Pierce
Well, you asked....I don't like
the cartoon on the Marines.
Betty Wiggins
Get rid of the cartoon and the un-American
person that thought it up!
DC Poulos
The reason this is a great cartoon, for
no other maybe, is because so many reacted to it. Steve deserves
support from everyone. His publisher is lucky to have him.
Michael Edelson
Mr. Benson's cartoon is a disgrace
to our men and women in service. Where is the author's outrage
at what terrorists are doing to innocent victims in the name
of religion. If Mr. Benson did not have the moral integrity to
know better then to smear the good name of all Marines, someone
at his newspaper should have. Shame on all of you
Steven Elliott
The cartoon is very appropriate.
I served in the Corps myself, during WWII, and I assure you that
Marines can become so angry in the kind of situations they face
in Iraq that they will do things like this to vent some of their
rage. On our way back from Hawaii to the US, Marine Air Corps
personnel were used to guard Japanese prisoners, because so many
of them had disappeared over the stern when the ground grunts
guarded them. I was in the Marine Air Corps, and got that assignment,
so I know first hand.
asasan
ANOTHER
BENSON IMBROGLIO
Every so often, Steve Benson of the Arizona Republic draws
a cartoon that travels around the blogosphere and enrages readers.
The June 7th cartoon below, about the Haditha Massacre, has been
making the rounds and has reportedly generated 1,350 letters to Steve's
newspaper. Cartoons generate that kind of mail only when
bloggers and special interest sites ask readers to respond. Some
of the angry blog sites that blasted the cartoon are here, here, here, and here. Some military support groups were also
asked to write in to complain about the cartoon. If you would
like to complain about the cartoon (or compliment it) write
to us. (Thanks to Alan Gardner and his fine Daily Cartoonist site for putting us on to
this.)
JUNE 21, 2006
MORE ON MANA IN IRAN
Nik Kowsar sent me this news release from
the Cartoonists Rights Network of Canada, about jailed Iranian
cartoonist Mana Neyestani:
The Prosecutor's Office in Charge of
Investigating Government Employees' Offenses on June 13th, referred
Tehran daily "Iran's" cartoonist and its editor-in-chief
to the Islamic Revolutionary Court.
Cartoonist Mana Neyestani and his editor-in-chief
Mehrdad Qassemfar will be tried in the Islamic Revolutionary
Court for inciting ethnic unrest. A Neyestani cartoon (see the cartoon here) triggered protests
and violence among the Turkish-speaking population in northwestern
parts of Iran after appearing in a weekly supplement "Iran
Jomeh."
The Islamic Revolutionary Court usually
doesn't deal with cases of this nature, and normally deals with
major crimes such as disrupting the national economy, jeopardizing
national security and large-scale drug and human trafficking.
On June 12th, 2006, the Iranian minister
of Justice announced that the judiciary had asked the court to
punish the accused with the "highest penalty" available.
He said that the criminal action taken by Neyetsani is not related
to the press laws and only the Revolutionary Court is authorized
to try the case.
The hearings are usually not open to
the public and are held behind closed doors. There will not be
a jury. A single judge alone will rule in the case.
Mana Neyastani has been held in custody
from May 23rd in the Evin prison and has been interrogated several
times. The Neystani family has also faced death threats from
the Azeri Minority.
JUNE 16, 2006
THE 2006 JOHN LOCHER AWARD WINNER, WILLIAM
WARREN
 Congratulations
to William Warren from Wake Forest University for winning the
Locher Award as best college editorial cartoonist of the year.
Click
here to see a movie of Dick Locher and William Warren talking
about the award. E-mail
William with your congratulations or your complaints.
The four award-winning cartoons that William
submitted to the contest are below. When William left the stage
at the AAEC convention with his award, AAEC president Clay Bennett said, "Welcome to the tar-pit,
young dinosaur." Despite the failings of our profession,
I expect that William will have a great career.
William sent me this comment:
The 2006 AAEC convention in Denver was
truly an unforgettable experience, especially for a college cartoonist
like me. Not only did I have the opportunity to have my work
critiqued by the best in the business (including Michael Ramirez, Steve Sack, and Matt Davies), but I also was able to just
hang out with and get to know a lot of the professional cartoonists.
I attended workshops in which I learned how a number of cartoonists
make their work, took part in panel discussions about religion
and cartoons, and heard from numerous speakers including Robert
Mankoff. All in all, the convention was an incredible opportunity
to not only grow as a cartoonist but also to have a good time.
JUNE 14, 2006
Listen to a radio interview
with our own Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Check out our newest Cartoon Week in Review slideshow!
JUNE 11, 2006
THE GOLDEN SPIKE
Every year the membership of the Association
of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) votes on the "Golden
Spike" award for the best cartoon that was killed by an
editor which should not have been killed by an editor. This year's
winning spiked cartoon (below) is by Canadian cartoonist, Michael DeAdder of the Halifax Daily News.
Click
here to see a Quicktime movie of Michael talking about his Golden
Spike cartoon.
Here are some of your comments:
Perfect cartoon!
It was exactly how I felt!
Have a Nice Day
Ann Schriever
I LOVE THIS!!! and this is from a
moderate Catholic.
The Tidings killed a letter I wrote to them in response to Bishop
Niederhauer's long diatribe on THE DAVINCI CODE--not realizing
his references were not right.
Keep up the good work.
Willow Hale
I applaud the editor who "killed
Michael DeAdder's cartoon "Cardinals Send a Message to Moderate
Catholics" in the Halifax Daily News as depicted on Politicalcartoons.com
Newsletter on 12 Jun 06.
It is one thing to disagree with another person's/organization's/government's
point of view by witty, well-thought-out drawings and captions.
It is quite another to use vulgar words, obscene gestures, and
lewd depictions of body parts. The editor of any publicly-sold
newspaper has a certain moral, if not a legal, obligation to
insure the publication meets the basic standards of public morality.
Jerald Thompson
Too bad the dire predictions fell short
of the "disaster" that moderate and progressive Catholics
feared would come true when Ratzinger was elected. He's not turning
out so bad after all.
--A Liberal Roman Catholic
Apparently,
you are not familiar with the Hallmark symbology of using the
little finger to give the bird under lesser circumstances. When
one cares enough to send the very best is when the
middle digit bird is appropriate.
The Canadian cartoonist Michael DeAdder is unfamiliar with endowing
Ratzinger with too significant a smoky gesture by the College
of Cardinals.
Unfortunately I can not draw worth carrying an off key tune in
a bucket.
But I like cheese steaks and speak English and am a suburban
Philadelphian.
So these are my final words on the subject whatever it was.
Jack L.
I guess his last name is very appropriate
to this particular cartoon: it bites, but is, unfortunately,
very accurate. The church still cannot see past the walls it
built for itself
Leo Boyle lll
JUNE 10, 2006
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN EDITORIAL CARTOONISTS CONVENTION
 I've
spent the past three days in Denver at the Association of American
Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) convention. We spend a lot of time
sitting behind beers, commiserating about the state of our profession
but we actually enjoy doing that. The AAEC convention is
a yearly family reunion for our tiny profession, where everyone
knows everyone else. Here's a report on some of the goings on.
That's Cuban cartoonist Gustavo "Garrincha"
Rodriguez at the right, showing one of his more controversial
cartoons. Garrincha recently escaped from Cuba through Mexico
and asked for asylum in the USA; he was one of Cuba's top cartoonists,
drawing the Castro party line as is required where every newspaper
is owned by the government and run by Communist party members.
A few of us chipped in to pay for Garrincha's trip and it was
nice to meet him again. We all cringed at his tales of repression
during a seminar he gave for the American cartoonists. Garrincha
isn't drawing cartoons now (it is tough to make a living as a
cartoonist in the USA), he's working for an exhibit display design
company in Miami and hopes to return to cartooning soon, now
that he is free to say what he really thinks about Cuba and Castro.
Click
here to see a Quicktime movie of Garrincha talking about being
a political cartoonist under the thumb of Castro in Cuba.
Algerian cartoonist Ali Dilem was the winner
of the Cartoonists Rights Network's (CRN) Courage in Cartooning
award. Click
here to see a Quicktime movie of Ali Dilem talking about what
life is like for him as Algeria's top political cartoonist, facing
repeated legal assaults from the Algerian president and other
officials who feel insulted by his cartoons. A law was passed,
deemed "Dilem's Law" in response to Ali's cartoons,
making it an offense in Algeria to insult a government official
in a cartoon, and Ali was prosecuted for breaking the law he
inspired. Ali was sentenced to 9 years in prison, but the sentence
was suspended pending appeal, and few believe Ali will actually
go to jail he might, but he is eager to return to Algeria
and doesn't seem to be frightened. Ali is also an avid follower
of our site and I expect that we will be adding an archive of
his cartoons here soon. He's a great guy and it was a pleasure
to have a chance to get to know Ali.
 CRN's
Courage Award was shared with the 11 Danish cartoonists who drew
the 12 infamous cartoons of Muhammad.
That's Ali getting the Courage Award from
CRN Executive Director, Bro Russell. In the lower right of the
photo is Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor for the New Yorker Magazine
and the President of Cartoonbank.com. Although Mankoff seemed
to suffer when Ali got his award (hey, repression of press freedom
in Algeria is unpleasant stuff), Bob gave a great keynote speech
about how he picks cartoons for the New Yorker and what he finds
funny. Mankoff showed cartoons that didn't get into the New Yorker
that were simply laugh-out-loud, roll in the aisles funny. He
clearly knows a funny cartoon when he sees one which brings
to mind the question: why doesn't he pick the funny cartoons
for the New Yorker?
There was a troubling seminar titled, "Are
You Internet Ready?" featuring some newspaper/internet honchos
and their view of where newspapers and cartoonists are going
with new technology taking over and traditional newspapers in
decline. The panel included the editor of the Rocky Mountain
News, the web chief for Media News Group, the online editor for
the Houston Chronicle and a guy in charge of Uclick.com (Universal
Press Syndicate/gocomics.com). What struck me was that these
guys are convinced of the importance of new media, and know that
they have to change and adapt, but they cling tightly to their
old media models. Each internet expert held fast to the old idea
that the web repackages, redistributes and amalgamates content
that is created for traditional media. The Houston editor showed
Nick Anderson's blog, pointing out that there is an archive of
cartoons and readers can make comments. The panelists agreed
that they wouldn't consider hiring a cartoonist to do work for
the web in fact, none of them said they would do more than
making or distributing web versions of the traditional media
content that they were already committed to.
The internet seminar seemed to be a reflection
of the angst we're seeing at newspapers across the country, as
circulation is declining, average readers are becoming elderly,
newspapers are losing young readers to the web and papers are
losing classified advertisers to Craigslist. Newspaper editors
take the view that they need to find new ways, in new media,
to find new readers for what they already do web version
of newspapers, or web versions of newspaper content packaged
into other forms. They don't get that repackaging general content
is old thinking, and local newspapers can't put up general news
sites that will compete for viewers with MSNBC.com and Yahoo
News.
General news only thrives on a few very
popular news sites, like MSNBC.com; and after visiting a big
news site, readers go to the niche sites that give them news
and opinion on only the topics that interest them. The days of
general newspaper content, where there is no knowing what kind
of story will appear on the next page, and editors pick whatever
topic they want to push on the reader those days are gone
with the web. Editors don't get it when they put their resources
into web versions of their newspapers and think readers will
stick with them because of the equity their titles have in print.
They have to be willing to commit to spending their money to
do something new and cartoon content created for the web
is a good place to start.
 There
was a great seminar called, "Start to Finish, How Some of
our More Innovative Cartoonists Create Their Work." In the
photo from left to right is Steve Sack, Matt
Davies, Nick Anderson and moderator Ed
Stein. The cartoonists gave demonstrations of how they create
their editorial cartoons on their Macs. Steve Sack's presentation
was a jaw-dropper. Steve's cartoons look like his oil paintings,
something we've never seen in editorial cartoons before, and
even though I see how he does it, I can't imagine that anyone
else could do it.
I also had a chance to sit and chat with
John
Cole, who drew the now-infamous Freudian Bonds cartoon below.
John insists that it was all innocent. I believe him (kind of
... maybe).
FREUDIAN CARTOON
Sometimes cartoonists hide secret messages
in their cartoons - sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. Once
in a while the cartoonist's subconscious angst bubbles to the
surface. Occasionally cartoonists just like to see what they
can slip by an editor.
A number of our readers wrote to me about
the cartoon below, by John Cole of the Scranton Times-Tribune,
which is rather ... erm ... phallic. What do you think - is this
an accident? A subliminal comment on Barry Bonds? John's subconscious
striking out? Was the editor taking a nap? If you would like
to comment for our blog, e-mail us at cari@cagle.com.
Reader comments are below the cartoon.
John Cole
sent me this comment:
A buddy of mine emailed me the morning
the cartoon appeared with the same, um, interpretation of the
image. I told him to get his mind out of the gutter. Rest assured:
There was no phallic intent to the cartoon. Frequently these
things are drawn on deadline and the cartoon simply is what it
is. My only concern was getting the setup ("acclaim")
in the upper left corner where the eye usually starts and the
payoff ("steroids") in the lower right, where the eye
usually winds up. I need to pay closer attention to these things,
I guess. (Wonder if my health insurance covers psychoanalysis...)
John Cole
E-mail John, see John's cartoons
Definitely Phallic! But the important question is why the plate
is backwards?
David Morris
Accidental? My fanny! I think it was
a very clever way of getting by the editor.
David Hearty
I may be a little dull, but I think to look at this as...ummm...phallic,
is a bit of a stretch. I look at things for their direct meaning.
Bonds is his own worst enemy. His greed will keep him from achieving
what he so badly wants. In other words, most of us could care
less about Bonds. He can go on screwing himself if he wants...oops...maybe
I get it after all...
Dave
PS. I have to get my almost daily fix of Cagle Cartoons...they
help me keep my sanity...keep me informed...Keep up the good
work! Let em have it...!
Oh for Pete's sake. Sometimes,
as Dr Freud remarked, a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes
a pair of eight balls is ..... well, why not make the joke? I
kind of liked it. Don't know if I would have seen the "phallus"
(actually I think it's the testes we're imagining here) without
the prompting, but what the heck. You guys.....
Susan Shafarzek
______________________________________________________________________
Some people see phallic symbols everywhere. I know I do. Shampoo
bottles, hair brushes, balloons etc. It's marketing. I got better
things to do than worry about crap like this. Besides, I like
the underwear ads in the Sunday paper store advertisements. These
babes are hot!
Mike Parker
Editor's note Mike, avoid doing any ink blot tests.
If
John Cole had some hidden meaning in his cartoon then he has
his wires crossed. If my research is correct then those spherical
weights should have been the size of peas and Bonds himself should
have been, shall we say, wrinkled.
Patrick Wimberly
Of course it's phallic! It's not
even slightly subliminal, it's right there on the page where
it's supposed to be.
What better imagery to have in a cartoon about Barry Bonds on
steroids?
Nancy
Oh, man! This one was great!
His figure looks kinda tiny though. Just
another side effect of taking too much of those kinds of drugs,
I'm afraid. Maybe Barry thought THAT was the head that was going
to get bigger...
Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!
Joe Jacobs
Helena, MT
Obviously, John Cole's Bonds cannot
be on steroids; not with balls that big!
KHassall
Canada
I think that the cartoonist made a distinct
decision to draw his cartoon that way. There are no mistakes
in this world the editor probably thought no one would notice.
I didn't notice until I read the paragraph under the cartoon.
E. Culp
What do you think - is this an accident?
A subliminal comment on Barry Bonds? John's subconscious striking
out? Was the editor taking a nap?
Probably a little of all four -- but leaning
heavily toward trying to see just how much he could get away
with.
Bob Shier
Hello from a San
Diego Padre fan living in the middle of Nevada.
Subconscious, no way, Barry has always been a D***! All the way
back to the days of Pittsburg. Sometimes you can kill three birds
with one cartoon:
Bird #1; his use of steroids,
Bird #2; never reaching the acclaim he would have achieved
Bird #3; he is a D***, i.e. mean to fans & a cheater.
I think it's a Great cartoon and represents many opinions. It's
too
bad because he could have been thought of as one of the Greatest
players of all time, but not now, not to me anyway.
Dan Williss
Yerington, Nevada
Of course the editor wasn't
paying attention, or knows nothing about baseball. In the cartoon,
home plate (marked "Acclaim") is pointed in the opposite
direction from what it should be (or were you talking about the
other end of the drawing?).
RANDALL SHERMAN
Chicago, Illinois
Great cartoons - keep 'm coming. Sure I think the Bond's cartoon
was deliberate. More power to John Cole.
RonWilma
While the ball-and-chain metaphor is appropriate, one ball and
chain would have made the point and not been in doubtful taste.
I don't think it's offensive in either case. There is always
a testicular subtext when steroids are discussed because of the
damage that the use of steroids can (and will) cause to them.
Megan Taylor
The chains are around his ankles,
not his scrotum. Get a grip, sports fans!
Mr. Michael J. Monahan
Editor's
note An overwhelming number of female readers sent notes
saying they didn't notice the phallic symbol at all until we
pointed it out. The readers that said it was "painfully
obvious" were nearly all males. This female editor is surprised
and would have guessed the opposite. I'm not quite sure what
this says about guys. Yipes.
Cari Dawson Bartley
Sometimes
cartoonists hide secret messages in their cartoons - sometimes
on purpose, sometimes not. Once in a while the cartoonist's subconscious
angst bubbles to the surface. Occasionally cartoonists just like
to see what they can slip by an editor ... And sometimes
a cartoonist captures the essence of the circumstance . . . perfectly
Mike Keel
To answer your questionsno, this
was not an accident, it was deliberate and planned; nothing subliminal
about it, it's clear; John was very conscious of what he was
doing; the editor probably encouraged him. The only way the editor
could be cleared of complicity, is if he was blind!
Alden G. Vaughan
To Whom It May Concern
I am a retired high school history teacher. One of my favorite
teaching devices was to have the kids 'translate" editorial
cartoons. The idea was NOT to describe what they saw in the picture/cartoon,
but to figure out what the message was that the cartoonist was
trying to put across in his language of pictorial symbols and
then express that in plain, direct English. Translating this
cartoon would have been a very interesting exercise but one that
i would not have been gutsy or foolish enough to present to them,
for fear of losing my job (or worse). If there is any question
about what Cole is saying, it is made clear by the shape and
color of the base path.
Carl von Clausewitz (alias)
That certainly was
not an accident.
VcFreund
Obviously John Cole slipped this one right
past the editorjust as some did as children, sneaking out of
the house at night.
Maite Brown
I know what steroids can do to a man's
body, and I do understand your queries.
Nonetheless, I find it quite a stretch to suggest Freudian touches
and the like. Now, if somehow those balls were shrinking, well,
then, I might find myself in agreement. The last word, of course,
should rest with John Cole.
Frank Jacobs
I think it's not so much a Freudian
slip on the part of the artist as much as a perverse comment
on Bonds and the use of steroids. I've heard that long term use
of steroids has two pronounced and unwanted effects on the body:
1) It can damage the heart irreparably,
leading to a premature death.
2) It can shrink the testicles, thereby producing the OPPOSITE
effect illustrated and hinted at in the cartoon.
Maybe this was not so much a Freudian slip
or an "accidental" imagery that got missed (I highly
doubt that it was missed!) as much as a not-so-subtle reminder
to Barry Bonds that his search and striving for acclaim comes
with a cost he may not have considered completely or wisely.
For Barry Bonds and all the others that
feel the need to compensate for their imagined inadequacy by
using steroids, I think they will get their just rewards for
cheating the system for personal gain: Small Balls!
Rich Giblin
Summerville, SC
Iranian expatriot, Nik Kowsar, wrote this piece and drew this
cartoon for our blog on May 30th, while I was away at the National
Cartoonists Society convention, so I'm a few days late in posting.
Mana is in prison in Iran for drawing a cartoon of a cockroach
that offended the Azeri minority group. Happy belated birthday,
Mana.
Happy Birthday Mana
Mana is turning 33 today. Far and away from his wife and family,
in a solitary 7ft. X 5 ft. cell.
Who could have thought of Mana's absence today? It's not funny
to have a few cockroaches at your birthday party, but I'm sure
a few have joined him by now. What a weird celebration!
Being imprisoned and interrogated on your birthday is the
worst possible present you could be waiting for, but who
knows, his jailers might be kind enough to let him take a break.
From now on, Mana's crosshatches will be different, looking like
the day-marks on the wall of his tiny cell.
I know it's hard for Mana to learn that several Azeris have been
killed in the protests, hundreds have been arrested; and
I bet most of them haven't even seen the paper, just heard of
an offensive cartoon
He knows that today, imprisonment is safer than freedom,
because a few angry Azeris have threatened his family.
Today, his elder brother Touka announced that he'll quit cartooning
from now on, because he feels cartoons are just causing
more trouble due to lack of tolerance and misunderstanding. He
wanted to make people happy, but how could he ever cause laughter
when he's sad, hopeless and the Azeri demonstrators are
showing no merci?
I hope Mana could feel the support of cartoon fans and cartoonists
all around the world...
Happy Birthday Mana.
Nik Kowsar
JUNE 3, 2006
PAUL COMBS
Paul Combs,. the conservative, environmentalist cartoonist
for the Tampa Tribune, has left his job to go home to Ohio. His
last cartoon for the Tribune is below, titled "Grand Finale."
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