Journal: News & Comment

Try something else

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Editorial cartoonists, so often able to make stinging and essential points in politics and other fields, seem remarkably ill equipped to comment on events like the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia. Many of the cartoons printed around the world share the same hackneyed and maudlin themes, clichéd in their obviousness: flags, stars of David, and halos streaking across the sky, Uncle Sam shedding tears, shuttles caught by the hands of God or the gates of Heaven. Very few have any bite or subtlety to them -- nothing that makes you think about the event in new ways, which is what the artists should do.

I guess we can't expect those who regularly elevate cynicism and satire to remarkable levels to deal effectively with events about which it is hard to be cynical or satirical so soon. I would have hoped they could have at least tried for more original imagery, or addressed some other topic instead.

Oh, and my (completely honest) answers to this test say that there's an 86% chance that I'm a woman. News to me.

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