It ain't funny
Opinion: Attack on cartoonists no laughing matter (11 May 04)
ANTONIA ZERBISIAS
Toronto Star
…Some U.S. papers yanked the strip — which wouldn't be the first time for Doonesbury — supposedly because, when he discovers his leg is gone, B.D. yells "Son of a bitch!"
I say "supposedly" because, judging from the reaction of Fox News windbag Bill O'Reilly, the cartoon was offensive not only because of its penny-ante profanity but because of its — what else? — politics.
Calling Trudeau "a committed leftist" and "a rabid anti-Bush partisan" in the Los Angeles Times, O'Reilly opined he was exploiting tragedy to further his political agenda.
"A case can be made that Trudeau is attempting to sap the morale of Americans vis-à-vis Iraq by using a long-running, somewhat beloved cartoon character to create pathos," O'Reilly railed. "Dissent in a time of war can be noble, but it also can be irresponsible."[P6: That "a case can be made" (wimpy weasel words are annoying, aren't they?) doesn't mean the case would be valid…probably why he only implied the case instead of actually making it. And blindness to reality is never noble.]
In other words, you're either with us, or with the terrorists.
…Since 9/11, many cartoonists have been targeted for attack, particularly Aaron McGruder's Boondocks (http://www.boondocks.net), David Rees' Get Your War On (http://www.mnftiu.cc) and Dan (Tom Tomorrow) Perkins' This Modern World (http://www.thismodernworld.com).
But probably none of them has invoked greater ire — or attracted more death threats — than Ted Rall (http://www.rall.com) who gets more strident by the strip. Last week, he infuriated both sides of the political spectrum with one about pro football player Pat Tillman. Tillman was killed last month in Afghanistan, after turning down a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the war on terror. Rall's strip called him an "idiot" and "sap" instead of a "hero."
You can imagine the outrage.
But isn't freedom, such as the freedom to draw comics, what Bush's war is supposed to be about? Isn't it about preserving liberty and bringing it to Afghanistan, Iraq and the world?
You wouldn't know it from reading some of the comments on these cartoonists' Web sites.
Perhaps their critics prefer to believe that good old Beetle Bailey, who is more likely to drop a broom than a bomb, is what war-making is about.
Talk about having a funny view of the real world.
