CSotD: The Outside View
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The Whole World Is Watching and Matt suggests the whole world's reaction and how I wish I had some clever riposte.
Or could at least, as the song suggests, call the whole thing off.
There are also plenty of American cartoons about Trump's victory, but few of them illuminate anything we couldn't see before.
In fact, nothing even his own party couldn't see before, though they're rallying around now that they're stuck with him.
As has been noted here and elsewhere, the GOP set up this debacle by pandering to the mob, giving legitimacy to the hostility and prejudice against foreigners, against minorities, against the LGBT community, most of which had, for several decades, been pushed into corners and branded as shameful.
Yes, it was still there. But it fell under the category of things decent people didn't say, and only surfaced in public coming from lunatic fringe candidates or in periodic, largely scorned Klan rallies and in the psychotic ramblings of religious fanatics, all of which were dismissed as bizarre sideshows.
Because decent people didn't say those things.
Even the racists who defended Jim Crow did so by pointing to the anti-busing outbursts in South Boston, only able to justify their own hatefulness and the social ostracization it brought by saying, "We're not the only ones."
Well, okay. But what they are not does not change what they are.
Perhaps more relevant to the nomination of Donald Trump has been the purposeful promotion of dishonest, deceptive views of How It All Works, of which the most simpleminded and dominant may be the foolish metaphor that equates managing the national budget with setting up a family budget.
Even if you ignore the massive differences between macro- and micro-economics, the metaphor is applied in a manner that remains nonsensical.
That is, even if family budgets and national budgets were the same, the answer to "not enough income" in a family is either demanding a raise or getting a second job, not deciding to stop feeding the children and taking them to the doctor.
But once you have dignified this foolish world view with the authority of powerful people in suits, you've lost the right to be surprised when people act on it and saddle you with a candidate who has built a career by exploiting the bizarre things that ignorant people are willing to believe.
And speaking of failed revolutions
We'll never really know how Castro's revolution might have fared if a large portion of the world hadn't followed the US embargo and hostility towards it, but Canadian cartoonist Gary Clement has been down there having a look around, and this is only part one of a series that is ongoing in the National Post.
Clement didn't have to wait until now to visit Cuba; Canadians have been going down there for several years now, but as the country opens up more to the West, it's a good time to check in, and not simply by taking the guided tour from the airport (or, in this case, docks) to the beach and back.
Cuba is not the only country that has this blindered tourist industry. There are all sorts of capitalist, communist and other nations in which you are encouraged to ignore the poverty, repression and suffering and simply enjoy the sun and sand, and this goes back as far as you would like to trace it: I remember tourism articles in the early 70s promoting the glories of tourism in Greece under the junta and the affordable beauty of Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania.
And one argument is that tourism dollars actually help because they … well, I was going to say "trickle down" but I think we're all wise to that one.
In any case, Clement seems to be enjoying the trip but not swallowing everything they're serving him. And perhaps, having run out of like-minded sponsors and being on the verge of running out of Castros, Cuba will prove small enough and close enough to be transformed.
But I'll worry about the mote in their eye after we do something about the beam in our own.
Speaking of tourists
The Lockhorns hit upon a pet peeve.
Granted, I've already seen pictures of the Grand Canyon, and probably pictures of the Grand Canyon taken by better photographers with better equipment on days with perfect lighting.
But I've also already seen close-ups of your grinning face in my feed five times a week for the last six years. (Thank you for the fact that it's been two years since you made duck lips.)
At the risk of repeating a gag I've run here before, do you really think the grownup photographers bomb their own work?
On a lighter note
The Billy Ireland Museum in Columbus has announced a pair of exhibits that would certainly make the trip worthwhile.
"Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream" features the original art by the many cartoonists and artists who contributed to that Winsor McCay tribute book.
"Good Grief! Children and Comics" is more extensive in scope and, as the release explains,
examines the history, role and tensions of child characters in comic strips and comic books. The exhibit explores questions such as the following: In what ways do child characters in comics represent actual children, both their explorations of fantasy and their realistic lives? In contrast, how do child characters serve as stand-ins for adult concerns and desires, becoming mouthpieces for engaging with adult topics? Likewise, how have comics navigated the seemingly competing objectives of providing simple escapist fun and serving as substantive educational reading?
The opening is June 10 and will include not only a reception for the exhibit but a presentation by Gene Luen Yang on Asian Americans and Comics.
These exhibits will be up from June 4 until October 23, but note that (other than for the launch party) the museum is open only from 1 to 5 pm, Tuesday through Sunday, so plan your arrival and perhaps the length of your stay in Columbus accordingly.
Meanwhile …
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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