CSotD: Paris
Skip to comments
These responses to the Paris attacks are from Cartoon Movement, a site that not only has the advantage of being international but which has a quicker response time than the syndicates and newspapers here. There have already been several posted and I'm sure more will follow.
The speed factor is an obvious benefit, but the international aspect means responses, if not directly from Paris, are yet somewhat less hypothetical.
Or, to put it another way, most cartoonists are choosing between sorrow and bluster, and, while it's necessary to say something, no matter where you are, these responses gain gravitas when they come from people closer to the scene.
And sometimes there's more to be said and a voice that says it.
So far, my favorite on the site is this, by Egyptian cartoonist Doaa Eladl.
Terrorist attacks have two essential and obvious goals: One is to gain attention for a cause, the other is to create an atmosphere of fear in order to provoke responses that will further intensify the conflict.
As she suggests, the publicity being generated by this horror is welcomed by the terrorists, and I would add that the more bigotry it brings forth against Islam in general and the refugees specifically, the happier the violent radicals will be.
Like True Believers anywhere, they think of themselves as the authentic ones, and so to be portrayed as anything other than a small fringe with no legitimacy elevates them.
Somebody posted a comment on Facebook that the solution was for moderate Muslims to renounce the Qu'ran and their religion, a concept so deeply foolish, ignorant and insulting that I suppose it should provoke laughter. But laughter is hard to come by this morning, and telling good, decent people that their religion is intrinsically based on hatred will not attract them to your side.
And there is really little difference between people who carefully choose provocative, non-representative passages from either the Qu'ran or the Bible to justify hateful practices and those who carefully pick them out in order to renounce a religion in which they are oddities, not doctrines.
Extremism thrives and grows on intolerance, and the more they are attacked, the more the sense of oppression that defines them is strengthened.
If, instead of denouncing the Klan and groups like Aryan Nations, you mock and denounce all white Southerners, all white working-class people, all Christians, as if they were one and the same, not only do you confirm what the radicals believe, but you alienate disaffected people who would otherwise stay uninvolved.
Why would the result be any different when you lump all Muslims along with the violent psychopaths among them?
It simply widens the terrorists' grins as they take yet another triumphant selfie.
Here's the thing: I've just been ranting about how gullible people publicized the moronic #MerryChristmasStarbucks fraud by responding to it as if it had legitimacy. That is stupid and divisive, but it's relatively harmless.
Now I'm seeing people do the same by re-posting hateful bigotry about refugees, denouncing it but, in the process, promoting it and giving it far, far greater prominence than it merits.
Stop it. You are aiding the bigots and terrorists by reposting their selfies.
We're seeing a lot of "sorrow" cartoons, particularly from cartoonists at a distance from Europe and the Middle East, and maybe that's the most you can say at the moment, especially since the wheel still is in spin and there's no telling who that it's naming.
Nicaraguan Cartoonist Pedro X. Molina, speaking from a distance but not from a place where terror is unknown, offers the most beautiful expression of grieving solidarity that I've seen so far.
"Ah but in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty" — Phil Ochs
Finally, in this one, by Italian cartoonist Marco de Angelis, Death, in the form of a terrorist, draws a dark curtain on a bright and beautiful world.
The curtain may block the view. It doesn't change the reality of what is behind it.
There is, at the heart of this cartoon, a metaphysical defiance that is far more profound than any of the bluster panels that promise vengeance.
The true vengeance is in being unafraid.
And courage is expressed by refusing to be afraid, not by threats and bluster.
A religious story neither Muslim nor Christian
The Iroquois tell of a time when they were deep in the horrors of fratricidal war, and the most terrifying of killers among all the nations was Hiawatha, a powerful warrior whose family had been killed in the turmoil and who, driven mad by his grief, retreated alone into the wilderness, emerging only to slaughter any who fell into his hands.
A Huron holy man, Deganawida, went into the forest until he came to the hut where Hiawatha dwelt, and sat quietly with him, offering him three strands of wampum, his sympathy, and his tears.
Offering the first strand, he said
When a person has suffered a great loss caused by death and is grieving, the tears blind his eyes so that he cannot see. With these words, I wipe away the tears from your eyes so that now you may see clearly.
Then, handing him the second, he said
When a person has suffered a great loss caused by death and is grieving, there is an obstruction in his ears. I offer this now so that you may once again have perfect hearing.
And with the third, he said
When a person has suffered great loss caused by death and is grieving, his throat is stopped and he cannot speak. With this strand, I remove the obstruction from your throat so that you may once again be able to speak.
At last, Hiawatha's heart melted, his madness left him, and the two men wept together in the wilderness for all the death and sorrow that had come upon their world.
Then Deganawida, the Peacemaker, sent Hiawatha back to civilization, to gather the Five Nations into a great Longhouse where they dwelt together as a family.
There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
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.
Comments 2
Comments are closed.