CSotD: Three Good Takes on a Sad Situation
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I've already seen this Nick Anderson cartoon shared on Facebook several times, and so it may not be new to you, either.
It's an observation that emerged in social media before the cartoon, but that's why I like it so much: Simply noting that the same people who were so concerned about imaginary perverts are giving the real pervert not only a pass but their support was, as a statement, dry. (See?)
As a visual, it comes to life and I think that's why the cartoon has been shared so widely.
Aside from how burned out I am on the election in general, I've become a bit burned out on cartoons that simply insult or mock or state the obvious.
The flood of "Trump Gropes The Statue of Liberty" cartoons is a tribute to something, and perhaps it's only the fact that a lot of cartoonists don't bother to keep up with their own medium. When, on 9/12/01, we had a bazillion weeping Statues of Liberty, the lack of inventiveness could at least be defended as coincidence. But these groper gags are stretching out over enough days that there's really no excuse anymore.
Amid that creative desert, when someone comes up with a panel that makes a salient point and does it with visual wit — all three faces are well-done, as is Trump's posture in barging through the door — it matters, and it stands out.
The fact that Anderson isn't the first person to recognize this outrageous hypocrisy doesn't matter, not only because we haven't seen a lot of cartoons pointing it out but because he did it so well.
And Clay Bennett uses his trademark deadpan style to note another element of hypocrisy: The way in which we have turned from reform to revenge in the area of sex crimes, and the way in which the crimes of the wealthy are dismissed as peccadilloes.
At one end of the scale is William Elliot, who, at 19, was sentenced to four months in jail for having sex with his girlfriend a few days before she turned 16. He was placed on Maine's sex offender registry, where, five years later, a deranged vigilante found his name and current address on-line, went to his home and murdered him.
At the other end of the scale is Donald Trump, who is in no danger of landing on the registry because, first of all, he's right: When you're a star, you don't face the same justice as the little people.
And, if he ever did, his flocks of lawyers would make sure his accusers were, at best, facing an uphill battle.
Which they already are: The "Why didn't they come forward earlier?" people are answered well by George Takei's tweet, and the vicious attacks on those who have spoken up are transparently absurd.
A common one is that these women were Hillary Clinton supporters, which makes you wonder why anyone thinks they would be supporters of a man who sexually assaulted them, even if they didn't come out and accuse him publicly.
The Trump camp is currently sliming Jessica Leeds, the woman who says Trump mauled her on an airplane trip, by saying that she is a Clinton Foundation staffer, which is a lie, and that it couldn't have happened as she claims because the armrests on planes were fixed in place in those days, which is another lie.
Yes, George, it is pretty obvious why victims of sexual assault often remain silent, particularly when their assailants are rich and powerful and shamelessly dishonest.
In any case, the idea that a resident of Trump Towers would ever have to register the way William Elliot did makes for a funny cartoon, and god knows we could use a laugh.
And sometimes a simple gag does the trick. A man of Trump's wealth could have done any number of things to avoid having his hair become a subject of laughter, but I suppose it's a symbol of his assumption that he's above it all and smarter than anyone else and that whatever he does will work.
The challenge, when presented with such an obvious target for ridicule, is not to overplay it. Steve Sack does a nice, disciplined job of tying the hair into the harasser.
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