CSotD: The Challenge of an Obvious Topic
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Response to Hurricane Harvey among editorial cartoonists has been all over the place. Clay Bennett is one of several cartoonists who took up the theme that a state noted for rejecting federalism now finds itself in need of outside help.
I like his version because it doesn't seem partisan or triumphalist. There are a number of cartoons on the same topic that carry an air of "Ha ha — now look at ya!" which are certainly within the bounds of fair expression and free speech and all but perhaps strain at the edges of good taste.
Besides the "told ya so's," others clutter the basic concept with the revelation that Ted Cruz is kind of a jackass, which, given that Cruz is often said to be the most unpopular person in the Senate, is kind of like pointing out that Chris Christie could afford to lose a few pounds.
It's not just taste. It's also a matter of creativity. There's a point at which you have to balance a chance to express hostility against the perils of being obvious and unimaginative.
Bennett manages to make the point, but to offer a little sympathy for the True Believers who find themselves in trouble.
And he does it without a heaping helping of "We're Setting Aside Our Differences And Pulling Together!" cheerleading, of which I don't offer an example because it's so bland and rah-rah and insipid that it feels like a pretty lazy response.
If there were some debate going on about whether we should support Houston, or some discussion about whether the city should be rebuilt or plowed under when this is all over, I might feel differently about the Rah-Rah cartoons, but there isn't and I don't.
Okay, maybe this one by Bruce Plante, which combines a salute to courage etc etc with a suggestion that you do more than gaze in wonder.
It's not subtle, no, but it's also not insipid, and if you have to choose, Plante went the right direction. Lord knows, editorial cartoonists have a long history and wide base in telling people "Here's what you should do."
If he's a little off the usual scale in being so specific and direct, well, this is a little off the usual scale, too. Sometimes breaking tradition is the right move.
Mind you, if in future he starts doing cartoons soliciting donations for lesser causes, those will probably be bad cartoons. This one isn't.
The other element in rejecting the Rah-Rah cartoons is that, while we should be concerned about Houston, there are still other things going on in the world and some of them are connected, directly or tenuously, to the flooding.
Houston is a center of the oil and gas industry, and, while — as with the "told you so's" over federal aid — you want to avoid piling on at a moment of crisis, I think Pat Bagley does well in pointing out that there are consequences to the government's priority of sticking with fossil fuels.
That is, I've seen some cartoon smackdowns of climate change deniers, but this is less argumentative and I think shows a more far-sighted view of what's going on.
The issue of El Niño and La Niña and climate change and frequency of intense storms is pretty complex, but the need to get our act together and plan for the future is not.
This isn't a time to argue over what is "weather" and what is "climate," but it is a time to make smart choices, and Bagley suggests that the storm should spur some long-range thinking, regardless of where you think we are at this moment.
Juxtaposition of the Day
This is an interesting Juxtaposition, because it's fair game to accuse Trump of making his Friday night announcements in anticipation of the storm, and it's certainly fair game to refuse to let him off the hook for those developments.
In both cases, the cartoonists have chosen decisions which Trump made in defiance of common sense and the advice a wise president would get from a thoughtful staff.
Neither decision furthers the national interest, one being red meat to anti-immigrant bigots, the other red-meat to sexual-identity bigots and neither having any wider value than the president's appeal to his Deplorables.
We can argue over whether Dear Leader has the clarity of purpose even to time his announcements for the traditional Friday afternoon dump of unpopular moves, much less whether he was cunning enough to release them in anticipation of the hurricane.
I would take the position that he hasn't shown any capacity for that kind of Machiavellian design.
But, whatever his intentions, these decisions ought not to go unchallenged and I think both cartoonists do well to tie in the hurricane, because it's hard to comment on anything else at the moment. Others have tried to address the North Korean situation and it just seems to fall flat.
The specific difference I see is that Rogers focuses on Trump's selfishness and predeliction for pointless showoff moves, while Beeler actively ties in the issue of how Trump's decision on gender identity defies his advisors and undercuts our military's readiness, a much more pressing issue in both Houston's crisis and in his dreams of Afghani triumph.
And Jack Ohman sums it all up by depicting the astonishing narcissism that underscores, and undercuts, even the most slam-dunk opportunities to show a little class.
You could sleep-walk your way through the mandatory presidential visit to a crisis. A few hugs, some tears, some sympathy.
And yet Dear Leader couldn't shove his enormous ego in his back pocket even that long. It's all about him. It's always all about him.
Now here's your moment of solicitation:
Here's the fundraiser I'm supporting, and here's his latest update. It's pretty incredible.
Note that the teams are donating ticket sales for tomorrow night's game — which had to be moved from Houston to Dallas — to relief efforts.
UPDATE:
The Houston Texans have made the decision to travel back to Houston after local authorities have now found a safe route for the team to drive home today. The fourth preseason game scheduled for Thursday night in Dallas will be cancelled. At this time, the priority of our organization is getting our players, coaches and staff back home to be reunited with their families, many of whom have been evacuated from their homes and are currently sheltered. The team feels it is imperative to get back home to help the Houston community recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
Robert, Janice, Cal and Hannah McNair will make a donation equal to the money that would have been generated from ticket sales from Thursday’s preseason game in Arlington to recovery and relief efforts.
Also, JJ's fundraiser has, as of 3 pm, topped $6 million and continues.
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