CSotD: Minnesota Quick Takes
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One of the issues in compiling cartoons about yesterday’s killing of Alex Pretti was that very few cartoonists were able to get their work posted on the official sites by this morning.
Another, more disturbing, issue was that many cartoons, reposted on social media, were about the ongoing brutality of ICE, which made it hard to tell whether they were a response to this killing or more of a general comment.
Anderson could also have been referencing Renee Good’s killing, but he dates his work and initially posted a copy with a misspelling, indicating haste.
The feds leapt to defend the officers before any investigation could have been carried out. I’ve also heard an accusation that the officers removed evidence and spoiled the crime scene, but, unlike our leaders, I’m not in the business of confirming rumors without credible sources.
I like Anderson’s piece because it seems to reference 1984/Big Brother imagery, or at least the version of it that was used in an Apple commercial in that year.
The difference, however, is that the Minutes of Hate in the book heightened an already programmed fury in its audience, while the assurance that the government is always right, and the passivity with which it is received, seem more in tune with Animal Farm.
Works for me either way. I’m already seeing passive acceptance of obvious lies, but the arousal I’m seeing does not favor Dear Leader’s view of the event.
Of course, we keep thinking “This is the turning point,” so public response is one more thing not to confirm yet.
Pett posted this cartoon four days ago, but it fits the moment perfectly, because the amateurs were on the scene and the pros played catch up through most of the day.
That’s not to say they didn’t catch up, but they needed the evidence gathered by witnesses. One pro who was there quickly was KARE-TV reporter Jana Shortal, who lives nearby and was alerted on her phone. CNN turned coverage over to KARE, where Shortal arrived, still in her hoody and suffering from being sprayed.
And, bless their hearts, they posted her appearance on line. It’s worth a look (hat tip to a reader who passed the link along.)
What struck me was that she said a local police officer arrived at the yellow tape and asked one of the ICE officers for the scene commander, and there apparently wasn’t one. Whether or not there was an excuse for the shooting, there’s absolutely no excuse for not having a senior officer at the scene within minutes.
The initial video shown on TV, the one from across the street shot by someone with a Spanish accent, was not conclusive, and another early piece, an enhanced still shot, didn’t show enough to tell what happened, either, but later-emerging videos offer plenty of good angles, and the NYTimes (gift link) has a moment-by-moment breakdown.
But as Pett suggests, we wouldn’t know the story if the amateurs hadn’t taken videos as their governor encouraged them to, which may be why the Trump administration is blaming him for creating the problem. The “problem” is that people collected evidence.
Brodner cheats a bit with a caption that is more of a short essay, but it’s valuable to not only depict Pretti as a regular fellow but to add a capsule description of his killing, for the record and for anyone who somehow missed it. And while in general I prefer cartoons to tell their stories graphically, I saw several that simply depicted the victim without adding any context, graphic or textual. Clarity matters, Brodner delivers.
Juxtaposition of the Day
Three variations on essentially the same topic. I like Bish’s piece, but think he over-reaches somewhat, because Pretti not only videoed the scene but became involved, and while that doesn’t justify his killing, it muddies the killers’ motivation.
Ostrove takes an iconic approach that illustrates the scene without attempting to explain it, thereby combining both the action of having recorded the assault on the woman as well as pointing out what Pretti was holding, despite official misinformation that he had his gun in his hand.
Vaz offers a more cartoonish image, while making a play on words, then buttresses the statement by adding several phones beyond the one at center, and I’d note that he’s not depicting Pretti’s phone but someone taping the assault, which brings us back to Pett’s statement and Walz’s advice about collecting evidence.
I wish I could agree with Bowman’s message, but even if she’d tossed in Cabaret, anti-fascist movies are vastly outnumbered by the overwhelming flood of movies and TV dramas that offer fear, blood and a fetishized view of police as brutal saviors.
Someone said in a post on social media that he missed the days of Adam-12, when officers Reed and Malloy spent most of their shift assisting people rather than in violent confrontations with villains. It fit well with what I’ve noticed, which is the rising number of ultraviolent cop shows and horror movies.
But if you want to see a movie about fascists, watch Dirty Harry, who became such a popular hero by violating the rights of criminals that they made sequels, or Death Wish, which did the same for a character who sought justice in the form of violent revenge, likewise spawning several sequels.
Even Law & Order, which originally depicted the system more or less as it is, was spun off into more violent, sexual and bloody versions because that’s what the public wants.
I’m old enough to remember when, in the wake of JFK’s assassination, television toned down the violence on westerns and cop shows. Which just tells you that I’m a very old man, because the world has sure changed since.
Having seen plenty of German’s cartoons, I know he’s being ironic here and suggests that ICE is more of a danger than a protector.
But I guess we’ll have to see how many of our fellow Americans pick up on the sarcasm and how many express gratitude that these big strong men are saving us from people our their president says are garbage from sh**hole countries.
Keep the faith, along with the Boss.
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