CSotD: Efficacy and Ethics
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Political cartoons don’t have to be funny, but it’s a nice bonus when they are. This Juxtaposition offers a pair of related but distinct laughs over recent cases in which AI programs went rogue and hacked into other programs without having been told to.
KAL seems a little more specific, since the programs have been tested to see if they could do that, but weren’t supposed to do it spontaneously, a case of developers being too smart for their own good, and ours, which makes the Jurassic Park reference applicable.
By contrast, Banx specializes in simple gags and in this case makes the scientists just look foolish and out of their depth.
Both approaches work, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether such accidents themselves are at all funny.
KAL’s cartoon assumed that the reader had seen the Jurassic Park movies or was at least familiar with them, which seems a safe bet, given the amount of attention they attracted.
Darkow plays a more risky game with this cartoon, which assumes that readers remember when Trump, as a candidate, promised so much winning that we’d get tired of it, and puts the quote in the mouth of a mullah, turning it into a commentary about how Trump is certainly not winning in Iran.
It’s critical that a cartoon works anyway. Someone unfamiliar with Jurassic Park can still see the contrast between the confident statement and the torn fencing, and if you forgot that Trump had promised winning, you could still appreciate that the Iranian government shows no signs of backing down from the confrontation.
German’s cartoon relies on people making a couple of connections, and so has to be more wordy than is ideal. The best cartoons are silent, letting the reader identify that which is not labeled and fill in that which is not spoken. But you might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and German goes full-bore to overload the piece, and it works.
The main point is that conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln have caught the public eye and a lot of people are outraged at the way the sailors are suffering. It’s emerging as a potential factor in the midterms because people who support our troops haven’t necessarily been opposed to the president and his party, and this could change that.
But rather than try to dampen the growing resentment, Trump joined Hegseth in denying that families had expressed concern for the crew. German puts a medal on Trump’s chest recalling that he not only hasn’t served, but cheated to avoid service, so that his indifference literally adds insult to injury.
Then he tosses in the president’s indifference to cost of living issues while depicting him as having money stuffed in his jacket and clarifies the overall point with the empty bucket plainly stating that the president has no empathy for others and doesn’t give a (cussword) about you.
Less is more, but clarity is the ultimate goal, and nobody can walk away not knowing what German was trying to say.
Juxtaposition of the Day #2
Lack of empathy seems to be a trend throughout the administration, and Bagley makes a solid point about changes in Medicaid that could also be applied to SNAP changes. The reforms that have cut the number of recipients in both programs seem to stem not from catching cheaters but from making enrollment so complex that many under-educated people can’t complete the process.
Are there cheaters? Of course. There are always cheaters in anything, but Ronald Reagan took one utterly bizarre case and made it seem as if the nation was full of Welfare Queens, which played to both the racists and those who didn’t want to help anyone. Both demographics have only grown with time.
Kearney contrasts the Christian command for charity with Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins’ recent boasts about having taken food aid away from people. “For those of us that love work and celebrate work and want people to work and not be on food stamps, it’s a pretty big win,” she said, and, as Kearney charges, expressed pride in having stripped 4.3 million people of food assistance.
But her claim that the reduction is due to fraud and an improving economy doesn’t stand up to examination. Is it a lie? Is it spin? Is she simply mistaken? What difference does it make to a hungry child?
Varvel isn’t lying. He fell for a fraud that he didn’t bother to check out. You don’t have to agree with his feelings about fetuses to believe in the ethical need to examine statements before passing them on.
This particular bit of fakery has been named “False Claim of the Week” by Newsguard, which has a full takedown on how it emerged again years after it was first disproven. It was resuscitated as part of the GOP’s attempts to discredit and prosecute Anthony Fauci, but also serves to strengthen the ongoing effort to promote antivax beliefs.
The old journalism adage applies both to reporters and political cartoonists: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” And I’m indulgent towards Varvel because I have also been guilty now and then of not seeking a second source for a claim that I wanted to believe.
Another well-known but often neglected adage is attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and says that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. (Yes, I looked it up.)
Follow-Up
I wished yesterday that I could find the AI cartoon that Melbourne’s Herald-Sun had run and to which Cathy Wilcox objected. This morning, I discovered that Bado has both the cartoon and a full report from Australia Broadcasting News.
It’s a solid bit of reporting that is damning to the Herald-Sun on several levels.
The ABC report quotes Fiona Katauskas at length, which is appropriate since the Guardian has cut her loose.
But I’ve got her BlueSky link and will continue following her. Meanwhile, here’s her final Guardian cartoon, a take on the resignation of Karoline Leavitt proving that, indeed, a political cartoon can be both pointed and funny.
Keep the faith. And some empathy.
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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