CSotD: The Warriors and the Wounded
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Kal wrote a piece about depicting democracy in the form of strong women, the top cartoon here being from four years ago, the second being current.
I like the basic concept, but prefer the second because the first seems to put three symbols into a belligerent stance that doesn’t fit their traditional roles, at least for the two I recognize. Both Liberty and Justice are strong, but more in the sense of goddesses than warriors: Their strength comes in the form of being dominant, Justice being an incorruptible judge and Liberty a constant, welcoming opportunity.
I’m not familiar with Democracy, but my work in teaching editorial cartoons made me very familiar with Columbia, often depicted in armor, as seem with Britannia, in this 1898 Puck cartoon by Louis Dalrymple, and generally shown — armored or not — as a defender of America, and symbol of our country until Liberty took the role, the statue having been erected in 1886.
This traditional depiction made Nast’s 1881 obituary cartoon for James Garfield that much more touching, since Columbia is depicted without armor or sword, a grieving warrior who was unable to intercede with the Fates on his behalf. Had Liberty been available then, she’d have also made a good symbol, but without the contrast of a warrior goddess.
All that said, I prefer Kal’s depiction of an army of anonymous women warriors, because it suggests a unity of purpose. That’s perhaps more a hope than a reality, but part of democracy is the diversity in viewpoints, the challenge not being unanimity but acceptance.
Even if that means today’s tradwives are glad their conservative grandmothers helped tank the Equal Rights Amendment.
Which brings us to Dear Leader, who had, in 1989, run full page advertisements calling for the Central Park Five to be executed, as it turns out, for a crime of which they were innocent, but who now has come to the defense of the Cornell Seven, blamed for gang rape.
Duquette sticks closely to the notion of a double standard in the two cases, while Zyglis goes further out on a limb by suggesting that Trump considers them heroes, which isn’t what he said. The difference is that he had condemned the Five before the facts were in, while he is insisting on upholding the potential innocence of the Seven.
You could blame that on racism, or a classist prejudice favoring college boys over urban workingclass kids, and I don’t think it’s unfair to suspect that those factors figure into it.
But Zyglis specifies a different conflict of interest by pointing out how Trump has labored to keep the Epstein files out of any courtrooms, and Trump has indeed said the Cornell 7 will not get a fair trial because the investigation is in the hands of NYS Attorney General Tish James, who found him guilty of business fraud.
You sure can’t accuse the man of being “woke,” and especially not in cases of sexual assault, given his track record in court, his boasting of grabbing women by their genitals and his repeated insults directed at female journalists.
I like the concept, but I wonder if it is either fair or effective to blame Cornell for failing to have prosecuted the seven accused students. Not that they shouldn’t be punished, obviously. But focusing on that one college risks letting everyone else off the hook.
Start here: When a townie is caught drinking underage, he faces the law. When a student is caught, he faces the dean.
That also seems to happen with sexual assault, and college administrators are not qualified to judge potential sexual felonies.
I’m not sure where the line should be drawn. There are certainly misunderstandings that can be handled internally, but New York blew it with a law that tried to say if everyone’s had too much to drink and things go too far, it’s not the same as slipping someone a mickey and raping her. It’s not the same, but it’s not always easy to decide where “things went too far” turns into rape.
For a look at what prosecutors are facing, check out Joyce Vance’s Substack. There’s a reason we have law schools and another reason that every lawyer doesn’t become a prosecutor. And that most college deans shouldn’t try to be either.
Meanwhile, the fact that this happened at Cornell doesn’t mean it only happens at Cornell. The New York Post ran a story about what schools had the most sexual assault reports, but I’m not sure what that indicates.
There are also reports about hospitals that show higher death rates occur at major institutions. But small hospitals transfer their most difficult cases to major hospitals, so naturally the major hospitals have higher death rates.
Similarly, there may be reasons for a school to have more reported assaults. Top of the list is the University of Utah, which could suggest that when you have a large percentage of Mormon kids on campus, you have a socially conservative student body that is more easily upset by things someone else might brush off.
Conversely, CU Boulder being next on the list might suggest that it’s a hipper student body that knows what isn’t supposed to be tolerated, or, then again, maybe they are more prone to report because the school does a better job of teaching them to do so.
Or maybe you should take the list and see if there is a connection between assault reports and Greek culture. Everybody had a good laugh when Animal House came out in 1978, but even the title indicates that some frats have a reputation for bad behavior.
And rude as the movie was, it had been cleaned up considerably. In the traditional urban legend, the jolly frat boys take a horse to the dean’s office and shoot it. In Animal House, the poor thing had a heart attack.
And when one of the Deltas got an underage girl drunk, he had an attack of conscience and took her home. Yeah, right.
The reality is that frats tend to exemplify the culture that makes bad things happen, not just at Cornell, and not just at college.
This is a Watchbird, watching Cornell.
This is a Watchbird, watching you.
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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