In a hectic world filled with pressing issues, most people don't have the time to examine <i>issues</i> and come to their own <i>conclusions</i> about them. Or so they're told. To that end, mass media is only too happy to further impart the opinions that were imparted on them. With the aforementioned public already pressed for time and, most likely, attention span, what better way to get a point across than through the magic of pictures? Cartoonists are only too happy to fill this void. The samples below provide a whirlwind tour of accepted opinion so that you can both stay informed and move on to more important things, like calling in your vote for <i>American Idol</i><fn>. <h>The Third World</h> <img src="{att_link}crsou060511.png" href="{att_link}crsou060511.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="State of the Union" scale="75%"> A diminutive George Stephanapoulos (who, as former press secretary for Bill Clinton, will never lose the "liberal" stigma, regardless of how far the right he wanders) interviews Vincente Fox, president of Mexico. Presidente Fox offers the clearly stupid, not to mention insipidly socialist, opinion that the immigration "problem" is due to the incongruous wealth disitribution between the two countries. The lesson? "Mexicans will continue to steal jobs from Americans until those Americans hand them a better lifestyle on a silver platter." You can't expect a balance in immigration when there is such a vast disparity of wealth. Acknowledging this is an important step in addressing immigration issues and Fox has taken it. Fox's statement is not a socialist demand for a handout, but rather a realistic appraisal of the situation. Why does he think this is an issue to be raised with the US? Because the US is responsible for a lot of the strain on the Mexican economy through its unfair trade policies. None of this matters though, if you can get people to think of Mexicans as lazy socialists looking for a handout (a cognitive dissonance for anyone who also employs illegal immigrants at 4 bucks a day to take care of their lawn). <h>Iran</h> <img src="{att_link}jh060512.png" href="{att_link}jh060512.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Jack Higgins - Death to America!" scale="75%"> President Ahmadinejad of Iran recently sent George Bush a long letter, detailing grievances and his understanding of the world situation. See <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900878.html" source="Washington Post">Ahmadinejad's Letter to Bush</a> for a full transcript, as the cartoonist responsible for the picture above has almost assuredly not. His "news bite" depicts Condaleeza---herself well-known for moderate political views---remarking ironically that the letter is <iq>mostly philosophical</iq>. The "Death to America", skull and crossbones and dagger pinning the letter to the door make it clear for even the more feeble-minded that, though it was written in English, it is just the latest in a long, sad line of frothing-at-the-mouth, rage-filled polemics from a society that is bent on our annihilation and has no interest in adopting the basic freedoms that are part and parcel of the American way of life. Congratulations, you've absorbed another quick lesson in the Orient. Even a quick scan of the letter reveals nothing of the sort, however. It expresses ideas both ridiculous---the short section denying the holocaust as a seque into Palestinian rights and grievances seems particularly well-suited to winning supporters for both Iran and Palestine---and liberal, asking the questions any clear-thinking moderate would ask, such as: <bq>In countries around the world, citizens provide for the expenses of governments so that their governments in turn are able to serve them. ...The question here is "what has the hundreds of billions of dollars, spent every year to pay for the Iraqi campaign, produced for the citizens?"</bq> Now there's a question echoed by, at last count, about 71% of Americans. Ahmadinejad probably didn't write this letter, just as Bush doesn't write his own speeches. Despite that, as the official opening act of diplomacy between the US and Iran in the 21st century (which has lain dormant since the overthrow of the Shah), it's pretty reasonable<fn>. For the most part, it reads like a lefty screed, though its difficult to know how much of it is sincere---Bush also sounds like a lefty during his official public addresses. <bq>If billions of dollars spent on security, military campaigns and troop movement were instead spent on investment and assistance for poor countries, promotion of health, combating different diseases, education and improvement of mental and physical fitness, assistance to the victims of natural disasters, creation of employment opportunities and production, development projects and poverty alleviation, establishment of peace, mediation between disputing states, and extinguishing the flames of racial, ethnic and other conflicts, were would the world be today? Would not your government and people be justifiably proud? Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger?</bq> That's pretty imflammatory stuff if you, like the US administration and most of the media---who know which side their bread is buttered on---prefer war to peace. Whether or not Ahmadinejad truly believes in these ideals or not, it's clear that the knife in the door above is a pretty significant misrepresentation of the actual content and spirit of the letter. It devolves in later pages into a broad, rambling religious discussion which tries to prove that all monotheistic Gods are the same and that they are Allah (as the American religious right generously would say that they are all God/Jesus/Whatever). To be honest, it's hard to do anything but skim over the final pages, waiting for the words "God", "Allah", "prophet", "Jesus" and so forth to peter out. It is to this section that another right-wing cartoonist, Chip Bok, recommends Bush respond in the following cartoon: <img src="{att_link}crcbo060512.png" href="{att_link}crcbo060512.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Chip Bok - President Writes Back to Ahmadinejad" scale="75%"> Here we see the common misrepresentation of the content of the letter. Ahmadinejad doesn't want to give up democracy---he's the elected president of Iran, after all---he wants to give up <iq>Liberalism and Western-style democracy</iq> or secular governments for religious ones. This is <i>not</i> a laudable goal, but neither is it espousing anti-democratic principles. And, honestly, if Ahmadinejad got confused and assumed that Bush was all for flouting democracy---as hinted at by Bok in the cartoon---and establishing government based on religion, who can blame him? That's pretty much what Bush <i>says</i> he wants anyway. At any rate, to suggest that Bush should respond in the typical lowbrow way by "fuckin' with the raghead" is fanning the flames of war. Whereas just two weeks ago, it wasn't clear which of the two fanatical idiots (Bush or Ahmadinejad) was more bent on a military confrontation, this letter is a pretty clear indication that we Americans, as ever, are number fucking one. Even if it means winning the crazier-than-a-shithouse-rat contest. Which we did, 'cause Iran blinked. <h>The Liberal Media</h> <img src="{att_link}gm060512.png" href="{att_link}gm060512.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Glenn McCoy - Media Loves Terrorists" scale="75%"> That old chestnut. The media think they're doing their jobs by exposing wrongdoing in the American government, but they're only helping the terrorists. This public service message has been brought to you by the Bush Administration. Nothing to see here; move right along. <h>The Constitution</h> <img src="{att_link}jh060513.png" href="{att_link}jh060513.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Jack Higgins - Wiretapping No Big Deal" scale="75%"> This cartoon from Jack Higgins shows an obnoxious commuter loudly declaiming intimate details to his fellow commuters while talking on a cell phone. The rather too--obvious point is that since Americans seem willing to give away their personal lives anyway, where's the harm in the government taking it away in the name of fighting terror? Whether Americans know that it is the fourth amendment that protects them from illegal searches and seizures is beside the point. It is there to protect their rights regardless of how ignorant they are of it. And even the boor depicted in the cartoon is protected by it, regardless of what the right-wing media and the Bush administration would have you believe. Applying the logic of this cartoon to other situations is illuminating: a person willing to have sex should not mind being raped; a person willing to jump out of an airplane should not mind being pushed. It's bullshit of the highest order riding on the coattails of a gut reaction against the obnoxious. <hr> <ft>The American version of "Music Star" for European readers.</ft> <ft>Except for the Zionist/Holocaust-denying crap, which seems to be just as much a part of the plebeian-pleasing part of Iranian rhetoric as "evildoers" and "Axis of Evil" are for America</ft>