July 27, 2011

Cagle's Tea Party cartoon



Comment:  I agree with this cartoon's message, but the image is borderline stereotypical. The original Tea Party protesters were angry at the British--but with reason. They threw the tea overboard as a calculated stratagem, to send a message, not in a fit of madness.

Today's Tea Partiers are this irrational--witness their lies and hypocrisies on a host of issues. But the cartoon equates their irrationality with the alleged "wildness" of Indians. Again, the original protesters weren't this "savage," but Indians supposedly are. The cartoon plays on that stereotype.

I'm not sure how Cagle could've done the cartoon without using the stereotype. And I think it conveys a useful message. I guess I have mixed feelings about it.

For more on political cartoons, see 19th-Century Cartoons About Indians and Indians Shoot Arrows in New Yorker Cartoon.

3 comments:

John R. Platt said...

That's not by Daryl Cagle, just published at his online cartoon repository. The cartoon itself is by Jeff Parker.

I'm also of mixed minds on the cartoon, but those faces crack me up.

dmarks said...

without them, what... OBama would be offering to double the entire national debt in 6 years? Instead the 10 years he offered as a compromise?

Jaine said...

Why couldn't he have just drawn the cartoon with people wearing business attire. The expressions and the labels on the cases get the message across.