From the The Miami Herald regarding the cartoon above:
Xavier Bonilla may have the least funny job in comedy. A prolific and scathing cartoonist for El Universo, one of Ecuador?s major newspapers, he has been sued by the president, reprimanded by congress and flooded with hate mail for his work.
Even so, the threat he received last week was sobering. A note sent to the newspaper claimed to be from a 22-year-old Ecuadorean member of the Islamic State. The author took issue with Bonilla?s cartoon that depicted IS members destroying ancient statues for representing ?infidel culture? and then complaining that their Internet connection was too slow to upload a video.
The article indicates that Bonil eventually doesn’t believe the threat is credible, but two thoughts cross my mind: the Islamic censorship of cartoonists has jumped the Atlantic (or at least attempted censorship) and secondly, given the gravity of the atrocities against cartoonists in Europe and the Middle east in general, any threats suggesting a tie to Islamic extremists carry a lot of weight – something the 22-year old issuing the threat against Bonil exploited.
Such is the state we’re in now as cartoonists.
Bonil is poking a hole through ISIS hypocrisy, something that is a cartoonists first duty. Bonil, you make cartoonists all over the world feel proud of their profession, and give them courage to stay faithful to the truth.
It appears that if you’re an editorial cartoonist and you haven’t been threatened by ISIS yet, you’re either irrelevant or your work isn’t very compelling. Step it up. Drawing bags under Hillary’s eyes day after day just doesn’t cut it.