I hadn’t pulled Ed Hall‘s cartoon out of the pile, despite having seen Dear Leader’s tweet in which he, yes, invoked “global warming” in the face of the Polar Vortex.
First of all, I hated that movie. I don’t see much difference between the disabled person who teaches us all a lesson about life and the Magical Negro whose role likewise is based on being able to teach us because he’s not one of us.
It’s that word “us” that gets under my skin. I tend to think they are “us,” too.
In any case, I didn’t dislike the cartoon but it didn’t blow me away, until I saw cartoons that built on the way right-wingers had “misinterpreted” AOC’s reference to a United Nations report on climate change which stated that we’re in grave danger of hitting a point of no return in 12 years if we don’t step up corrective efforts.
Those cartoons then used the Polar Vortex to further mock that prediction — and to mock her — because, golly, it’s cold out.
There comes a point where stupidity is the kindest explanation for a cartoon, and the question raised in Hall’s cartoon, a direct quote from the movie, is too kind.
One valid point from that movie is that mental incapacity is not the issue. I’ve known a fair number of intellectually disabled people, and they don’t make the same mistake repeatedly, even if they can’t understand why it isn’t right.
Honesty and competence are the issues: Are you deliberately lying or are you totally incompetent?
And so the question from this end becomes, is it more insulting to accuse someone of being wrong because they are too lazy to chase down the facts, or of knowing the facts and deliberately spreading not “spin” but straight-up dishonest propaganda?
Dear Leader has shown himself to be too lazy to find the facts. He’s too lazy to show up for work on time, too lazy to listen during briefings, too lazy to read through full-length briefing papers.
It appears to be a compulsion rather than a deliberate choice, but that may be a distinction without a difference.
Juxtaposition of the Day
And he’s belligerent in defense of his ignorance when people who know what they are talking about oppose the opinions he holds dear.
However, the question before the nation is not Donald Trump’s capacity. The man says things that are not true at a spectacular rate, forcing his administration to scramble in an attempt to find some factual basis for the unfounded things he says.
But we know that. He began spinning his own fables from the very start of his administration, to the point where it had to be explained as “alternative facts.”
Which brings us to this panel from a longer Ward Sutton cartoon that you should go read, in which he examines how the various apologists for Trump would respond if he actually did shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue. (He admits he drew it some time ago, which would explain Flake’s presence.)
That’s really the issue: It’s not just right-wing cartoonists who pretend to believe ridiculous things and who take absurd, transparently false positions.
A certain amount of energy goes to keeping the President from looking incompetent, but it’s basically all in the service of maintaining power, in government, in business, in lobbying for the laws that govern our daily lives.
Meanwhile …
As Patrick Chappatte illustrates, the situation in Venezuela is far from clear, with the only plain fact being that the country has a good supply of petroleum for whoever ends up backing the winner.
I heard on NPR last night that Venezuelan imports are only 11 percent of our total need, and so we could do without them.
In other words, if we don’t get our national pride tangled up in it, we don’t need to fix this situation, nor do we need to screw it up.
I wish I felt our needs were in the drivers’ seat, but at least we’re not standing alone in backing the rebel government.
Quite.
Flashback
Here’s a Phil Hands cartoon from August, 2017, that deserves to be hauled out, dusted off and reposted, and here’s what I said about it then.
The triumphant announcement at the White House included the information, as reported — a bit skeptically — by the Journal Sentinel:
At 20 million square feet, the factory would be three times the size of the Pentagon, making it one of the largest manufacturing campuses in the nation. It would initially employ 3,000 workers making an average of $53,900 a year plus benefits and could eventually boast more than four times that.
Or, as it turns out, possibly not, to the great surprise of just about nobody except Donald Trump and Scott Walker.
“This is a great day for American workers and manufacturers and everyone who believes in the concept and the label ‘Made in the USA,'” the President said, but it turns out, they’re not going to have a factory producing flat screen TVs after all.
Instead, they’re going to have a technology hub.
And incentives.
A technology hub with incentives.
And beans. Lots and lots of magic beans.
From the Land of Hot Wings and Cold Nights:
Finally today, I’ll note this disturbing cartoon from Adam Zyglis, disturbing not for what it says but for whence it originates.
When the folks in Buffalo complain about the weather, it’s time to sit up and take notice.
The nice thing about Buffalo is that they expect this sort of weather: Nobody tries to be chic between December and March, and there are places downtown where you can get from here to there without going outside at all.
Zyglis not only lives there but is a native, so, when he finds the weather worthy of comment, be glad you’re seeing that comment from a distance.
Though if you are seeing it close up, just remember that it could be worse.
And has been:
I liked Ed Hall’s cartoon.
I assume it referenced a movie… but not one I’m familiar with. It worked quite well anyway.
The link tells you the movie. https://youtu.be/PIhD2TTc1kI