‘Mia madre!! Those pesky editorial cartoons. There must be some conspiracy. Why? Because they always belittle the things I cherish!”
Really? I know some feel that way. But do the facts support it?
First, a little history on editorial cartoons.
Where it all began
If caricature — which artistically parodies an individual — is a main part of editorial cartoons, do you know who started this whole thing?
None other than Leonardo da Vinci. Mia madre di nuovo! Da Vinci would sketch out the ideal type of deformity so he then could figure out the ideal form of beauty. I would love to see that deformed Mona Lisa.
The point? Blame da Vinci if you’d like.
Want more? Who began the cartoons in newspapers here? Well that would likely be one of the great men in U.S. history: Mr. Benjamin Franklin.
Remember the great drawing of that cut-up snake with the line “Join or Die” under it? Had to do with the Colonies. Well, that snake is considered the first political cartoon in America. It ended up being published in virtually every newspaper on the continent.
Flash forward
Now that we have the history lesson out of the way, let’s move to present times. Editorial cartoons certainly are opinionated and certainly can be pretty intense.
Usually it’s this intensity — especially if it’s directed at your cause or your political favorite — that cranks folks up.
But are the cartoons always liberal or conservative? Well, they could be. Remember it’s opinion and if a newspaper wants to do that on its Opinion page, so be it.
However most newspapers, including The Columbian, like to move the love around. Equal opportunity bashers, if you will.
The charge
Not everyone, however, sees it that way. Take John Brooks.
“I find that your cartoons are always against the GOP. Now tell me it’s just me because I find the C drifting toward the abyss.”
The short answer to John would have been “It’s just you.” Truth is, however, others feel it as well.
But feeling it doesn’t make it true.
In fact our editorial page editor took the time to count cartoons that likely would be considered negative toward liberals. He counted at least a dozen in the past few weeks.
I did suggest that it’s human nature for all of us — including me — to remember things that support the premise we put forward. We tend to conveniently forget things that move us away from our premise.
Now John Brooks, in my view, is a very good guy. Not many out there — even after being shown the facts — would give the facts an honest look. John did.
“My mind sees only the one side at times and I need to open up a bit more to your suggestion.
“For a centrist conservative like me, who favors conservatism, my sensitivity to extremes are heightened. I will try to expand my mind to take in more of the landscape of the political playing field.”
I think Leonardo and Benjamin would both be proud.
Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.
