[icopyright one button toolbar]
I generally like the political cartoons by talented Mike Peters, our guest cartoonist.
However, I feel somewhat uncomfortable with his “National Security Threat” cartoon posted at TMV today.
The cartoon shows a young kid dressed in ISIL-like attire, wielding a knife à la “Jihadi John,” saying — while standing where his parents, who are reading books, cannot see him — “I’m joining a group that threatens homeland security.”
The next cartoon picture shows his parents jumping for joy, shouting, “Our son’s joining the Republicans.”
While I solidly support freedom of expression by cartoonists, satirists, et al — I did in fact join the “Je Suis Charlie” movement — I feel, as I said, uncomfortable when we use the sheer evil of ISIL to make a political point.
That is why I felt very uncomfortable when I heard how probable GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker of Wisconsin — to the applause and cheers of a CPAC audience — responded to a question on how he, Walker, would handle ISIL if he were elected President.
Walker said, obviously referring to how he fought pro-labor supporters, “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the globe.”
In all fairness, after his presentation, Walker told reporters “You all will misconstrue things the way you see fit…but I think it’s pretty clear, that’s the closest thing I have in terms of handling a difficult situation, not that there’s any parallel between the two.”
His spokeswoman, Kirsten Kukowski, later released the following statement:
Governor Walker believes our fight against ISIS is one of the most important issues our country faces. He was in no way comparing any American citizen to ISIS. What the governor was saying was when faced with adversity he chooses strength and leadership. Those are the qualities we need to fix the leadership void this White House has created.
I still feel uncomfortable.
Read, “Wisconsin, Workers and the 2016 Election,” here
Lead image: www.shutterstock.com
