Categorical Aperitif

I ran across this cartoon today at Slate:

I'm sorry that I have to ask, but...you do know that those much-hyped reports that the outgoing Democrats trashed the White House in 2001 turned out to be, well, false—don't you? Because if you didn't know that, it would mean that you are woefully ignorant about a matter of public import about which you have seen fit to comment. Now, we're all ignorant in various ways, about various things, but don't we have a moral duty not to dress up our ignorance as knowledge and to pass it along to others as such? What do you think?

And if you do know that those stories were false, well, why are you referring to them in today's cartoon as if they are true? Because if you know that these stories are false but you're publicly pretending otherwise in order to score some cheap political point, well, that would pretty much make you a shameless liar, wouldn't it?

Or is your cartoon meant to poke fun at those foolish Americans who still believe lies like those about the supposed White House vandalism—despite the fact that they were debunked long ago? This would be the most charitable interpretation of your cartoon; however, there are no signs in the cartoon that its target is, say, the kind of misleading media outlets (like Fox and Drudge) that help to make fools of such Americans. No; the only clear target in the cartoon is "the Clintons." Put it this way: if you meant to poke fun at media-transmitted lies and the people who foolishly believe them, then you didn't do it very well.

So which is it? Are you (a) woefully ignorant, (b) a shameless liar, or (c) an inept cartoonist?

This is a rhetorical question; I don't really expect an answer. Frankly, after six years of George W. Bush, I've stopped caring whether people like you are best described as (a) ignorant, (b) mendacious, or (c) incompetent. I see hopeful signs that more and more Americans are learning to stop caring about what people like you say and think. And who can blame us? If more of us had stopped listening to people like you a few years ago, we'd be thousands of lives and billions of dollars richer today.

I look forward to a future where people like you are, at best, critical oddities rather than figures of any public importance or influence.

Hasten the day,

--nash

Labels: editorial cartoons

// posted by nash @ 3:23 PM