The media is the message

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I personally am torn. Anyone who knows me or has read this column very regularly knows I’m hard to shut up. Meanwhile I’d wanted to be a cartoonist when I grew up since I was in fourth or fifth grade.

Some look down on cartooning, like it’s too easy or appeals too much to our lowest common denominators and doesn’t require us to read or think as much as writing. Not so, seeing and scanning is thinking just as hard, it just involves a different region of your brain and takes a lot less time.
It takes me almost as long to draw, scan, and process a clean, professional looking cartoon as it does to write a column. More importantly, cartooning has a long and prestigious history that goes back as far as printing itself.

When Guttenburg invented the press, Europe was engulfed in the controversy of the excesses of renaissance and the revolutionary social and political changes of the Reformation. The vast majority of the population couldn’t read, just emerging from the dark ages and all, but they could understand editorial cartoons. So Lutherans drew the pope as a jackass, and Catholics drew Martin Luther as an “instrumental of the devil” (his face as a bag-pipe played by a gargoyle).

Benjamin Franklin, scientist, philosopher, inventor, civic and business leader, humorist, diplomat, statesman, and chick-magnet was also, among other things, one of America’s first editorial cartoonists. His lampoon of the famous “Don’t tread on me” rattle snake flag, that patriot troops flew, featured the snake hacked-up into 13 pieces. His point was the colonies needed to unite if they were going to stand up against British rule.

Paul Revere of midnight ride fame, was also a cartoonist. Yes, you’re right- he was a silversmith. But see, back then cartoons had to be engraved in order to be printed. Whereas today we draw ‘em, scan ‘em and place them into layouts on a computer. So, since he knew how to engrave flourishes and decorative scenes onto his silver tea pots and vases, he also knew how to engrave a cartoon critical of the British onto a printer’s plate.

The real father of modern editorial cartooning had to be Thomas Nast. He was a tubby little German immigrant kid who got beat up in school for not being able to speak English well enough. He discovered that he could win friends by drawing caricatures that made fun of the school bullies.

During the Civil War he worked as a illustrator for Harper’s magazine. They were the Time or Newsweek of the day.

Photography was in it’s infancy. The lens had to stay open for a long time so action shots were impossible. Subjects had to sit still or show up as a blur. They didn’t have digital cameras or even convenient 35 mm rolls of film. Pictures were shot onto big lunky plates of glass. Consequently, publications like Harper’s sent artists like Nast with their sketchbooks to the battlefield, then they’d go home and draw detailed engravings to give readers a realistic picture of the war.

Nast maybe most revered by cartoonists for taking down the corrupt political machine of William “Boss” Tweed run out of Tammany Hall in New York City. But most Americans know him by his symbols.

He’s the guy who came up with the Republican elephant; big rich fat-cat, slow to change, never forgets old issues. He’s also responsible for the Democratic donkey; working class, agriculture, and immigrants, stubborn and sometimes a jackass.

As if those two weren’t enough, he’s responsible for another American icon. In 1884 he was asked to illustrate a children’s poem entitled “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Before Nast, Americans were used to a tall skinny Dutch “Saint Nicholas,” or a tall skinny British “Father Christmas.” Now, thanks to an editorial cartoonist, Americans had their fat, jolly Santa in a furry red suit.

I could go on and on about how cartoonists brought us Uncle Sam and the Teddy Bear or what an uproar it made in the Islamic world when the prophet Mohammed showed up in a cartoon. But instead, I should just encourage you to enjoy looking at funny pictures.

With the new publisher’s indulgence, I’d like to humbly offer you some editorials cartoons along with this column. If you’re disappointed with the political positions they seem to take, be patient. I hope to try my best to be an equal opportunity offender. The Elephants happen to hold power, but that doesn’t mean that donkeys never do anything worth making fun of.

See all my cartoons in color at http://tedstoons.blogspot.com/

"Write something worth reading or do something worth writing about" ~Ben Franklin

There's definitely a problem with the upper lip, and with the mouth and nose not lining up, and I'm still not happy with the right eye. At least by posting this, you can compare it to the previous version.

Advice on your 228th Birthday

by Poor Richard Saunders (A.K.A. Ben Franklin, guest of Mr. Ted Mallory)


Seeing as I am a good seventy years your elder, I’d like to pass on some advice. Not that I’m so wise, but frankly, I’ve noticed that you seem to be going through a bit of a mid-life crisis lately.

Before my 214 year-long sabbatical from writing I often advocated seven virtues:

1. An aversion to tyranny

A tyrant wields their power unjustly and arbitrarily. Tyrants seek absolute power. They assume they are above reproach and beyond scrutiny. Be vigilant against collective tyrants- for a tyrant may be a movement or a way of thinking just as easily as it may be a person.

Don’t let your leaders taste too much power for too long, lest they glut themselves upon it at the expense of your liberties. “Throw the bums out, I say. It may be perfectly responsible to vote against all incumbents on occasion, regardless of their party or what good they have done in office. In order to work right democracy needs balance. Balance is achieved by what scientists call “dynamic tension,” I call it change and struggle.

A hallmark of middle-age is becoming just like your parents. When you think you’ve lost your way, think back to how Britain treated you, and make sure you don’t behave that same way toward others.

2. A Free press

It could be your best defense against tyranny. Unfortunately reporters have become parasites. They don’t challenge politicians because they don’t want to be cut off.

Today’s media is a slave to money. In my day, journalism was a public service, today it’s big business. Rather than covering what’s important, they cover what sells.

3. A sense of humor

If you laugh about your faults before your adversaries even have a chance to point them out, you have disarmed them. When you take yourself too seriously you fall under the tyranny of your own self righteousness.

Of course, a spoonful of sugar also helps the medicine go down. People are much more likely to listen and learn, even be persuaded if they’re also given a laugh.

4. Humility

What makes you think you know everything there is to know and that you are always right about everything? “Pride goeth before the fall.” If I truly believe that “All men are created equal,” then I have no right to think that anyone is beneath me. Jesus himself chose to be the servant of all. Perhaps we’d do well to imitate him more closely.

5. A healthy balance of idealism and realism

Pray like it all depends on God, then work like it all depends on you. Practical people base their decisions on observation, evidence and what works. If you base your decisions on your passions, you’ll shipwreck your life. On the other hand, people without principles are like ships without anchors. Nature demands balance. What good is it to try to fly a kite without holding onto it by a string?

Richard Nixon was effective, but unprincipled. Jimmy Carter has noble character, but people perceive him as ineffective. Besides, one person’s ideas always seem to be at odds with someone else’s. If one believes in civil rights and social justice, another will believe in state’s rights and criminal justice. Both will accuse the other of being immoral.

As Scripture says, “be shrewd as serpents yet as innocent as doves.”

6. Compromise

People don’t remember that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that slavery was immoral and should end. Southern Congressmen refused to pass the Declaration unless we removed that paragraph. John Adams was fit to be tied! I’d been against slavery for decades, but I had to convince Jefferson and Adams to let it go. Compromise is an ugly business and there are certainly times to stand your ground, but more good has been done by compromise than by bull-headed stubbornness.

7. Tolerance

Why has this become such a dirty word lately? There wouldn’t be a Fourth of July if we hadn’t compromised on slavery. The self-righteous New Englanders had to tolerate the self-righteous Southerners and vice versa. We all have the same Maker, alike objects of His care, equally designed for happiness, whether plantation-owning pompous-asses or Boston fish-wipes! If we are to get anywhere in this life we must agree to disagree and allow each other to peacefully coexist.

Only when you start with the assumption that everyman is your equal can you begin to talk about what ideas and policies are right and wrong, rather than which person or group is good and bad. Then maybe we’ll live up to our motto- “E Pluribus Unum,” one from many.

Let the Maker sort out the good from the bad, that’s not our place but His anyway. Trust that in due time He’ll intervene on behalf of just causes, just as He did for the cause of American Independence.

Happy Birthday, old girl!

Your friend and servant,

R Saunders

Quotations from millionaire publisher/former U.S. diplomat to France may provide blueprint for nation-building after Iraqi conflict

"How few there are who have courage enough to own their Faults, or resolution enough to mend them!" ~ Ben Franklin, 1743

I admit it, I’m not always right. In the last two columns I alluded to the likelihood that the war with Iraq would go quickly. It looks like my assumption was wrong. Whether it’s because of loyalty to Saddam, fear of Saddam, or resentment of foreign intrusion, not all Iraqis appear to be appreciative of our efforts to liberate them.

In last week’s column I talked about a "sanitized" image we were receiving of the war, that made it look exciting, like a video game.

Since then it has become difficult to watch or even listen to war coverage. Now, I think we’ve been subjected to too much harsh reality. It’s certainly something I’d like to shelter my toddlers from.

As of my writing this last Friday (March 28th), we may still have not found a "smoking gun" that links Saddam Hussein’s regime to Alqueda or September 11, and we may not have uncovered stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but we have found pretty condemning circumstantial evidence. There were the thousands of chemical weapon protective suits, why would they need those?

Then there was the mistreatment of American P.O.W.s. Not only was using them for propaganda purposes a violation of the Geneva Convention, but from all appearances, the Iraqis have executed them. If I dragged my feet about going to war, that convinced me that we have no choice now but to finish the job.

According to British military officials, Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra, in Southern Iraq, fired mortars and machine guns Friday on thousands of civilians trying to leave that besieged city.

Surely after we’ve been there longer, providing aid and food, more Iraqis will warm up to us and realize prefer the devil they don’t know to the one they’ve known for more than two decades.

A greater problem may be the rest of the Islamic world. Winning the peace will be far more complicated than winning the war.

My opinion is that too often, American foreign policy has been like the eagle who dropped a quill. An Indian brave finds the quill and uses it to craft an arrow. Then he shoots the arrow at the eagle. Whether it was supporting despots to contain Communism, oil companies and the CIA meddling in the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan or favoring Israel over the Palestinians, we haven’t made a lot of friends in the Middle East over the years.

"He that sows thorns, should never go barefoot." ~ Ben Franklin, 1756.

The aftermath of the Second Gulf War will be a tremendous opportunity to change the way we are viewed in the region and the world..

First of all, we have to bring our European friends and allies back on board. The U.N. is still the best apparatus we have for providing aid and structuring any sort of a government in Iraq. This will also go a long way in restoring our stature throughout the world. At one time Muslims saw us as a bad guy, now seems like everyone does.

"Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults." ~Ben Franklin, 1756

The other thing we need to do is stick around and help, no matter the cost.

Today is an important anniversary. On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan into law. This program channeled more than $13 billion in aid to Europe between 1948 and 1951. It sparked economic recovery in Europe, devastated by World War II, it also saved the U.S. from a postwar recession by providing a greater market for our goods. The White House estimated the cost of 30 days of war with Iraq at approximately $80 Billion. What would happen if we spent just $20B on food, medicine and shelter for the Iraqis and the Afghans?

According to then Secretary of State George C. Marshall "Our policy (was) directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist."

President Kennedy had similar aims with his proposals for the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps. If we sell people weapons, eventually they’ll use them against us. If we bring them doctors and farming and bridges and dams and canals they will consider us friends rather than bullies.
"Where there is Hunger, Law is not regarded; and where Law is not regarded, there will be Hunger." ~ Ben Franklin, 1755, "Wars bring scars." ~ Ben Franklin, 1745