What's In a Name?
In Monday's comments, responding to Jean and myself, Kate asked what underlying meanings the cartoon contained. A valid question. The problem is that it would lose something in the telling. It's a bit like asking a pianist to just play the harmony without the melody. The fact is that it doesn't really matter. The cartoon should stand by itself, anything else is liable to be subjective. Suffice it to say, rather than romanticizing pirates it plays off the popular cliches and stereotypes of erstwhile pirates, not, however those that ply the China Sea and elsewhere today. It's the romanticizing of democracy that worries me, the way we've allowed a "criminal' element to trash our system of government while we cling to sanitized notions of who we are and what we stand for.
posted by John M Crowther @ 7:25 AM
20 Comments:
I vote the rabbit be named Cyrano de Bergerac.
I have not been posting lately for various reasons but have read the comments with great interest. Reading the cartoons, then standing back, waiting for comments of others has been an enlightening experience. It is amazing how we all see the cartoons in different ways. That must be part of the enjoyment of being the cartoonist. I envy you, John C. Each day you create a piece of art that makes people think and then react, the dream of most artists.
John... this cartoon doesn't by chance have anything to do with the British teacher deported from Sudan for allowing one of her pupils to name his teddy after the prophet Mohammad... does it? Man... what a bunfight THAT was!
Oh Jean! Of course it does! It's brilliant! I love it!
For those who do not speak Pirate, AARGH! (sometimes spelled AAARGH!) is a deep guttural sound made by sea brigands, often as they brandish a sword in front of their captives. It has no known meaning, although some scholars content that it is shortened bastardization of a blasphemy against the diety. The notion that one such pirate would wait for his crew to carry these letters with him on land is a distinctly humorous one, and should in no way cause offense to pirates, families of pirates and/or their relatives here and abroad.
“It's the romanticizing of democracy that worries me, the way we've allowed a "criminal' element to trash our system of government while we cling to sanitized notions of who we are and what we stand for.”
The romanticizing of democracy! As per usual, wonderfully put by Mr. Crowther. There was talk on the tube last night that the use of water-boarding is not only in blatant violation of the Geneva Convention, but the United States military manual defining torture as well. I for one find such tactics not only immoral but criminal, and may those who perpetuated it in the name of protecting democracy from terrorism be duly punished for their crimes against humanity.
Our government is far from perfect, but we can at least, be assured that if the rabbit had been named Jesus Christ the teacher would not have faced government backed death threats.
I see lots of criticism of the US here. So just WHERE do people here think is a better place to live, on average?
Perhaps, anonymous(2), you're missing the point a wee bit. Nobody and nothing is exempt from criticism. The pursuit of improvement demands it, especially when one sees a marked erosion in precisely those aspects of our society of which we once were and still wish to be proud. I for one get weary of the "if you don't like it here go live somewhere else" argument. As they say in the back country, that dog don't hunt.
"So just WHERE do people here think is a better place to live, on average?"
America is still one of the freest countries in the world, but let us not forget that there will always be those amongst us who wish to take this freedom away because we happen to disagree with them. Today, with the excuse that anything goes when it comes to protecting us from the threat of international terrorism, our civil rights, particularly those of privacy, are being eroded. Private citizen's phones are being wiretapped, torture is being sanctioned and the inalienable right of habeus corpus denied. This is not the free country our founders envisioned. This is the subversion of the democratic ideal. This is the first step to facism.
No, I think it is you who misses the point.
"Better to light a candle than curse the darkness".
And I'm still waiting for someone here to suggest a country on which the US should pattern it's government.
My problem is with those in charge that are doing their level best to extinguish the flames of freedom, personal choice, institutional accountablity, integrity, honesty, and decency. And let's not kid ourselves into thinking there wouldn't be a hue and cry in a community where a teacher allowed students to name a bunny rabbit The Little Lord Jesus.
I've lived in Italy, which has a functioning parliamentary democracy, arguably greater freedom of speech than we have here, and where the euro is far stronger than the dollar. Indeed, I'd posit that the parliamentary decocracy, as in Great Britain, makes more sense than our system of governance, allowing, as it does, for a prime minister who loses the faith of the electorate to be shown the door.
As has just happened in Australia... (and not such a bad place to live - I wouldn't hesitate to add!) (grin)
oh and... would the real anonymous please stand up? Getting more than a tad confused here... (((chuckles)))
I, too, have lived in Italy. Also in Great Britain, Germany, Canada and Belgium.
You must not live in Italy now, because it is well known as one of the most corrupt governments in the west.
According to the NRC Handelsblad some 60% of Italians answered with “disgust,” “anger” and “mistrust” to the question “what word comes to mind when you think about politics?”
I've lived the longest in Great Britain, where, I assure you, they problems the US suffers are magnified ten fold.
I suggest you read Crime, Law and Social Change Corruption and lying in a parliamentary democracy: British politics at the end of the twentieth century before you so blithely suggest that it is a better system.
A number of years ago I was having dinner with a well-known (in Italy) TV commentator and member of parliament. I asked him to explain something to me about about the Italian system. He answered with the joke about a man who came home from work early and discovered his wife naked in bed and a man's clothes lying on the floor. He discovered the man cowering in the closet and furiously asked him to explain himself. The man said he had been passing by and needed to go to the bathroom. He was, he said, just about to go when the man showed up. Realizing the situation was compromising he quickly hid. "Do you expect me to believe that?" the irate husband asked. "No," the man said, "but under the circumstances can you come up with a better explanation?"
The point getting lost here is that I have not now nor at any time criticized our system of government, just the people who are its current stewards. I speak not from anger at what they're perpetrating, but rather from fear.
(And I never answer "blithely." I deplore the use of snippy adjectives in civil discourse, he said haughtily.)
The thought of little old blue haired ladies issuing death threats because a kindergarten teacher named a bunny Jesus Christ makes me laugh.
Sorry, John, but I think you're going to have a difficult time justifying parallels between Muslim mobs frothing at the mouth demanding the death of the British teacher and Christians doing the same. Yes, there are Christian extremists: renegades who bomb abortion clinics and kill abortion doctors, and there are even churches who sanction such activities. But those individuals and groups are shunned by the mainstream Christian majority, and hunted down like the dangerous criminals that they are by our government.
By the way, for what it's worth (possibly not much) I do have some first-hand knowledge of current Italian politics. My wife ran for parliament in the most recent election, and I was inevitably her de facto advisor. The fact that she lost may say something about me, Italian politics, or the impossiblity of anyone knowing anything when it comes to politics, where there are no facts, only interpretations..
Actually, Kate, I feel no obligation to justify such a parallel because I never suggested there was one. My only desire is to look at things from as many different perspectives as I can. The view can be instructive. You said it better than I did, extremists are extremists no matter where they are.
My wife,who died in 2003, was aprofessional polician here in Michigan fo much of her adult life. She left politics because, in her words, "money is poisoning the process," As finance director for the last senatorial campaign of Phil Hart she told of rejecting large contributions because of the consequences the contributors expected. members of the senators staff objected but the Senator backed her up. When Phil hart left the Senate his replacement was Don Riegle who took with both hands. To my mind the question is not whether there is a better political system but how to make ours live up to its promise. roger
>>According to the NRC Handelsblad some 60% of Italians answered with “disgust,” “anger” and “mistrust” to the question “what word comes to mind when you think about politics?”<<
Hasn't the same question been asked of Americans? I would guess that the same percentage, or even higher, answered with “disgust,” “anger” and “mistrust.”
In defence of Italia, however, most Italians realize that politicians by definiton are crooks. For what reason, other than financial gain, would anyone want to be one? The greatest difference between them and us is that we seem to expect our leaders to be knights in shining armor leading a moral crusade,whereas history has shown us that both the Democrats and Republicans are so beholden to special-interest groups to finance their outlandishly expensive campaigns that neither party is free to act in the public interest. Italians may be cynical, but they are also by tradition realists.
Post a Comment
<< Home