Before you can turn one set of people against another, to get them to do things to fellow human beings they would normally never consider, you must first dehumanize them.
The Washington Post Cartoon:
And Nazi propaganda:
Ann Telnaes is a Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist and graduate of the California Institute of the Arts. She is familiar with the power of art, the messaging of art, and if she doesn't understand the iconography she is using, she should demand a refund from CalArts and return her Pulitzer.
Let's take a closer look.
These are State Attorneys General, the foremost law enforcement officer in these states together with elected congressional representatives.
Rats are a frequent feature in her Trump-related cartoons. Here's another from November.
There are many more.
But Sunday's cartoon took an ugly turn. Naming names, if you will, and captioning the cartoon with this:
"All of the state attorneys general and U.S. Congress members who collaborated with President Trump in his attempt to subvert the Constitution and stay in office."
"Collaborated."
"Subvert."
She is accusing political opponents, elected representatives of the people, who are exercising their right under the Constitution "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"... of treason.
What are we to take away from such a cartoon? What do we learn that we didn't before? What possible motivation could there be for a clearly talented artist to depict political opponents as ugly vermin?
Telnaes is an interesting person. She came out in opposition to Gary Trudeau's statements about the Charlie Hebdo cartoon and following killings, standing firm for the notion of freedom of speech. I applaud her for that.
But Trump Derangement Syndrome runs broad and deep, and while she has every right to depict political opponents as vermin, and I support that right, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
Trump supporters have been attacked and in some instances killed for their political beliefs. I hold no one responsible for those actions other than the perpetrators.
But I think people like Ann Telnaes should not contribute to the climate that fuels that kind of anger.
This cartoon is not humorous. It is not insightful, telling, or informative.
It's rage.
