The Armpit of Creativity: Political Cartoonists

I have been an avid reader of newspapers for 25 years now. I enjoy most sections of the paper -- local/national news, business, sports, etc.

The one thing I can't stand are political cartoons. Having seen literally thousands of them, I can't remember one that was creative, witty or funny. It's like reading a Cathy comic strip, or watching Family Matters.

You would think that it wouldn't be too hard for a professional to introduce some wit into one single cell comic, just once, but the task just seems impossible.

You've probably heard of the recent NY Post political cartoon, in which the artist depicted a gorilla getting shot by a cop, and his partner saying, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." This "insightful" cartoon was supposed to depict the shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut that had attacked a friend of it's owner. But this artist's great, creative mind somehow linked this to the latest stimulus bill President Obama fought to get passed. To me it's pure racism.

I'm not sure if the artist was fired for the insensitive piece, but if (s)he wasn't, the person should be. And, if they don't do it for racism, how about just plain stupidity. How is that statement in the least bit funny, or even thought provoking? It's not, it's just some moron who has to push out a comic a day and has no bright ideas. I can already see Monday morning's political cartoon in my local paper: Bernie Madoff strung up by his balls, with the single word, "Justice" in the foreground. Oh wait, that would never fly, it actually does have a touch of humor in it.

I think this lack of creativity and humor is an industry-wide problem. They need to take every political cartoonist at every paper in the country and get rid of them. They just take up space with useless drivel, in a medium that continues to lose space for real news while ad dollars dwindle. Perhaps it's the politcal cartoonist that is leading to the demise of the daily newspaper? It's worth a shot trying to find out. Let's get rid of these ass clowns and see if subscriptions start to increase again.

RoadRage