They are not amused.Byline: The Register-Guard The pen may be mightier than the sword, but that won't stop people from drawing their swords if the pen is used to create an inflammatory editorial cartoon This article or section deals primarily with the United States and Canada and does not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. . Cartoonists' power to provoke outrage is on display at home and abroad this week. On the home front, the nation's top military brass accuse Washington Post editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. The most common outlet for political cartoonists is the editorial page of the newspaper not the dedicated comic section, Tom Toles Thomas Gregory Toles (born October 22, 1951) is a United States political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Similar to Oliphant's use of his character Punk, Toles also tends to include a small doodle, usually a small caricature of of a "callous cal·lous adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a callus or callosity. callous of the nature of a callus; hard. depiction" of soldiers who "have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds." Abroad, fury is mounting over what many Muslims believe are blasphemous blas·phe·mous adj. Impiously irreverent. [Middle English blasfemous, from Late Latin blasph caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The unusually harsh criticism from the Joint Chiefs was directed at a cartoon depicting a heavily bandaged patient in a hospital bed. The patient's medical chart was labeled "U.S. Army." At bedside stood Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, dressed as a doctor, saying: ``I'm listing your condition as `battle hardened.' '' The Register-Guard published the cartoon on Tuesday. A pointed letter to The Post signed by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said, "While you or some of your readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, we believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly self·less adj. Having, exhibiting, or motivated by no concern for oneself; unselfish: "Volunteers need both selfish and selfless motives to sustain their interest" Natalie de Combray. serve our country the decency to not make light of their tremendous physical sacrifices." Noble and appropriate sentiments, shared by the editors of The Post and The Register-Guard. The problem is, the generals apparently didn't get the cartoon. Toles, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, was using the bandaged figure to represent the institution of the U.S. Army, as the patient chart clearly signaled. More to the point: The cartoon is based on Rumsfeld's remarks last week. In rejecting warnings by a Pentagon-sponsored study that the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. risks "breaking" the Army, he said the U.S. military is "battle hardened." In the manner of all effective editorial cartoons, Toles used a simple visual analogy to make his point. The doctor (Rumsfeld) issues a diagnosis (``battle hardened'') at odds with the obvious condition of his patient (the Army, the subject of the report - not individual soldiers). The meaning of the cartoon is so clear that it suggests the criticism from the Joint Chiefs was motivated by something other than righteous indignation Righteous indignation is an emotion one feels when one becomes angry over perceived mistreatment, insult, or malice. In some Christian doctrines, righteous indignation is considered the only form of anger which is not sinful. over insensitivity toward the troops. These commanders have more important things to do than combat unflattering cartoons. |
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