shaft.ed and Quag's political & reused pics respectively

[Thesp]

I sent this to kristocker this morning - I found it particularly moving.

[Thesp]

I don't understand what is moving about it. You have a caricature of a small percentage of the Muslim community juxtaposed with our recent helpful efforts in Haiti. Sure what people from all over the world (including the US) are doing in Haiti is heroic and should be celebrated, but I don't know if it amends for all of the negative impact we've had on the country.

When I saw it, I thought about how the people I know and love around me have been moved and been sorrowful at the terrible destruction in Haiti, and how most of them have done something, anything for those in dire need. They do this not from knowing any Haitians or from expecting anything in return. I then thought of those select few you mention (be they Muslim or otherwise), who hate others for being different, and see my friends and loved ones as "beyond redemption", and who seek the death and terror of those same compassionate people. It made me sorrowful and almost brought me to tears both at the compassion my fellow human has for those in need, and for the radical disconnect that a small portion of the world has with that compassion.

I know well that our government (who are our representatives) have engaged in policies which have negatively impacted Haiti. I also know well that a select few in the US have dismissed this disaster as an expected consequence of some sin of the Haitian people. Yet I also saw everything I described above. I am sorry for you if a cold and cynical eye has kept your heart cold upon observing this profound disconnect between those of humanity that wish to give, and those of humanity that wish to destroy.

[Thesp]

Thanks for sharing Thesp. I better understand where you are coming from, and did see this through my fairly jaded prism. But I really still take offense to what I feel is a caricature of Muslims, and putting Americans up on a pedestal as if we are somehow special in our worry and aid for Haiti.

I didn't see the man on the left as a caricature for muslims, but as a caricature for suicide bombers. I try to be sensitive to such things, perhaps I have overlooked something here.

see my friends and loved ones as "beyond redemption", and who seek the death and terror of those same compassionate people.

Do you not think there are plenty of Americans that have wrongly wished death on just as compassionate people in the Muslim world? That's what really bothers me about this cartoon. You could just as easily switch the roles and the disaster, and still have it be accurate.

Sure there are some, but I don't think it's as marked. I'm also not aware of Americans who have tried to bomb civilians. (I recognize there are numerous issues with war at play here, yet even in those cases, it appears to be policy to avoid civilian and even military loss as much as possible within war.) I agree there are scumbags in the U.S. who are short-sighted as well, but I've seen very few who make it their life's mission to cause death in other nations by virtue of being in other nations.

So when do we get the cartoon of the American white supremacist or Bill Kristol calling for the deaths of innocent brown people that are digging through the rubble caused by man made disasters trying to help out their neighbors?

Like these?



This hatred is also a travesty and a shame.

[Thesp]

That's some of the most horrid scales on a graph I've ever seen. Terrible representation of data.