The February of Our Discontent

Today's Graphical History Tour reminisces about my own cartoons — mostly — from Februaries ten, twenty, thirty, and forty years ago. First stop: the Windy City! Remember when Rupert Murdoch bought the morning tabloid?

in UW Parkside Ranger, Somers Wis., February 16, 1984

Under Murdoch, the previously Democrat-leaning Sun-Times editorial stance veered sharply to the right, and the news hole became infested with lurid, and not necessarily factual, sensationalism. Sun-Times columnist Roger Ebert complained about the paper featuring photos of bikini-clad "Wingo Girls," and deeply flawed "news" stories such as one accusing a North Shore rabbi of keeping a sex slave. Nor did he like the rather ugly headline font, which I aped in my cartoon.

Rupert Murdoch's ownership of the Chicago Sun-Times turned out to be short-lived; he sold the paper in 1986 in order to buy its sister television station, WFLD channel 32, upon which he built his Fox television network.

The consequences of Murdoch's media empire in the U.S. have proven to be more serious than grinding out his brand of tabloid sensationalism. By pushing an ever farther right-wing agenda in print and on television, and pretending that it is "fair and balanced," Murdoch has devoted his life to fanning the flames of insurrection and bringing the U.S. to the brink of fascism.

"There Goes Jesse to Syria" by Jack Higgins in Chicago Sun-Times, January 3, 1984

Since I've brought up the Sun-Times, I have to take note of the passing this week of its editorial cartoonist Jack Higgins at the age of 69. 

Higgins had started drawing for the Sun-Times a few years before Murdoch bought the paper, so you can't blame the Aussie for his later turn to the right. Drawing about Chicago politicians for two decades is bound to do that to a cartoonist. Chicago liberals, however, grew discouraged that only Higgins remained as leftist stalwarts Jacob Burck, John Fischetti (a legacy from the Daily News) and Bill Mauldin disappeared from the Sun-Times editorial page. 

Higgins's work eventually disappeared, too; until running a cartoon on the front page to announce his death, the Sun-Times hadn't printed an editorial cartoon for years.

Still, during the '80's, Higgins remained an equal opportunity critic. During the 1988 presidential campaign, Higgins drew a cartoon of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Dan Quayle "playing through" Vietnamese children fleeing a napalm attack (a parody of a famous photograph). The paper caught some local flack for printing that cartoon...

"Mind If I Play Through" originally in Chicago Sun-Times August 24, 1988

... but it won him and the Sun-Times the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

in UW-M Post, Milwaukee Wis., February 28, 1994

Returning to my own scribblings, but sticking with the topic of offensive cartoons, I drew this cartoon after an Israeli-American doctor, Baruch Goldstein, shot and killed 29 Palestinian worshipers, wounding 125 more, at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. This terrorist act took place during Purim and the holy month of Ramadan on February 25, 1994.

Goldstein was a member of the extremist Kach Movement of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. The movement agitated for the forced removal of all Palestinians from their homeland, and creation of a theocratic Jewish state in which only Jews would be citizens with the right to vote. Kach leaders issued statements in support of Goldstein's actions, and Kach was banned as a political party by the Knesset as a result.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been a touchy issue at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, which has vocal Jewish and Islamic student organizations. My crude ethnic caricatures were overshadowed by controversy over pro-Palestinian students posting in the student union a banner which included the Star of David to represent Israel.

Published on my old GeoCities page, February 2004

Jumping ahead to February of 2004: Vietnam War veteran John Kerry was the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. His campaign touted Kerry's military service, which stood in contrast to President George W. Bush's wartime service in the Texas National Guard.

Where Jack Higgins referenced the "Napalm Girl" photo to twit Dan Quayle's wartime service in the Indiana National Guard, I referenced "Operation Dewey Canyon III," in which a group of Vietnam veterans, including Mr. Kerry, tossed their service medals and ribbons at the U.S. Capitol to protest our army's incursions into Laos.

The Bush campaign succeeded in neutralizing the war service disparity thanks to scurrilous allegations against Kerry by a group of so-called "Swift Boat Veterans" — allegations played up and magnified by Rupert Murdoch's media empire. As a result, Kerry has the distinction of being the only Democratic presidential candidate since 1988 to receive fewer popular votes than his Republican opponent.

Can't we discuss something more pleasant?

for Q Syndicate, February 2014

I love watching the Olympics. Even the Parade of Nations, which runs so long that whichever network is broadcasting the games usually takes a dozen commercial breaks between parade leader Greece and the host nation bringing up the rear.

Part of the fun is checking out the flashy, occasionally garish, outfits the athletes are wearing. And how many nations will follow Tonga's lead in wearing body oil instead of a shirt.

You can also make a game out of figuring out which nation is going to come next. Most of the nations enter in alphabetical order, but that's dependent on the alphabet of the host nation. When Tokyo hosted the 2022 Olympics, Iceland and Ireland came in ahead of Azerbaijan and Afghanistan; Germany was between Denmark and Togo; and Peru entered between Belize and Belgium.

This summer in Paris, the U.S. would enter somewhere among Eswatini, Micronesia, and Fiji, except that by virtue of hosting the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, we'll come in near the end instead.