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The Good, The Bad and the
Ugly
A survey of political cartoons in the wake of September 11
By Ayub Khan 28/09/2001
Hard as it maybe for some to believe, political cartoons have a unique place in communications media with reference to shaping public opinion. They both reflect as well as influence, public opinion in the United States. As author Jim Zwick writes, "Judged on the basis of influence per square inch, it would be hard to find a match for the political cartoon in the history of modern American journalism."
The history of political cartoons in America goes back to the days of Ben Franklin. Their popularity and daily use, however, began much later when advances in printing made it possible to reproduce drawings without the time consuming work of first engraving them onto woodblocks. Once ensured a prominent place in the newspapers, mainly on the editorial pages, cartoons and their creators continued their meteoric rise and have never looked back.
With such influencing potential, cartoonists have used this art to push all kinds of ideologies and viewpoints along with the excess baggage of stereotypes and the hatred towards the "other". Political cartoons have been heavily used as propaganda material in United States for a variety of interest groups. They have been used for every cause from the opposing sides in the civil war, women's suffrage, civil rights, world wars, down to the Gulf War.
Among the most enduring images are ones of Arabs and Muslims as people obsessed with war, women and wealth. These derisive and insulting portrayals of Islam and Muslims have continued right up to our times and the tragic events of September 11th provided an opportunity to study current trends among American cartoonists in their portrayal of Islam. A small
IslamOnline study of more than 50 different cartoons in various newspapers suggests that while there has been some improvement, stereotyping continues.
One of the worst offenders since the terrorist attacks is cartoonist Darin Bell, whose cartoon was, ironically enough, published in the student newspaper of UC Berkeley, a school with a long-standing liberal tradition. The editorial cartoon, published in the September 18th issue of
The Daily Californian, shows two men with flowing beards, turbans and robes standing in a long-nailed hand surrounded by flames. One man is saying, "We made it to paradise! Now we will meet Allah, and be fed grapes, and be serviced by 70 virgin women, and...." The other man is shown dropping a book with the words "Flight Manual" on the cover. This cartoon clearly stereotypes Muslims and anyone who even looks like Muslims as terrorists.
Bell however claims, "Those two people are caricatures of [Osama] bin Laden." He says he drew them based on Bin Laden's beard, robes and head covering.
"It's easy to say, 'He drew a Muslim person. He must be talking about all Muslims,'" says Bell. "That's just not the case. I'm talking about hijackers, and I'm talking about Osama Bin Laden. I'm not talking about Muslim people."
Dr. Omar Khalidi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who is an expert on this subject, says, "As expected the cartoonists are not very careful about Muslim sensitivities. In this particular instance, the notion of paradise that is being shown is erroneous in the extreme. It fits in within the scheme of projecting all Muslims as warmongers and womanizers."
Another offensive cartoon was drawn by Monte Wolverton. He drew the caricature of a hanging Arab with the text "The Only Good Terrorist." The Arab in the cartoon is shown wearing jeans and sneakers. The average man on the street can easily be influenced by this image and associate every Arab with terrorism. Wolverton later offered an apology, however, by publishing the following text in another cartoon: "In a recent cartoon, I suggested that Islamic Militants of Middle Eastern heritage were responsible for the recent terrorist attacks on the United States. I sincerely apologize for this indiscretion. I do not want to engender, nor do I condone ethnic or religious hatred, racism or violence … henceforth, I shall try to confine my satire to my own group, Caucasian Protestants."
Cartoons such as John Trever's "The Face in the Smoke", published in The Albuquerque
Journal, showing a bearded face with the word's "Look! Is That The Devil? Close enough", again send subtle messages to average citizens that Muslims are terrorists or close to being the devil. The face just barely resembles that of Osama bin Laden.
Amidst the multitude of somewhat offensive material, there have been a fair number of cartoonists that have tried to be as fair as possible in trying to distinguish Islam from terrorists and have also explored the hate crimes unleashed against Muslims.
Khalil Bendib, a Muslim cartoonist whose works appear in The Muslim Observer
and Iviews, says, "I was very pleasantly surprised to see some of the cartoons follow in the wake of this newly mainstreamed notion: That Muslims aren't all bad, that Islam itself may be getting a bad name because of violence wrongfully perpetrated in its name."
"In particular," adds Bendib, "one very prominent cartoonist these days [Lukovitch] has done at least one excellent cartoon showing how the terrorists were landing a direct hit not on the WTC, but on the very Holy Qur'an itself. Up to two weeks ago, I would've been the only cartoonist in the country to defend Islam in this way."
The cartoon to which Bendib refers was first published in The Atlanta Journal Constitution and was later reproduced in
Newsweek.
Another similar cartoon was rendered by Kevin Kallaugher of The Baltimore
Sun. His cartoon shows a sword-wielding man shouting and tearing apart The Holy Qur'an. Kallaugher is careful enough to write "Islamic Terrorists" on his clothes. Some Muslims might find it to be disrespectful to The Holy Qur'an but I don't think it is Kallaugher's fault. He is just trying to make a point and is probably unaware of Muslim sensitivities. Muslim advocacy groups should in the future organize sensitivity seminars for the cartoonists.
If there were an award given for the cartoonist that strove most for integrity and fairness, it would probably go to Corky Trinidad of
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin. She published a series of cartoons relating to the hate crimes against Muslims. The first one shows U.S. Muslims being yelled at by White Americans who are shouting '"Go Home!" with a caption that reads, "Terrorism breeds terrorism, I guess…"
Her second cartoon shows a young Muslim girl being confronted by a White American who says, "Yuh Muslins and Ayrabs should go back where yuh came from!" The girl responds, "But we're from Iowa…?"
In conclusion, while there has been slight improvement in the portrayal of Islamic teachings and Muslims in political cartoons, the stereotypes persist. After all, old habits die hard. It is the responsibility of Muslims to educate the cartoonists about the true teachings of Islam and inform them of Muslim sensitivities. Additionally, Muslims should also study the art of cartoons professionally and use it to dispel the myths prevalent among the masses.
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