In his latest spool, Washington Post’s non-descript liberal
political cartoonist Tom Toles equated thuggish, sluggish students with House
Reps in Washington DC.
In a two-panel cartoon, Toles presents a youth in a cap
writing about what he did during his summer vacation: “Came up with a plan to
burn down the school.”
This caption makes no sense. Why would a student share in a
classroom assignment his plans to destroy the school? Such a topic is not
humorous in itself, since a number of
disturbed students have plotted similar acts of violence and carried them out.
The second panel depicts an adult wearing the Capitol
Rotunda on his head. “What I did during Summer Recess: Came up with a plan to
shut down government.”
Granted, political cartoons rely on comedic exaggerations
for stronger effect, yet there is no comparison equate House members’ decision
to shut down the federal government with burning down a school. Such a
political equation is not just specious and spurious, but offensive and
disturbingly unfunny.
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