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Pd. 4

RJ Matson, 4/22/14, Eagle Cartoons:

This cartoon was published on Earth Day. Matson decided to connect the rising environmental issues to Earth Day in a sarcastic manner. There are no real people in the cartoon but the artist uses irony because the janitor is cleaning up litter on Earth Day. You would think that of all days, people would think twice before littering but it continues to be an issue. The girls to the side are looking at their water bottles and the pile to show their disbelief in people’s actions on this day. The janitor does not seem surprised, as if he knows that this day would be no different than any other. The cartoonist clearly feels that people are disregarding environmental issues, and only celebrating Earth Day to feel as if they are making a change when in actuality, they’re not doing anything different. I agree with the cartoonist’s opinion because I have yet to see someone who actually takes Earth Day seriously. He shows his opinion with the use of irony and the expressions on the character’s faces. The emotional reaction for this cartoon is to make people feel as if they are being destructive rather than constructive with helping the environment. Also it signals people to reconsider why and how they “celebrate” Earth Day and what they are actually doing differently.

John Cole, NC Policy Watch, 4/28/14:

The issue that inspired this cartoon is climate change. Climate change is the title of the article that the man is reading. There aren’t any specific real people but the NC GOP debaters are portrayed with a “science” cloud above their head. The man reading the article is asking them a follow up question, “Are you wet?” They clearly are but they answer no and one of them even says, “Not unless god says so.” This shows that the artists view on this is that the NC GOP debaters will reject any statement about the climate changing even if it is obvious. I agree with the cartoonist’s opinion because the NC GOP Senate Debates went horribly because the debaters were denying obvious conclusions. They are making no effort to help the environment or analyze the real damage that is happening. The emotional reaction that Cole was trying to get was anger toward the ignorance of the debaters. Through his art, Cole is trying to show the Democratic view on this; all the NC GOP is doing is lying to themselves and the American public.

Bill Day, Cagle Cartoons, 5/7/14:

The events that inspired this cartoon are the situation in Benghazi and climate change. There are no real people in the cartoon but the general opinion of Republicans is portrayed. This exposes the cartoonist’s political leanings to be toward the Democratic side. The talking bubbles are coming out of the US and seem to be coming from Washington DC. This is a symbol for the differing beliefs about the climate change from the Democrats versus Republicans. The Republican side is saying that the report on climate change is just a cover up to distract from the situation in Benghazi. However Day drew it so the earth is on fire, proving that climate change is an actual issue. I agree with the cartoonist’s bias because the Democrats are not trying to cover anything up but rather fix climate change as well. The reaction that Day is trying to get is that the Republicans are making irrational conclusions and are being very defensive and argumentative about it. Day made it so the bubble representing the Republicans talking has repeated words and exclamation points which makes them seem angry and persistent.

Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, 5/7/14:

The issue that inspired this is also climate change. There are no real people portrayed in this cartoon, only a group of scientists. The symbol in the cartoon is the scale which represents a measuring instrument of the two sides’ opinions. Sack is saying that the opinion of one “climate denier” weighs more than the opinion of many scientists. Also, Sack is trying to point out the irony of how scientists are more informed about that area of the world and yet their opinions are still useless compared to the opinion of one ignorant climate denier. I agree with Sack’s bias because the public makes a huge deal when they hear about one climate denier but they don’t pay attention to the numerous scientists who are trying to explain why climate change is actually happening. The scientists look worried and confused, while looking at the climate denier. The climate denier looks stupid and content with his simple minded opinion. Sack used irony to prove to the viewer that these numerous scientists know what’s happening and that they should be given more attention.

Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune, 5/12/14:

The issue that inspired this cartoon is global climate change. There are no real people portrayed in this cartoon but the Air Force One is portrayed as a cause of climate change. Bish uses irony to show his bias against the government’s attempts to help the climate change situation. It’s ironic that a plane is causing air pollution while writing fight climate change in the air. I agree with Bish’s opinion because the government hasn’t made any steps forward to help decrease climate change. All the government has done is tell people to fight climate change. At the bottom of the cartoon it says, “Surrender deniers” which is the cartoonist telling the deniers to give up because it is so evident that climate change is happening. Not only that but Bish gives the viewers who agree with his opinion a push because he directly tells the deniers to give up on the belief that climate change isn’t happening.

I chose to analyze cartoons that have to do with environmental issues. I feel that with the

climate change report and the government’s lack of action, climate change has been very popular

in the news lately. Many political cartoons have recently been made about this issue and I

thought it was important to see how different cartoonist’s portrayed their personal beliefs toward

it.

This collection proves that most of the cartoonists show a strict Democratic view toward

the environment/global climate change. This view is that the government needs to start taking

action because the environment is getting worse. All of these cartoons either show negativity

toward Republicans or strong support toward Democrats. The cartoonists use various techniques

such as irony, sarcasm, and labeling to show their political leanings. A majority of these

cartoonists are satirical with their irony and labeling. These techniques make the point clearer

and the cartoon wittier.

I agreed with all of the views of each cartoonist but my viewpoint did change in a way.

Before actually analyzing cartoons about a specific topic, I had a general understanding and a

general take on it. I knew that now many people believed that global climate change was an issue

but I didn’t know exactly how much that ignorance was harming the planet. Also, I always

agreed with the idea to put more focus on helping the environment but I didn’t know who was in

charge of taking the steps to do that, and what their view was on the issue. My new opinion is

biased against what Republicans believe because these cartoons made good arguments for the

Democratic view. However, I feel that in a way Democrats may also think that they’re helping

the situation while they might only be advertising to help.

I believe that the cartoonists’ views do represent the majority view on environmental

issues. I’ve come to this conclusion by talking to peers and family. However, this also has to do

with the region where we live. Other states definitely have a different view on this and their

newspapers most likely have political cartoons that show a Republican opinion which is the

majority there. The major pattern that I noticed was a serious angst about the declining state of

the environment. It is evident that a majority of people want something to be done about this

issue but that the government is not making any plans to take any kind of action. After analyzing

these cartoons about a specific issue I definitely change my view to be stricter about how the

government handles environmental situations from now on.

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star, 4/15/14:

The issue that inspired this cartoon was the UN’s lack of action to help all the environmental issues that are happening. The UN is taking little to no action and Fitzsimmons uses sarcasm to portray that. There aren’t real people but the UN building is shown. Everyone wants the UN to do something about global warming but they are just relaxing. The middle panel of the cartoon shows the global warming starting to take effect and the UN saying that they took action. The last panel is global warming taking full effect while the UN building states that the action they took was printing their panel report on non-combustible waterproof paper. This shows the artist’s opinion about the lack of effort the UN is making. I agree with his opinion because the UN is being ignorant and making no steps to decrease global warming. The polar bear in the last panel is sweating and rowing a boat which proves how drastic global warming can be if action isn’t taken. The emotional reaction that this is supposed to evoke is compassion toward animals that will be most affected by global warming and anger toward the UN for not doing their job.