| Advisory |
Advisory
November 26, 2003
The US daily "the Washington Post" of November 21, 2003 ran a story about a
comic strip of a well known and popular American cartoonist in its "Style"
section.
Johnny Hart's popular "B.C." cartoon published on November 10, depicted the main
character walking up a hill to go to the "out house" a primitive outdoor toilet
well known in many cultures. In the US, an outhouse traditionally has a quarter
moon carved in the door as a universal sign that the small shed is a toilet. As
the scene is at night, a quarter moon is low in the sky. The character says once
he is in the out house, "Is it just me, or does it stink in here?"
A quarter moon is recognized all over the world as a symbol of Islam.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) asked in an email to its
members, "Did Johnny Heart... sneak a vulgar defamation of Islam into the comics
pages last week?"
While Hart denies any ulterior motive or improper purpose, he has been accused
of flaunting his evangelistic Christian views through his cartoons in the past.
"Silly" says Hart about this particular panel.
Silly or not, the Washington Post called in an expert on symbolic images who had
a difficult time seeing anything other than a possible intended poke at Islam.
Other cartoonists consulted were divided and most fell to the side of the
cartoon being a symbolic slam on Islam.
This brings up an interesting point about satirical cartoons. Often there are
unintended outcomes that can emerge from even unconscious statements made in a
cartoonist's work.
In some countries Hart would have been arrested for insulting Islam. In the US,
he has every right to exercise his freedom of expression rights. So does the
spokesman for CAIR who said: "I think the reason there might not have been
initial complaints (about the cartoon) is that it's (the cartoon's meaning) so
cryptic. If you know who the cartoonist is, what he's done in the past, then it
becomes clear."
It would be good for cartoonists everywhere to be warned by what the spokesman
is saying: regardless of what you say, critics can look at a cartoonists whole
body of work and decide if there is an ulterior motive or a hidden meaning in a
cartoon.
This article is based on the work of staff writer Alan Coopersman of the
Washington Post.
Robert Russell
Burke, Virginia, USA