This is Historic Times » terrorists

No Further Questions

deephurting — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:54:41 +0000

I originally wrote this gag for President Bush. In a way, that’s all that really needs to be said about Obama’s approach to the “War on Terror”–his policies have become so similar to those of the Bush Administration that they’re practically interchangeable.

I remembered the joke while trying to develop something on the Anwar Al-Awlaki assassination about two weeks ago, which was the first official targeted killing of a US citizen on charges of aiding and inciting terrorism. Additional air strikes since then have resulted in the death of Al-Awlaki’s son, so I read today.

The idea of targeted assassinations like these makes me uncomfortable. Even if the target’s a really bad person who may deserve it, I feel it’s dangerous to grant the President the same power to chase down individuals that we grant him to wage war for national defense. I also feel that assassinating terrorists before attempting to capture, try, and convict them like the crooks they are is a self-defeating strategy that only serves to inflame new, even harder to defeat terrorists, as these cartoons argued. It’s a bit like fighting bacterial infections–do so too aggressively, and even though it may kill off all the weaker bacteria, you’ll end up with stronger ones that are resistant to antibiotics.

I nearly finished this a few days after the Chris Christie cartoon, but I wasn’t happy with the results at the time, and so chose to spend more time working on it. Unfortunately, this overlapped with a trip I took to Portland, Oregon that ended up lasting much longer than I expected it to. I was staying with my sister, and even though she has a scanner, it’s of such a poor quality that it was useless to me except to sketch out colors before I could rescan the lineart with my own.

Speaking of Portland, I should probably point out part of why I was visiting, for any readers who happen to live there: I was looking for work, because I find the local arts community vibrant, and would like to move there. If anyone reading this can point me in the direction of some good job openings in the area for someone with my talents, or hook me up with some interviews, please let me know. Or, if you can’t help with that, you could put money towards helping me move, instead…

Seeds of Destruction

deephurting — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:30:02 +0000

In the last update, I said I probably wanted to draw another cartoon on Osama Bin Laden. Since the rest of the news media continues to jabber about the topic, I think I can still get away with it.

This one makes a similar (or maybe even the same) comment as this cartoon from last year, though without relying on a cultural reference. Is this approach better/or worse?

Fuzzy Aim

deephurting — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:00:59 +0000

I actually had this idea right away after hearing about the death of Osama Bin Laden, but because it was very similar to a cartoon I did on Saddam Hussein’s execution in 2007, I wasted a few days trying to see if I could come up with anything better, and consequently I’m a bit late to the party.

As most of you are no doubt aware, “party” isn’t merely being used as a figure of speech, here. I’m not going to mourn the loss of an evil, mass-murdering psychopath, of course, but I do find the bloodlust reflected in many of my countrymens’ jubilant celebrations disappointing and dangerously short-sighted, though not all that surprising.

Other than ridding the world of a very bad person, I don’t see what practical ends killing him has accomplished. He didn’t really seem to constitute a clear and present danger to national security any more–guy wasn’t even armed when Navy SEALS busted in on him. Surely it would have been a better idea to capture him and publicly eviscerate his ideology, instead of martyring him immediately? I feel the path that was chosen will only result in the germination of a bigger crop of new terrorists, more determined to continue Bin Laden’s war than ever.

And look, we’re still mired in Iraq and Afghanistan. Killing Bin Laden didn’t save anybody’s lives there. If anything, it puts them in greater jeopardy.

I also think a longer, drawn-out public spectacle of some sort would have been more likely to force Americans to reflect on how our government’s foreign and economic policies, as well as our greedy consumption of the world’s resources, aid the persistence of terrorism. I saw part of a program on HGTV today about the most expensive homes in the world. This fat woman was talking about her $5 million closet, and how she thought she needed to buy more stuff to put in it since it isn’t full. As she bragged about the garish opulence of her overwrought home, I thought, “This is why the terrorists want to kill us.”

As David Cross once said in reference to seeing a commercial for battery-operated scissors: “The terrorists hate our freedom? I hate our freedom, if this is what we’re gonna do with it!”

This is a very broad topic, and the above cartoon doesn’t even come close to saying everything I’d like to say about it, so I may have at least one more on it in the next update. Stay tuned!

WWRD?

deephurting — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:26:28 +0000

There are several gags at work in this cartoon.

The main, overarching theme is a comparison between the GOP’s relationship with the Tea Baggers, and the Reagan Administration’s relationship with the Mujahideen. In both cases, the former joined forces with the latter to battle a common enemy (the Democrats, and the Soviets, respectively). We all know how arming the Mujahideen turned out for America, and in much the same way, the Tea Baggers now appear to be turning on the GOP.

There’s also a reference to Reagan’s belief in the supernatural. A guy I know by the name of Tony Caroselli deserves credit for reminding me of this, because I was going in a slightly different direction with this cartoon before, and I think that reference helped the whole thing come together much better than it would have otherwise.

American Chopper

deephurting — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:52:20 +0000

This is an idea that’s appeared and re-appeared in my sketchbook in various forms for years. The main thing that’s prevented me from drawing it before now was I had a lot of trouble coming up with a design for Uncle Sam that I felt looked good.

I guess it’s kind of unusual to make a reference from popular culture, and someone else’s animated cartoon in particular, without crediting the reference on the artwork. I didn’t do so this time because I think The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is widely-enough recognized that its reputation isn’t in need of any help from me. Still, if anybody reading this represents Disney and wants to tell me they have a problem with that, I will add a credit line to the cartoon.

Once again, I’m pretty badly off for cash right now. An illustration project I was commissioned for is paying significantly less than I expected it to, so donations would help to shore up the difference, and be much appreciated.

They Cling to Guns and Religion

deephurting — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:42:06 +0000

Grave Danger

pokeyman — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:59:59 +0000