The Importance of Editorial Cartoons

Editorial cartoons play a major part in America culture. They are visual metaphors that can be found in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Often they express a silent view of one or more parties or issues. Editorial cartoons are a form of nonverbal communication and are vital to American culture because they help shed light on issues that effect many American issues.

Many people in America believe that editorial cartoons do nothing but create tensions on the issues which they are communicating. Although this might be so they do however they do open the issues up on difficult topics to be discussed. Editorial cartoons have been used as a form of expression on political, social, and local issues to express an opinion on or about. In American culture it is like a voice to many Americans that may have a different view on these issues. They

Editorial cartoons are one form of communication that informs the reader of what is happening or has happened without ever having to read a lengthy report. They also do more to poke fun at the issues by providing a humorous view on the issues. Editorial cartoons provide entertainment to the public because they are not drawn to exact scales and are often distorted and mis proportion.

How ever at times some groups find them offensive. For example this past week a political cartoon was emailed and to a constituent in California by a friend she then forwarded it on to people in her personal contacts. The editorial cartoon was about President Obama the issue was about the on going saga of his birth certificate. The problem was that some individuals began to break down the images and decided that it was an attack on ethnicity. President Obama was drawn with big ears and being held by monkeys. Some have said that it was an attack that referred to blacks as being monkeys because in history or political satire they were often being referred to as such. Or like in the last cartoon when Obama took office an editorial cartoon was drawn of two white cops shooting a monkey dead and stating, “That they need to get someone else to sign the stimulus bill.”  Many persons have a problem with editorial cartoons because of this. As they do entertain though go further to keep such stereotypes alive.

Editorial cartoons are however vital to American culture because they do help with the conversation and debate over tough issues. Eliminating them would be a mistake because they are another form of communication and if we did then it would open discussions on restricting our rights to freedom of speech.