The Loyal Opposition
An essay about a Cartoon Controversy...
Lately I’ve been re-reading all the Patrick O’Brian novels – this time in order – about naval warfare during the Napoleonic Wars and O’Brian wrote 20 books and I’m currently on book eight and the reason I bring this up now is O’Brian wrote about naval battles where somebody sinks an enemy ship, but it happens at the Ass-End of the World so then they have to sail back home to London and a month later tell everybody what happened.
And I’m reminded of all that because I recently heard about a battle that took place in Latrobe, Pennsylvania which involved one of my cartoons and I’m still piecing together what happened through mixed reports, but here’s what I have so far and maybe this will make more sense if I tell the story chronologically.
Flying the flag at half-staff for 30 days when a president or ex-president dies (and Jimmy Carter qualified an all three counts) is a national policy set by Dwight Eisenhower back when cars had tailfins and got really shitty gas mileage.
But Donald Trump complained that the flags would still be flying at half-staff on his Inauguration Day – which is today – so the kind of people who like to kiss ass (and as you may have noticed, there’s no shortage of them) decided to ignore honoring Jimmy Carter and fly the flag at full staff today to keep Donald Trump happy.
But over 75 million people wanted someone else to be president and don’t feel like celebrating Trump’s return to the White House and since I’m one of them, drew the following cartoon depicting (in my personal opinion) the correct way to fly the flag on Trump’s Inauguration Day:
Just in case you’re not up on flag protocol, an upside-down flag is a signal of distress or extreme danger and after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election his supporters started flying upside down flags as a sign of protest and here’s one of the many upside-down flags that were displayed at the January 6th Insurrection:
And here’s another upside-down flag at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s house:
To be fair (an intermittent and inconsistent policy) when asked about the flag, Justice Alito did what any Red-Blooded American Male would do: he blamed his wife.
According to the following story, Alito’s wife flew the upside-down flag in response to a neighbor who posted a sign saying “Fuck Trump” and then the Alitos got in an argument with the neighbor, who used the term “C-U-Next-Tuesday” (OK, that wasn’t the actual word used, but to my surprise and probably yours, even I have some standards) and I think we can all agree that there’s just no call for that kind of language and perceptiveness.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/17/politics/justice-samuel-alito-flag-home/index.html
So Alito’s wife hustles out and displays an upside-down flag and Justice Alito – one of the most powerful men in the world – doesn’t stop her and I was going to write something incredibly snotty about marital spinelessness and castration, but I’m married too and totally understand Alito’s position. (If you intend to stay married you gotta pick your battles, so good call, Sammy.)
The story you probably just didn’t read also quoted another Alito neighbor saying Mrs. Alito had a right to fly the flag that way and the kind of people who worry about Free Speech agree.
So do I.
(The side issue is whether Alito should have recused himself from cases involving the 2020 election and while an upside-down flag is probably a bad look for a Supreme Court Justice’s home, it’s entirely possible for two people to be married and live together, but not share the same views and right now I’m thinking of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and while I didn’t know Anne personally, I’m guessing she disagreed with Hank’s Beheading Inconvenient Wives Project.)
Now here’s an article from the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University that provides some historical perspective and says flying an upside-down flag has been a sign of protest for at least 50 years and, by the way, the U.S. Flag Code is not legally enforceable:
https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/flying-flag-upside-down/
So bottom line: an upside-down flag has been a sign of protest for at least five decades and recently a bunch of Republicans have been using it and now let’s take a look at my involvement in the Battle of Latrobe.
From Kansas City, Missouri to Latrobe, Pennsylvania
When I draw a cartoon I email it to my syndicate, King Features, and they send it out to client papers (King Features can also decline to send it out) and then client papers can choose to run (or not run) a cartoon, but in this case the managing editor of the Latrobe Bulletin decided to use my flag cartoon along with several other cartoons drawn by different cartoonists.
The Latrobe Bulletin’s publisher, Dave Cuddihy, didn’t like my cartoon and wrote a public apology for it appearing in his newspaper and here’s that apology:
“We apologize today for letting such an offensive cartoon slip through our editorial process and into our Editorial page of Volume 123 – Issue No. 20, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025.
While political cartoons have run in newspaper, including the Latrobe Bulletin, for many years; this is a final example of how we feel they have run their course.
As Americans we respect rights and views on all sides, however, we assure you, as your community newspaper this image does not reflect our viewpoint.
While once a caricature or sarcastic take on the current state of politics; these cartoons have become incredibly divisive and do not represent our mission as a community newspaper.
We will no longer be publishing political cartoons because we strive to better the community, not divide it.
Which is an understandable position to take on political cartoons because Donald Trump and his Supporters have never ever never done anything to divide the country, like trying to overthrow the government because they lost an election and we were all impressed with them getting 100% behind Joe Biden and supporting all his policies and now I have to make a doctor’s appointment because my tongue is so far in my cheek I think I sprained it.
Several things in that apology jump out at me, like the word “slip” and while I have no inside knowledge concerning the Latrobe Bulletin, in my personal experience newspaper publishers frequently have no interest in getting involved with the small tasks required to put out a newspaper (like selecting cartoons) so they give those jobs to someone else, but are then happy to second-guess the people who have to make those decisions.
Also, opinion pages are just that and they usually run a variety of opinions and cartoonists and columnists sign our work so it’s pretty clear (or should be) that those are our opinions, not the opinions of the newspaper they appear in.
Next up…
The Apology for Dividing the Community Divides the Community
After Cuddihy’s apology was posted on Facebook, there were 200 comments within 24 hours and I read all of them, but just checked and this morning there were 105 “reactions” (that thing where people who can’t be bothered to write anything give you a thumbs up or an angry-face emoji) and 356 comments.
Many of the comments were critical of Cuddihy and called him a “coward” and “spineless” and “pathetic,” but many comments said cartoons like mine were dividing the country, which seems to mean:
“When we criticize a Democratic president it’s because he’s a flaming moron that deserves it, but when you criticize a Republican president it’s because you’re un-American.”
One commenter thought whoever let the cartoon “slip” through should be fired and also hoped the newspaper would go out of business and the way things are going in the newspaper industry, might get their wish.
Another commenter brought up Conservatives complaining about “cancel culture,” but in the case of the flag cartoon, were now all for it.
Several said showing an upside-down flag was disrespectful no matter who displays it, which would be a valid position if they also complained about the Trump supporters who did the same thing, but I don’t recall Republicans getting all that upset about it.
A commenter said he cancelled his Latrobe Bulletin subscription in protest and another commenter said he was now going to start subscribing to even things out.
Yet another commenter wanted to know if the offending editor had been fired, but there was a reply to that comment which said the first vindictive commenter had posted an upside down flag on his own Facebook page in 2023 and was a hypocrite.
Another commenter called the Bulletin a “commie propaganda newspaper” (which, considering the publisher, I find highly doubtful) and then wrote “Hears to the death of your newspaper” and yes, he misspelled “here’s.”
Conclusions…And I Have At Least Three of Them
1. Freedom of the Press applies to those who own one.
I have absolutely no problem with a publisher getting to decide what to print and what not to print because it’s their newspaper and their business. For 36 years my deal at the Kansas City Star was that they wouldn’t tell me what to draw and I wouldn’t tell them what to publish.
But I do have a problem with people who think if you say something they don’t like that you should lose your job and be sent to a re-education camp or exiled on Elba which has got to be warmer than Kansas City right now, so despite my previous position, I’m willing to consider the possibility.
My agreement with the Star – a deal that was fair to both sides – is why I think the publisher of the Latrobe Bulletin has a perfect right to decide what he wants to publish or not publish and now I’ll tell you why I think he just made a bad decision.
2. Controversy is good business.
Many of the commenters on Facebook said they hadn’t seen the offensive cartoon, but now wanted to see it.
Which is the argument I often made when the Star turned down a cartoon because it was too controversial: publish it and all the upset readers will come back to see what horrible thing I do tomorrow. I also believe you can wear people out with too much controversy, so you need to change gears occasionally and I’ll soon post a piece on that, but a cartoon or column that gets people talking is a good thing.
If political cartoons are supposed to make people think — and the good ones do — then the flag cartoon did its job because people were arguing about free speech and what’s acceptable and what’s not, which in my book is much better than producing work that’s so bland it doesn’t offend or interest anyone.
Back when newspapers were extremely popular and profitable and often family-owned, publishers were less afraid of controversy; William Randolph Hearst helped get the Spanish-American War going because it sold newspapers.
But then many newspapers went public and had shareholders and Boards of Directors and CEOs, all trying to hold on to their positions by being as profitable as possible and trying to avoid controversy for fear some upset reader might cancel their subscription which ignores the possibility that other readers might start a subscription because the newspaper was interesting.
How many of you ever heard or thought about the Latrobe Bulletin and its editorial policies before this?
Being bland, boring and largely irrelevant isn’t much of a long-term business plan and while it’s not the only (or biggest) reason newspapers are now in trouble, it’s on the list.
And while I’m at it…
As I once pointed out to an unhappy editor, the most controversial cartoons I drew – about abortion and handgun control and the death penalty – took positions shared by millions of Americans and sometimes the majority of Americans, so how the hell was I controversial when I expressed opinions shared by the majority?
I’m glad to pretend you asked.
Because millions of Americans also disagreed with those positions, so some editors thought it was better to ignore those subjects and avoid getting people stirred up; instead, I should draw bland, inoffensive cartoons that wouldn’t upset anyone or make them think because a whole bunch of people would rather not do that.
But when you draw one of those controversial cartoons anyway, it’s not a bad thing because…
3. Democracy Is Supposed to Be Messy.
I get the heebie-jeebies (Pfizer’s working on a vaccine) when someone complains about “divisiveness” like we’re all supposed to agree about everything all the time and my response to that complaint is:
“When the hell has that ever happened?”
The Obama Years when Republicans were claiming he wasn’t an American?
The Bush Years when Democrats were complaining about wars in the Middle East?
The Clinton Years when Republicans were complaining Bill was a dirtball? (OK, so they got one right.)
Pick an era and someone was complaining about something and if you go back to the ‘50s – AKA, “The Good Old Days” – the Good Old Days weren’t all that good for Blacks and Jews and Gays and Women and if you were a Black Jewish Gay Woman you were really fucked and not in a good way.
Letting everyone have their say is messy and always has been and always will be and while I don’t like Donald Trump being president, he is president, but that doesn’t mean I won’t criticize him or point out when I think he screws up and BTW I did the exact same thing when Joe Biden was president and in the very near future will post some cartoons proving it.
The Loyal Opposition
Look it up and “Loyal Opposition” means the people out of power can oppose what the people in power are doing, but remain loyal to the source of that power (in this case the U.S. Constitution) and the Loyal Opposition concept “permits the dissent necessary for a functioning democracy without fear of being accused of treason.”
(And thanks a bunch, Wikipedia.)
According to the kind of people who put things on the internet, Ben Franklin drew the very first American political cartoon and here it is:
So a political cartoon helped start America, but if we don’t accept that people have a right to dissent, a political cartoon might help end it.
Lee, excelente (I’m vacationing in Mexico) as always
Lee ... I like you with a sprained tongue 😛🤪