Cartoon Critic

I can't help it. Reading her stuff is like watching a train wreck.

I'm always on the side of the comedians, and political cartoonists have carte blanche as far as I'm concerned.

Kathleen Parker: Cartoonists rely on readers' collective understanding of symbols and metaphor and on their unconscious connecting of images to ideas. Given that dependence, cartoonists have to be aware of the many ways those symbols might be linked within a given time and context.

The Delonas cartoon was offensive for reasons unrelated to race. No sane person enjoyed seeing or reading about police killing the chimpanzee. They may as well have killed Bonzo. Compounding the horror of this poor animal drawn dead and bleeding was the knowledge of its gruesome attack on a woman, who at the time was in critical condition.

Not funny.

1) She eventually got around to mentioning the woman mauled by the poor chimp. Kudos.

2) Who is Kathleen Parker to tell cartoonists what they have to be aware of? There's only two things cartoonists need to know: the paper in front of them, and the pen in their hand.

3) The hierarchy of writer over cartoonist is a joke. You write. They draw. Done deal. In fact, judging by how many "outrages" and debates there are over cartoons vs. written words, you could make a case that cartoons are the superior form of expression.

So I will. Keep drawing whatever you want, cartoonists. We need you.