Our Clear-Thinking Cartoonists

The Trunk has been almost alone in trying to shed some light on the recent report on post-September 11 detentions by the Justice Department. (Actually, he’s almost alone in having read the report.) This cartoon by Jeff Danziger pretty well sums up the prevailing ignorance–in the major media, anyway–that we have to surmount to talk intelligently about immigration issues:

Seldom do you see ignorance and bigotry so perfectly fused. The main point of the cartoon is contained in the signs on the cells: “Guilty of Being Iranian-American,” and so on. But the detentions in question were of illegal aliens. As such they were breaking the law. And an illegal alien is not, by defintion, a citizen and therefore not an “Iranian-American,” etc. This is hardly a subtle point, but it is lost on this cartoonist and seemingly on most elite opinion-makers.
Note too the caricature of John Ashcroft, a figure of sheer malignancy. And the final touch of bigotry: the cross dangling along with the key in Ashcroft’s hands. That’s the real problem with Ashcroft; he’s one of those damn Christians. Always trying to lock people up for no reason at all.
There was a buzz on the internet a few days ago about a grotesquely anti-Semitic cartoon of Ariel Sharon that appeared in many newspapers. Is this one any less contemptible?