Kings and Pawns

Today's Political Cartoons

Click on the following: http://www.mapleleafweb.com/political-cartoons
The Cartoons on this site take a stab at everything and everyone in politics today, including main events such as the G20/G8 Summit, HST Controversy, Oil Spill Crisis and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics! The two main authors of the site includes Tim Dolighan and Graeme MacKay, they present a great gift in the art of subtle satire and have the power to sway personal opinions through their comical cartoons. Dolighan's cartoon on the cost of the G8 Summit suggests to the viewer Harper's government spent loads of money, on mostly useless purchases. It makes for quite controversial discussion's, and legitimate questions such as, "Is this what my taxpayers money is spent on, glow sticks and bug spray?" Also, on this website an artist displays the issue of the large amount of money spent during the Vancouver 2010 games, and even a cartoon of our Vancouver mascots passing the torch to terrifying Sochi mascots. These cartoon artists cover virtually everything. I believe they create over statement, and controversial cartoon to get readers to actually think about the message behind the image, connect the dots, create their own opinions, and hopefully take action about the situation. Take for example, this image:

The reader would look at this image, read into the situation of what Media Ownership is doing and how it's effecting Canada. From there, they would hopefully raise awareness, if they find it wrong, and take certain action such as writing a letter to their MP. For these reasons, I find political cartoons a highly effective way of raising awareness of a topic and getting readers to think about the message the author is attempting to display.

Summary: Political Cartoons on my Blog

The political cartoons I have selected for my blog all have great importance to the events that occurred during the time period we have studied, and more importantly have a domino effect upon one another. This is easily exemplified best through the consequences between the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles. In one political cartoon you see Clemenceau and his obvious displeasure towards the Germans and the next cartoon being the American Senate's firm decision not to sign the Treaty of Versailles, in extension the League of Nations. These events and the decisions taken ‘for them’ would inevitably create the foundation for future events. The same can be said about the circumstances and actions of the Romanov family, led by the rather controversial Tsar Nicholas II. Also, I was particularly interested in the 'Powerful Effects of Marxism' cartoon because of the vivid image it created in the viewers mind. Although, the Russians were in a terrible state under the Tsar's rule, this cartoon allows the viewer to debate their knowledge and view points of Marxism and it's Communism ambitions. The cartoon on Rasputin was chosen to illustrate the worldview’s of how Russians percieved this “mad monk,” in addition this cartoon proves the Tsarinas inability to rule. Moreover, the cartoon for the Bolsheviks revolution creates a paradoxical statement, because all the Russian's in the picture do not seem too pleased about the new enforced Communist rules, however that was the revolution they had fought for!