Toon & text by John Auchter
Among the many things to admire about the youth who led the March for Our Lives events this past week is their patriotism. That may sound a little off because their detractors have gone to some lengths to question that very thing. But the reality is, they were acting on the very lessons taught to us all about what it is to be Americans: stand up for what’s right, encourage participation in our democratic system, communicate with your representatives, strive to make your country a better place.
But what struck me as maybe most patriotic was the emphasis on inclusion. Before the march, several of the Parkland students visited an inner-city public school in Washington DC to let those students tell their story of gun violence. Inclusion, making sure all voices are heard. What is more American than that?
And what awful and compelling stories they had to tell about gun violence — the same stories kids from places like Flint have been telling for too long. That definitely needs to be part of the bigger conversation.
Look, I don’t want to make these kids out to be perfect. They are people after all, and they are bound to become distracted, get off message, maybe make some political misjudgments. Just like, you know, former Supreme Court members do. (Old people these days! Amiright?)
But so far I’d say they have been impressively on task. Fifty years ago the message from youth to adults could be summarized as, “Get out of the way, your time is over!” Today their message is really more of a practical challenge: “Do your job!”
John Auchter draws cartoons. Lots and lots of them, each one better than the last. You can find them at auchtoon.com. You can also find his stuff on Michigan Public Radio’s website under Opinion.
This Auchtoon is clever and profound. Will any of the right-wing ninnies even get it?
They will certainly get angry any moment now, and will remind us liberal/democrats that we are communists.
You know when you think about it, wasn’t it Democrats like Kennedy and Johnson, who waged endless wars on communism to stop the influences of the former Soviet Union? For some reason I just don’t get the right’s logic. Do you?
You forgot to mention that Libs are bashing their heads against the wall in anguish because Faux News said so.
Nope. I was raised by a WWII vet who taught me that America is about having a voice and using it.
Now if you don’t tow the line, you’re attacked as unpatriotic.
If he could, my father is rolling in his grave. This certainly isn’t the freedom he fought for.
I appreciated that too. These kids are including and uniting all Americans for the better of the whole country, instead of pointing fingers at brown people and blaming them for the world not being perfect.
Thank you. Very well said.
I am interested to see how liberals will try to spin the YouTube HQ shooting.
1. Shooter was a Muslim, female.
2. Shooter was a liberal, vegan, animal rights activist.
3. Shooter did not use the cursed AR-15 rifle.
4. We still need more background info on the shooter’s past and immigration status. (if applicable)
5. The police interviewed her in the parking lot just before the shooting (after being contacted by the shooter’s Mom and Dad) and let her go.
6. Shooter is not an NRA member.
Further translation.
1. Shooter was a Muslim, female. (Right Wingers like to point fingers at brown people and Muslims)
2. Shooter was a liberal, vegan, animal rights activist. (Right Wingers make irrational meaningless points)
3. Shooter did not use the cursed AR-15 rifle. (Right Wingers miss the point that the casualties were low and nobody died)
4. We still need more background info on the shooter’s past and immigration status. (if applicable) (Right Wingers are hoping and praying she is a Middle Eastern immigrant so they can further push their hate agenda and deflect from the real problem)
5. The police interviewed her in the parking lot just before the shooting (after being contacted by the shooter’s Mom and Dad) and let her go. (Right Wingers blame the police to avoid addressing the gun problem. They expect the police to stop brown skinned and those they perceive to be Muslim even when they are not breaking any laws. )
6. Shooter is not an NRA member. ( Thank goodness, right? Whatever would they say if she was? Besides everyone knows, being in the NRA means you are a good person.)
She owned her gun legally. Isn’t that what the NRA is all about? Legal gun ownership? “Why do you want to punish the LAW ABIDING gun owners?” We are all law abiding, until we aren’t. Do you disagree, Working Dad? Or is your message; “Disarm liberals and Muslims”?
Shooter used a handgun and only 4 victims were injured and none of them died. Good thing she didn’t have an AR-15 or any other weapon with a large capacity magazine, or the circumstances would had been very different. Do you disagree?
You guys have gone off the topic of this brilliant cartoon. The point was something like: REPUBLICANS PROBABLY WILL TRY TO KILL YOU, MAYBE BY POISON WATER, MAYBE BY IRRESPONSIBLE GUN LAWS, MAYBE BY SOMETHING ELSE. BE VERY CAREFUL.
Well illustrated point. No young person should nave to fear going to school. Or walking down the street. Or going to church. Those in leadership have failed miserably.
Fred and others have missed the main point of the shooter at facebook. A lot of us who are conservative do not care that she was Iranian, Islamic, brown skinned and so forth.
Those are not factors in the shooting. She was a left leaning, vegan, and liberal democrat
She did not do the shooting for the cause of allah. She was upset that facebook stopped paying her for the use of her facebook postings. She felt slighted and discriminated against.
I have also noticed that the shooting has dropped off the radar scope of the major media.
As one commentator said “If it had been a white male wearing a MAGA hat and a member of the NRA, the lame stream media would be talking about it for weeks, if not months or years.”
But, because she was a left leaning democrat and vegan the response has been basically a “meh” momment.
Side note – This rotten bitch had around 10k followers for her stupid “excercise videos”. If that channel was fully monetized without any restrictions, she would have earned about $20/month from YouTube.
Seriously – She went on a shooting spree over losing $20/month? Am I the only person who doubts this is the full story?
As for David Hogg and these students demonstrating for gun control, I have to say what does the average high school student know about real life or history or civics.
More teens die while texting and driving than in school shootings. But, students dying while texting and driving not a big deal to a lot of liberal/democrats/socialists.
Sign carried by a student demonstrator at the “rally”: “Real men use fists”
FBI murder statistics from 2016: People shot and killed by rifles of any kind: 374, number of people beaten to death by “feet, hands, fists etc.. 656.”
As I stated in an earlier post David Hogg wants to infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights of millions of law abiding citizens by taking away guns. However, he got upset when the school board made it mandatory that students had get new backpacks that were see through. When he heard about the new ruling, he copmplained that it violated students rights to carry whatever they wanted in a traditional backpack.
Another sign carried by a demonstrator: “Yes, we will pry your gun from your dead cold hands.”
Republics decline into democracies, democracies degenerate into despotisms. Aristotle
Long live the Republic!