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This week’s Auchtoon: Blaming the victims in Flint

March 25, 2016 by John Auchter 8 Comments

Editorial Cartoon

I guess this one came from experiencing one too many “Flint made its own mess; let them suffer” comments. I mean, I understand the sentiment. Anybody familiar with Flint over the past 40 years knows of the many poor decisions, the wasted resources, the sometimes straight-up corruption. (Is there a better cautionary tale of the bad that can happen when you elect an egotistical, speaks-his-mind, “successful” businessman who promises to make things great again than former mayor Don Williamson?) But even if you ignore the overwhelming forces of de-industrialization and globalization and say that Flint’s problems are entirely self-inflicted, it would still not be in anybody’s long-term interest to consider Flint residents as something less than other people.

In fact, it’s exactly that sort of thinking that created the environment for the water crisis to happen. If you don’t care about the people, it’s much easier to flip that switch; if you don’t care about the people, it’s much easier to ignore the obvious and delay response; if you don’t care about the people, it’s much easier to point fingers and avoid responsibility. In Flint’s case, we ended up with lead poisoning and deaths from Legionnaire’s Disease. Now radicalize that uncaring, and we end up with terrorist attacks and dozens dead in Brussels.

It all starts with devaluing human life, and no good comes from it.

John Auchter draws cartoons. Lots and lots of them. You can find them at his incredibly popular website auchtoon.com. 

Filed Under: Auchtoons Tagged With: Andrew Heller, Auchtoons, flint, John Auchter

Comments

  1. Tony says

    March 25, 2016 at 9:14 am

    Exactly!!!

    Reply
  2. Elaine Folger says

    March 25, 2016 at 9:25 am

    I agree completely!

    Reply
  3. Jon Coggins says

    March 25, 2016 at 10:55 am

    Just like the witch in Arizona that blamed voters for her messup

    Reply
  4. Barbara says

    March 25, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    I suspect it’s less about anyone saying they don’t care about what happens to the people of Flint, and more about not being more proactive in caring about the people and not just the money. I think there are many layers to this problem and they are still being examined– finally.

    Reply
  5. Sue says

    March 25, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    Wow! This is powerful. Never saw it coming, but I see the basic connection in thinking between Brussels and Flint. Thanks for saying and showing it so well.

    Reply
  6. Jim S. says

    March 25, 2016 at 6:12 pm

    Very good comparison. The only difference in Flint and Brussels is we know who and where the terrorists are but nothing will ever happen to them. Business as usual.

    Reply
  7. Stev Lewis says

    March 25, 2016 at 7:15 pm

    I just hope similar problems (or worse ) don’t show up in the other communities that were assigned emergency managers.
    This is a very good comparison. Thnx John.

    Reply
  8. Kathy Fiebig says

    March 25, 2016 at 9:27 pm

    Well said. Well said!

    Reply

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Andrew Heller has been an enduringly popular newspaper columnist in Michigan for a long, long, long time. He wrote his first column for the Escanaba Daily Press way back in 1979. It was about his … Continue Reading

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