• Archives
  • Boutique
  • Kings & Queens
  • Prime Ministers
  • Sharing
  • Who?
  • Presidents
mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

twitter

Friday February 15, 2019

February 16, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 15, 2019

High-stakes war of words between Trudeau, Wilson-Raybould on tap

In the wake of Jody Wilson-Raybould’s resignation from Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, a war of words between the prime minister and his former attorney general seems inevitable. If the developments of the past few days are any indication, it could get ugly.

February 13, 2017

Wilson-Raybould would hardly have resigned if her interpretation of the interaction she had with the Prime Minister’s Office over the handling of the criminal prosecution on corruption charges of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin matched Trudeau’s.

She would not be seeking legal advice as to how much, if anything, she can disclose from former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell if she were not exploring the option of giving her version of events.

April 3, 2012
Justin Trudeau wins charity boxing match
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau beat Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in their charity boxing match in Ottawa Saturday night.

As an aside, Cromwell’s credentials can only make the advice Wilson-Raybould acts on harder to challenge either by the government — should the former SCOC justice lay out a legal rationale for her to speak up — or by the opposition parties if he advises her to remain silent.

In hindsight, Wilson-Raybould is probably congratulating herself for seeking top-notch legal advice.

Judging from the prime minister’s reaction to her resignation, Trudeau and his team are in a take-no-prisoners mood.

February 9, 2019

To listen to the prime minister on Tuesday, one would have been hard-pressed to find any lingering sign of the pride that attended Wilson-Raybould’s appointment as Canada’s first Indigenous attorney general three years ago. Hers was not a run-of — the-mill cabinet casting call.

Back in 2015, her elevation was seen as a powerful signal of the depth of Trudeau’s commitment to reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples. 

But on Tuesday, the picture he painted of his former minister was anything but flattering. Trudeau questioned her integrity. He said her actions were at odds with their private conversations. He might as well have called Wilson-Raybould a loose cannon. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)  


Autopsy of a Twitter Pile-on

Embarking on this investigation it is necessary to remind us all with a simple statement:

NOT ALL EDITORIAL CARTOONS ARE MEANT TO BE FUNNY

However, given the state of editorial cartooning in recent years, especially in North America, it’s not at all surprising that readers have come to always expect a funny gag to elicit a chortle or smile at the expense of a divisive politician. Think Donald Trump.

Sometimes the easiest path for some editorial cartoonists to take is to spread the laughter around equally with the aren’t-all-our-politicians-stupid gags. Though increasingly, editorial cartoon comedy has moved out of the realm of politics, and replaced by not so hard hitting commentary on crazy weather, sports, entertainment, or any other non-political arena which will offend the least sensibilities.  On editorial pages across the spectrum, newspaper editors without staff cartoonists, will often opt to run syndicated cartoons which will offend the least number of readers thereby ensuring their daily routine won’t be interrupted by irate phone calls. Sadly, a rising number of newspapers have done away with editorial cartoons, running photos, or more text in their traditional boxes.

All this said, one would think the above statement goes without saying given the popularity of editorial cartoons which pull at heartstrings. Whether it’s editorial cartoon commentary on the passing of famous personality entering the pearly gates, a feel good Hallmark card cartoon greeting on any given calendar holiday, or a tear provoking editorial cartoon following headline tragedies in the news. People should understand that editorial cartoons, watered down to provoke emotion, aren’t always meant to be funny.

So here’s another statement :

EDITORIAL CARTOONS MAKE PEOPLE ANGRY

They’re also supposed to make people think. Not in a long time has a cartoon of mine garnered as much attention on Twitter – critical comments, yet a sizeable number of likes & retweets, here, and along with a similar cartoon drawn by Michael de Adder here.

The above editorial cartoon certainly demonstrated that fact.  With orchestrated social media outrage and offence clouding logical thought and spreading like a virus designed to manipulate and whip up anger using tangents unrelated to the point of the satire. One would think it easily conveys to readers a classic scenario of power oppressing the afflicted. In order to depict the power imposing its will on the oppressed, a cartoonist sometimes has to draw uncomfortable images to convey the message.

Despite references to gag metaphors in the media to describe the situation demoted cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould presently finds herself, being unable to give her account due to Solicitor-client privilege as federal Attorney-General in the SNC-Lavalin affair, the illustrated depiction of that situation was evidently too much for some readers to stomach. 

I get it. This cartoon has caused anger. It’s especially galling to supporters of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He rode into office with overwhelming support, on a feminist mandate, to improve Ottawa’s relations with indigenous peoples, and to bring about greater government openness and transparency (and as a bonus, his boxing prowess, capitalized by his supporters, is in full ridiculous view.) The cartoon exposes perceived breaches on all those fronts. His brand is under attack and the mounting doubts and speculation because of it could send the Liberal Party’s House of Commons seat count downward after the coming Federal election. While many obviously understand this message, others are lashing out giving their own misunderstood definitions of what satire is:

…And just attacking the editorial cartoonist: 

Which is fine. I, like all other editorial cartoonists, have been called everything from all sides of the political spectrum.

Sure, some people might think that they appreciate satire, it only works for them if the satire isn’t exposing the folly of their political heroes. What is worrying is the growing trend by readers to spread false accusations, to report or clamp down on satire, whenever they feel offended by an editorial cartoon. This is particularly true of the toxicity that spreads on a platform like Twitter.

This one takes the absolute cake for wrangling in the RCMP, as if Canada were some police state, while making a mockery of actual hate and violence promotion. 

Long gone are the #JeSuisCharlie hashtags when people added their supposed support for satire with fingers clicking the mouses, but not actually understanding what satire actually is. Despite the articles, the panel discussions, the in-depth primers on the long history of the craft and the importance of freedom of expression, the actual term “freedom of expression” is being used in a pejorative way on university campuses, and elsewhere, worldwide.  

The sad reality is, it’s having an effect, made evident by the fact that editorial cartoonist positions at newspapers are in fast decline. It’s not helped when those in journalism, politics, and academia thrash about demonstrating willful ignorance of satire, opting to join a chorus of virtue signallers feigning outrage on unrelated tangents which have nothing to do with the message in the editorial cartoon.

Godwin’s Law was invoked to the writer of that last doozy. Just for the record, at least one account holder was reported for threatening violence and had their account placed on suspension.  A stiff 7 day cooling off period ought to give offenders a taste of a world without Twitter, ironically. 

Eventually, every political movement comes to an end to be replaced by another. The pendulum swings. Some day Justin Trudeau will be gone and his party will be replaced by another. Politics will always be around, but the trends show that with the demise of print media, satire in the form of editorial cartoons will be watered down to irrelevance, unless the easily offended aren’t resisted.

There are countless expressions humans have to express freedom of expression, but a particular one that guides me is:

Hate the cartoon, dislike the cartoonist, but do not impose your own decree on what cartooning is intended to be. 


Update – Monday February 18, 2019

My colleague Michael de Adder opted to apologize for his cartoon.

The above cartoon is cited in this Huffington Post article. The Comments section are overwhelmingly supportive of the points expressed in this cartoon, and those drawn by other editorial cartoonists. An acknowledgement of thanks goes out to the many likes, retweets, and comments in support of the cartoon on Twitter.

Also, as of this afternoon, Gerald Butts, resigned his position as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister. The plot thickens. 

Update – Wednesday February 20, 2019

Trudeau said he apologized to Jody Wilson-Raybould in caucus: “I wasn’t quick enough to condemn in unequivocal terms the comments and commentary and cartoons made about her last week, they were absolutely unacceptable and I should have done it sooner.” #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/sf69Li0oge

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) February 20, 2019


 

 


Letters to the Editor, Hamilton Spectator, February 21, 2019

Cartoon warrants an apology  RE: Feb. 15 editorial cartoon

As a long time subscriber to The Hamilton Spectator I was appalled to see Graeme MacKay’s cartoon and equally disappointed that you made the decision to print it.

That Mr. MacKay views violence against women as amusing and worthy of drawing this disgusting cartoon and The Spectator’s decision to print it, given the alarming statistics regarding VAW and femicide in this country is inexcusable.

I would expect an apology.

Barbara Howe, Hamilton

Cartoon hit the mark  RE: Feb. 15 editorial cartoon

Good for you, for this cartoon that exposes Justin Trudeau for what he really is. He calls himself a feminist, but he is really just another white male bully who thinks nothing of oppressing the views of women, in this case of Jody Wilson-Raybould. Thanks for putting this hypocrisy front and centre.

J.D. Peltier, Hamilton

 

 

Posted in: Canada, Cartooning Tagged: 2019-06, boxing, cartooning, controversy, Feedback, freedom of expression, gagged, JodyWilson-Raybould, Justin Trudeau, SNC-Lavalin, social media, twitter

Friday July 13, 2018

July 12, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 13, 2018

Trump is Already Making Theresa May’s Life a Living Hell

June 9, 2018

Accompanied by a sprawling entourage that has reportedly booked 750 hotel rooms, and will be shuttled around the country by 30 vehicles, 6 helicopters, and 2 planes, Donald Trump has officially arrived in the U.K. “His planes are massive,” an awestruck former Downing Street aide remarked to The Times of London. “Ours look like Playmobil by comparison.” Team Trump will certainly be well-traveled by the time they depart to meet Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Monday. As he visits Theresa May’s countryside retreat, Chequers; attends a black-tie dinner at the birthplace of Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace; and has tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle before heading to Scotland to play golf at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the only mode of transport the president won’t get to enjoy is his long-sought-after ride down the Mall in a gold-plated carriage, which was apparently shelved due to the poor optics of mass protests.

April 13, 2018

Despite the fact that Trump’s schedule purposefully removes him from liberal London, and that protests—topped by a 20-foot-tall balloon depicting Trump as a smartphone-wielding baby—have reportedly been planned across the city, the president seems unconcerned about his ratings in Brexit Britain. “I think they like me a lot in the U.K., I think they agree with me on immigration,” he said at this week’s NATO summit, explaining that he had been reading up on Brexit, and surmised that May was not delivering the divorce deal the public had voted for. “The people voted to break it up, so I would imagine that’s what they’ll do,” he said. “But maybe they’re taking a little bit of a different route. So I don’t know if that’s what they voted for. I just want the people to be happy. They’re great people.”

June 27, 2016

For May, Trump’s metaphorical vote of no confidence could not come at a worse time. Just as the U.S. president touched down in England, bringing controversial connotations of nationalism and insularity to a divided U.K., freshly inaugurated Brexit secretary Dominic Raab presented the government’s long-awaited White Paper on Brexit, which expanded upon the “soft” Chequers compromise that pushed both Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis to depart May’s Cabinet. The response from Brexiteers was widely negative, and they were notably skeptical of a proposal they argued would keep the U.K. under the authority of the European court of justice. “It is a pale imitation of the paper prepared by David Davis, a bad deal for Britain. It is not something I would vote for, nor is it what the British people voted for,” complained backbench Brexit-monger Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has previously written about the inspiration Trump offers. (Continued: Vanity Fair) 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Posted in: International, USA Tagged: Big Ben, bird, Brexit, diplomacy, Donald Trump, meddling, twitter, UK, USA, Winston Churchill

Friday April 13, 2018

April 12, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 13, 2018

‘We do not participate in Twitter diplomacy’: Russia responds to Trump

November 3, 2017

In the wake of President Trump’s tweet taunting Russia while promising a missile attack on Moscow’s ally Syria, Russian politicians and officials are jumping at a chance to show they are the more mature and serious party. Here’s how Russian officials from the president on down have responded to Trump.

President Vladimir Putin did not address the tweets directly while greeting new foreign ambassadors to Moscow at the Kremlin. But he reiterated his frequent call for global stability — which can only be accomplished, in the Kremlin’s view, by giving Russia a prominent role in a “multipolar” rather than U.S.-led world order.

“Indeed, the state of things in the world cannot but provoke concern. The situation in the world is increasingly chaotic. Nevertheless, we hope that common sense will prevail in the end and that international relations will become more constructive — that the whole global system will become more stable and predictable.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the tweets in comments to Russian journalists. While he dismissed Trump’s Twitter diplomacy, he left unmentioned that Russia’s own diplomats in London are no stranger to it.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova quickly took to Facebook, wondering whether an American strike would only be a pretext for erasing all evidence of a chemical-weapons attack that Russia has described as staged.

“Smart missiles should fly in the direction of terrorists and not a legal government that has been fighting for several years against international terrorism on its territory.… Or is the whole idea to quickly wipe away the traces of a provocation by striking them with smart missiles, so that international inspectors would have nothing left to find in terms of evidence?” (Source: Washington Post) 


Published in the Waterloo Region Record

SaveSave

SaveSave

Posted in: USA Tagged: balloon, diplomacy, Donald Trump, social media, tearsheet, twitter, USA, war, world

New Social Media Jackass Recipient

March 1, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Congratulations, Ontario Liberal Press Secretary’s Office

Social media is a wonderful platform for editorial cartoonists to share their daily goods. Not only does it allow artists to avoid lag time between completion and public display, the results look way better on a screen than printed on newsprint. Best of all, instantaneous reaction from your following lets a cartoonist know how well one did on their cartoon. We cartoonists love it when people like, share, or retweet cartoons over the expanse of all social media – but we absolutely despise it when people mess with our work.  

The biggest pitfall of social media is that it has spawned an empire of Bush Leaguers – huge swaths of online amateurs with little or no training displacing professionals, be they musicians, writers, photographers, and … editorial cartoonists. Anyone with a computer can bluff their way into coming up with content by repurposing stuff found on the Internet, cutting out monikers, and posting stuff as if it was their own.

Take, for example, the above monstrosity, a piece of partisan propaganda using the works of unknowing artists, slapped together in an attempt to simulate a genuine work of satire, and shared on Twitter. Someone, using chop shop graphic software, thought the above piece was worthy enough to share – something better than from where the extracted element originated. Here’s where the caricatures actually came from:

February 15, 2018

That’s right, my depiction of Ontario PC leaders was clumsily added to a landscape possibly belonging to another unknowing artist.

A carefully crafted work of satire that took thought and effort to come up with, whose message is no different than something a writer or columnist might have composed. Would a member of the Ontario Liberal Press Secretary’s office willingly extract a paragraph from a newspaper columnist’s piece and not credit the author if the extract was used in, say, a press release? They would get holy hell if caught. So why would the Ontario Liberal Press Secretary’s Office feel it’s okay to steal the work of artists? Leave cartoons alone!

Three years ago Premier Kathleen Wynne addressed a gathering of the Canadian Association of Cartoonists at a reception in Toronto. She declared her support for the satire that we deliver in our political cartoons as an essential form of expression in a thriving democracy. The leader of the Liberal Party affirmed respect for the integrity of satire, whereas her party’s press secretary’s office demonstrates the complete opposite, and that is why they are bestowed the indignity of a Social Media Jackass Award.

There are more examples through @LibPressSec‘s Twitter account posting other unsourced works from unknowing cartoonists. Have a look, and maybe send them a note. Given that they’re posting fresh stuff to their account, and haven’t deleted the offending material, reworking cartoons for partisan purposes is okay in the Liberal Party Press Secretary’s eyes.

This one belongs to U.S. cartoonist Dave Granlund

Past Recipients of the Social Media Jackass Award. Each winner eventually removed stolen items from their feeds but it always took persistence:

Canadian Pride

“Teflon Jim” Stewart

HarpersGotaGo

UPDATE (March 3, 2018): The offending photoshopped cartoon involving my work was deleted, but noticeable were other repurposed cartoons belonging to other artists. The account holder @LibPressSec made no attempt to make contact with an assurance that they’ll stop doing this. With a provincial election fast approaching it’s expected they will.  Let’s keep an eye of them.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Posted in: Cartooning Tagged: jackass, plagiarism, social media, twitter

Tuesday February 13, 2018

February 12, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 13, 2018

Conservatives accuse Trudeau of ‘political interference’ for comments on Stanley acquittal

The federal Conservatives are accusing Justin Trudeau of “political interference” after the prime minister responded to the acquittal of a white farmer in the death of a young Indigenous man by saying the criminal justice system has to “do better.”

Trudeau made the comments after a jury in Battleford, Sask., Friday found Gerald Stanley not guilty  of second-degree murder in the 2016 death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie, a resident of the Red Pheasant First Nation.

“I’m not going to comment on the process that led to this point today, but I am going to say we have come to this point as a country far too many times,” Trudeau said in California, where he was wrapping up a four-day trip to the U.S. “I know Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike know that we have to do better.”

Trudeau’s comments appeared to reflect concerns expressed by hundreds of Indigenous people who took to different sites across Canada on Saturday to protest what they described as injustice and a lack of fairness within the court system.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott, meanwhile, took to Twitter to express their support for Boushie’s family and assert the need for improvements.

“My thoughts are with the family of Colten Boushie tonight,” Wilson-Raybould wrote Friday. “I truly feel your pain and I hear all of your voices. As a country we can and must do better — I am committed to working every day to ensure justice for all Canadians.”

Many concerns have been raised about discrimination toward Indigenous People in the criminal justice system; retired Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci, for example, raised flags about a lack of Indigenous representation on juries in Ontario in 2013.

Iacobucci’s probe was launched after an inquest into the 2007 drowning death of a high school student in Thunder Bay, Ont., was stopped because of a lack of Indigenous people on the jury. (Source: Toronto Star)

Posted in: Canada Tagged: justice, Lady Justice, law, pandering, popularity, public opinion, scales, social media, statue, tweet, twitter
1 2 3 Next »

Social Media Connections

Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Flickr Page
Link to our Pinterest Page
Link to our Twitter Page
Link to our Website Page
  • HOME
  • Sharing
  • Boutique
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • Artizans Syndicate
  • Association of Canadian Cartoonists
  • Wes Tyrell
  • Martin Rowson
  • Guy Bado’s Blog
  • You Might be From Hamilton if…
  • National Newswatch

Your one-stop-MacKay-shop…

T-shirts, hoodies, clocks, duvet covers, mugs, stickers, notebooks, smart phone cases and scarfs

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Follow Graeme's board My Own Cartoon Favourites on Pinterest.

Archives

Jan. 8 to 15, 2019

Jan. 16 to 22, 2019

Jan. 22 to 29, 2019

Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, 2019

Feb. 6 to Feb. 12, 2019

February 6 - 12, 2019

Copyright © 2019 mackaycartoons.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall