Wednesday, May 6, 2009

"Abstinence" editorial

"... everyone should be abstinent or whatever, but it’s not realistic at all." - Bristol Palin


Yarrrgh, the irony's gonna kill me one of theses days.

"Palin's promotion of abstinence was turnaround from what she told Fox News in February. Then, she said that teens should avoid sex, but abstinence is "not realistic at all."

So my first email to the editor accompanying this panel asked the question "does it need a label for the salmon" so as to better link her with Governor Palin's kid, Bristol, and her new crusade against teenage pregnancy. Almost immediately after taking a second look at it, I resolved that question with a solution that actually made me giggle, which is rare. Even for someone used to laughing at himself daily. Adding the "Bristol Bay" sign gag just makes it just right.
I try and avoid the obvious and lazy shortcut in cartooning which is to use labels on the people. Gets harder with local politicians, as not many folks are visually literate enough to recognize the caricature. Of course, it gets even worse when the artist isn't good at it either...
Remains to be seen if the specific reference material will get dated - staying topical = staying relevant, time is of the essence in the media. But more than likely, odds are that this'll come around again sooner than later.

“Of course,” she replied matter-of-factly. “I wish it would happen in like 10 years, so I could have a job and an education and be, like, prepared, and have my own house and stuff." - from Pandagon.net

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