...The Anti-Herblock

Image: Mike Lester

As counterparts to the previous post on the Herblock Award, two currently controversial images by editorial cartoonists, Gary McCoy and Mike Lester, both deserve some serious and wider exposure. As in "sunlight makes the best disinfectant." Each exemplifies perfect mirror-images to the work of Bors and Jensen, and make for great bookends for comparison and contrast against criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. However, seeing as how there foundation's mission statement is...

“The Foundation is committed to defending basic freedoms, combating all forms of discrimination and prejudice and improving the condition of the poor and underprivileged.”

... it presumably will be some time before either of these artists will be nominated for any such prestige. Both of these cartoons in question add absolutely nothing to the topic's debate whatsoever, nor contribute any new ideas or nuanced perspective on the issue - they both simply copy Limbaugh's own words and/or echo the prevailing sentiment by reinforcing the original misconception of Fluke's testimony, and just make an illustration to accompanying the misogynistic sentiment (Lester's panel has the additional bonus of a racist element).

In addition to all the deserved attention, McCoy is now claiming (so far without offering any evidence) to be the victim of death threats, and is doubling down on his disingenuous insistence that he wasn't even portraying Fluke. Which, besides being an admission of failing to achieve the goal of drawing a recognizable editorial cartoon, instead means it encapsulates the underlying narrative from conservatives and Republicans: that the target in question is indeed... all women.

Image: Gary McCoy