Not long ago, I saw this cartoon, and just laughed and laughed. It is funny because, frankly, it feels like there is a bit of truth to it. Quite a bit of truth to it.
Today in the United States, it seems that people get angry when you try and think differently than they do, or from the norm. Many people seem to praise the idea, or notion, of independent thinking. But then when they are confronted with ideas that are foreign to their own, they too often outright seem to grow hostile.
This cartoon feels like it captures that level of idiocy. This is obviously a portrayal of Rodin's 'The Thinker,' only it is surrounded not by art admirers who appreciate this masterpiece, nor by annoying tourists intent on taking pictures and selfies with it. But rather, it is surrounded by an angry mob - quite distinctly an American mob - who clearly are incensed by the very notion of thinking.
When you see some of the nitwits, frankly, who are out there, and who moreover think themselves to be geniuses - we recently had such a one serving in the Oval Office - it can get really depressing. Indeed, it feels like the United States is slipping ever closer to a de facto Orwellian version of dystopia. And instead of doing the one thing that can prevent us from slipping even farther down this road - which is to say, thinking - far too many Americans seem to have grown outright hostile to the very idea of actual thinking. And I believe that this cartoon by Clay Bennett truly captures that spirit.
Finalist: Clay Bennett of Chattanooga (TN) Times Free Press
For polished, witty cartoons that effectively lampoon prominent leaders and groups in a polarized America.
https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/clay-bennett-4
4
Originally, I saw this cartoon on this Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pamelanc365/posts/pfbid0pnUr7dSSYhSufGFacahYAypLWgDUj4dPLU4oFv78XR2nPrzdUSQVT71XVG4fnYW5l
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