SlowpokeBlog

A couple weeks ago, the NY Times had an article about the civil war in Uganda, in which children were conscripted to commit horrifying acts of violence. Among them was grinding babies to death with a mortar and pestle, which has to be about the sickest form of homicide I've ever heard about. So that's where the idea for "terror grinders" came from -- not that I'm trying to make light of the situation in Uganda.

As the use of torture has been debated in the U.S., I have wondered what, if any, act of inhumanity would actually give the torture advocates pause. Sadly, if we really were grinding detainees into mush, I'm sure many would rise to the defense of the practice and cast the rest of us as "terrorist coddlers." (We have, of course, beaten some to death, which doesn't seem to bother the pro-torture crowd.) Already I have seen some totally irresponsible cartoons such as this one depicting Geneva Conventions-supporting senators pampering a detainee, feeding him grapes and fanning him with a palm frond while he reclines in a beach chair. I consider this a dereliction of a cartoonist's duty. Our job is to inform, using exaggeration to shed light on an issue -- not to obscure it. To draw torture opponents as people who wish to give the spa treatment to terrorists is not an exaggeration; it is simply wrong, and it only serves to mislead the public about the terms of this ridiculous debate.

On a lighter note, as I was writing this cartoon it occurred to me that placing the word "terror" before just about any noun makes it funny. Think about it. "Terror pants." "Terror balls." A recent Ted Rall cartoon contained the phrase "terror tots", which made me chuckle. My cartoon from a couple years ago about terror-fighting hats also somewhat relied on this principle.