RJ Matson, 4/22/14, Eagle Cartoons:

This cartoon was published on Earth Day. Matson decided to connect the
rising environmental issues to Earth Day in a sarcastic manner. There are no real
people in the cartoon but the artist uses irony because the janitor is cleaning up
litter on Earth Day. You would think that of all days, people would think twice
before littering but it continues to be an issue. The girls to the side are looking at
their water bottles and the pile to show their disbelief in peoples actions on this
day. The janitor does not seem surprised, as if he knows that this day would be
no different than any other. The cartoonist clearly feels that people are
disregarding environmental issues, and only celebrating Earth Day to feel as if
they are making a change when in actuality, theyre not doing anything different.
I agree with the cartoonists opinion because I have yet to see someone who
actually takes Earth Day seriously. He shows his opinion with the use of irony
and the expressions on the characters faces. The emotional reaction for this
cartoon is to make people feel as if they are being destructive rather than
constructive with helping the environment. Also it signals people to reconsider
why and how they celebrate Earth Day and what they are actually doing
differently.
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Pd. 4




John Cole, NC Policy Watch, 4/28/14:
The issue that inspired this cartoon is climate change. Climate change is the
title of the article that the man is reading. There arent any specific real people but the
NC GOP debaters are portrayed with a science cloud above their head. The man
reading the article is asking them a follow up question, Are you wet? They clearly
are but they answer no and one of them even says, Not unless god says so. This
shows that the artists view on this is that the NC GOP debaters will reject any
statement about the climate changing even if it is obvious. I agree with the cartoonists
opinion because the NC GOP Senate Debates went horribly because the debaters were
denying obvious conclusions. They are making no effort to help the environment or
analyze the real damage that is happening. The emotional reaction that Cole was
trying to get was anger toward the ignorance of the debaters. Through his art, Cole is
trying to show the Democratic view on this; all the NC GOP is doing is lying to
themselves and the American public.


Bill Day, Cagle Cartoons, 5/7/14:
The events that inspired this cartoon are the situation in Benghazi and
climate change. There are no real people in the cartoon but the general
opinion of Republicans is portrayed. This exposes the cartoonists political
leanings to be toward the Democratic side. The talking bubbles are coming
out of the US and seem to be coming from Washington DC. This is a symbol
for the differing beliefs about the climate change from the Democrats versus
Republicans. The Republican side is saying that the report on climate change
is just a cover up to distract from the situation in Benghazi. However Day
drew it so the earth is on fire, proving that climate change is an actual issue. I
agree with the cartoonists bias because the Democrats are not trying to cover
anything up but rather fix climate change as well. The reaction that Day is
trying to get is that the Republicans are making irrational conclusions and are
being very defensive and argumentative about it. Day made it so the bubble
representing the Republicans talking has repeated words and exclamation
points which makes them seem angry and persistent.


Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, 5/7/14:
The issue that inspired this is also climate change. There are no real
people portrayed in this cartoon, only a group of scientists. The symbol in the
cartoon is the scale which represents a measuring instrument of the two sides
opinions. Sack is saying that the opinion of one climate denier weighs more
than the opinion of many scientists. Also, Sack is trying to point out the irony
of how scientists are more informed about that area of the world and yet their
opinions are still useless compared to the opinion of one ignorant climate
denier. I agree with Sacks bias because the public makes a huge deal when
they hear about one climate denier but they dont pay attention to the numerous
scientists who are trying to explain why climate change is actually happening.
The scientists look worried and confused, while looking at the climate denier.
The climate denier looks stupid and content with his simple minded opinion.
Sack used irony to prove to the viewer that these numerous scientists know
whats happening and that they should be given more attention.


Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune, 5/12/14:
The issue that inspired this cartoon is global climate change.
There are no real people portrayed in this cartoon but the Air Force One
is portrayed as a cause of climate change. Bish uses irony to show his
bias against the governments attempts to help the climate change
situation. Its ironic that a plane is causing air pollution while writing
fight climate change in the air. I agree with Bishs opinion because the
government hasnt made any steps forward to help decrease climate
change. All the government has done is tell people to fight climate
change. At the bottom of the cartoon it says, Surrender deniers which is
the cartoonist telling the deniers to give up because it is so evident that
climate change is happening. Not only that but Bish gives the viewers
who agree with his opinion a push because he directly tells the deniers to
give up on the belief that climate change isnt happening.

I chose to analyze cartoons that have to do with environmental issues. I feel that with the
climate change report and the governments lack of action, climate change has been very popular
in the news lately. Many political cartoons have recently been made about this issue and I
thought it was important to see how different cartoonists portrayed their personal beliefs toward
it.
This collection proves that most of the cartoonists show a strict Democratic view toward
the environment/global climate change. This view is that the government needs to start taking
action because the environment is getting worse. All of these cartoons either show negativity
toward Republicans or strong support toward Democrats. The cartoonists use various techniques
such as irony, sarcasm, and labeling to show their political leanings. A majority of these
cartoonists are satirical with their irony and labeling. These techniques make the point clearer
and the cartoon wittier.
I agreed with all of the views of each cartoonist but my viewpoint did change in a way.
Before actually analyzing cartoons about a specific topic, I had a general understanding and a
general take on it. I knew that now many people believed that global climate change was an issue
but I didnt know exactly how much that ignorance was harming the planet. Also, I always
agreed with the idea to put more focus on helping the environment but I didnt know who was in
charge of taking the steps to do that, and what their view was on the issue. My new opinion is
biased against what Republicans believe because these cartoons made good arguments for the
Democratic view. However, I feel that in a way Democrats may also think that theyre helping
the situation while they might only be advertising to help.
I believe that the cartoonists views do represent the majority view on environmental
issues. Ive come to this conclusion by talking to peers and family. However, this also has to do
with the region where we live. Other states definitely have a different view on this and their
newspapers most likely have political cartoons that show a Republican opinion which is the
majority there. The major pattern that I noticed was a serious angst about the declining state of
the environment. It is evident that a majority of people want something to be done about this
issue but that the government is not making any plans to take any kind of action. After analyzing
these cartoons about a specific issue I definitely change my view to be stricter about how the
government handles environmental situations from now on.


David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star, 4/15/14:
The issue that inspired this cartoon was the UNs lack of action to help all the
environmental issues that are happening. The UN is taking little to no action and
Fitzsimmons uses sarcasm to portray that. There arent real people but the UN building
is shown. Everyone wants the UN to do something about global warming but they are
just relaxing. The middle panel of the cartoon shows the global warming starting to
take effect and the UN saying that they took action. The last panel is global warming
taking full effect while the UN building states that the action they took was printing
their panel report on non-combustible waterproof paper. This shows the artists opinion
about the lack of effort the UN is making. I agree with his opinion because the UN is
being ignorant and making no steps to decrease global warming. The polar bear in the
last panel is sweating and rowing a boat which proves how drastic global warming can
be if action isnt taken. The emotional reaction that this is supposed to evoke is
compassion toward animals that will be most affected by global warming and anger
toward the UN for not doing their job.