That darn Michael Ramirez

the May 7 editorial cartoon (Michael Ramirez/Las Vegas Review-Journal for The Washington Post)

Another reason to be up in arms

Bruce Krebs, Arlington

Washington Post May 25 2024.

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/24/jackson-state-killings-kent-state-massacre/

Michael Ramirez's May 7 editorial cartoon, "A never-ending cycle," copied M.C. Escher's artwork "Drawing Hands" (with "apologies" to Escher as a credit). Escher emphatically rejected a letter from the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, requesting a drawing for an album cover. My opinion is he would not appreciate Ramirez's use of his work, either. But what was Ramirez's point?

I am unaware of President Biden making a dramatic increase in civil service employees. I guess Ramirez was satirizing aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. As most of that money buys weapons and ammunition made in the United States to send to foreign destinations, this circle provides profit for U.S. arms manufacturers and jobs for Americans, which I thought were conservative ideals. What's not to like, Mr. Ramirez?

That darn Get Fuzzy...

...has been in reprints since 2013, but somebody STILL wants it in the Post to replace Dilbert.

Get 'Fuzzy' again, get funny again

Gerald Trabucco, Springfield

Washington Post March 25 2023: A15

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/24/errors-post-ukraine-trump-readers-critique/

That darn Flashbacks, squishing strips, and Mike du Jour

Visual storytelling of 'Flashbacks' was exceptional

Norman Hicks and Mark Koenig

Washington Post October 8 2022: A15

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/07/reader-critiques-trump-big-lie-quotation-marks/

'Squishing' disrespects the work of cartoonists

Harry St. Ours, Boyds

Washington Post October 8 2022: A15

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/07/reader-critiques-trump-big-lie-quotation-marks/

Weighing in on the use of pronouns [Mike du Jour letter]

Mia Rothberg, Takoma Park

Washington Post October 8 2022: A15

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/07/reader-critiques-trump-big-lie-quotation-marks/

That Darn Luckovich

Arlington cemetery is no laughing matter
Charlotte Johnson Jones
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star 8/8/2010

That darn Post editorial board!

Yale's Cartoon Controversy
Washington Post Thursday, August 27, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/26/AR2009082603531.html

The Aug. 23 editorial "Self-Muzzled at Yale" criticized Yale University Press for its decision to exclude controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad from a forthcoming book. We found this to be a curious opinion given The Post's own decision not to publish the cartoons. This very fact validates Yale Press's decision.

We were two of the many experts in diplomacy, national security and academia asked by Yale Press to assess the likelihood of violence if the cartoons and other images of the prophet Muhammad were published in a book about the cartoon controversy. We advised Yale Press that publishing these images was very likely to result in violence, as there was a clear record of violence following their publication. More than 200 innocent people have been killed, and hundreds more injured, as recently as June 2008.

We who counseled Yale understand the book is a balanced, scholarly work. However, experience shows the book's purpose and tenor would not mitigate the risk of violence. In choosing not to print the cartoons, The Post made that very same judgment.

IBRAHIM GAMBARI

Under-Secretary-General

JOSEPH VERNER REED

Under-Secretary-General
United Nations
New York

The right of free speech guarantees that we may speak the truth without fear of government reprisal. This precious right is not compromised in any way by the Yale University Press deciding not to publish cartoons that would needlessly offend the sensitivities of large numbers of people. Even The Post editorial, which describes some of the cartoons, illustrates that publication of the cartoons was not necessary to make a point -- although inclusion of the offensive material would undoubtedly improve sales.

STAN NAMOVICZ

Takoma Park

That darn Luckovich!

A Cartoonist in Reverse
Washington Post Saturday, June 20, 2009

I have been a Post convert ever since moving to the area in 2001. While dissenting viewpoints are to be expected, Mike Luckovich's June 13 cartoon provoked me.

He depicted four frustrated burqa-clad Muslim women discussing their envy of first lady Michelle Obama, with a turbaned man in the foreground cursing President Obama.

I cannot fathom how this cartoon could have passed muster for inclusion. Surely America has come out of the Stone Ages.

Wasn't it just this month in Cairo that President Obama provided us with several reminders that we need to adjust our own lens to better understand the Muslim world? Speaking explicitly to perceptions of Muslim women, he stated "I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal" and that "it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit -- for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear."

I thought that this was finally the spirit of our discourse, but your cartoon diminished some of the strides we're making, reinforced old and tired stereotypes and took us decades back.

-- Vijitha M. Eyango

Silver Spring

That darn Agnes

Pope Trashed
Washington Post Saturday, November 1, 2008; Page A13

At first I thought I must have misread the "Agnes" comic strip you published Oct. 29. How do you justify publishing such a vitriolic attack on the beloved Pope John XXIII? The comic frivolously associated him with a 12th-century mass murderer.

Anti-Catholic slants seem to be acceptable in The Post. Would you have allowed such a mention of a figure from another religion?

-- Jean Shema
Gaithersburg